Commander, why are you against classic characters? I also don't want every MK game to be a revamped MK Trilogy but there are many MK1-MK3 characters that have to be in the game. A new fighting game nowadays has a minimum of 30 fighters including DLC. Not every game needs a dozen of new characters just for the sake of new characters, because this is what we mainly have got during the 3D era. I would like to list newcomers from MK4 to MKD into good and bad (IMHO):
MK4
good: Shinnok, Reiko, Fujin, Quan Chi, Tanya
bad: Kai, Jarek, Meat
Excluding MKA, only Shinnok and Quan Chi have been on the main roster ever since. Tanya was DLC in MKX, but should have been on the roster from the very beginning, since she is also part of the story mode. It's a shame that Fujin didn't make the cut, but I am sure that he'll be in MK11. And I would love to see Reiko in MK11 as well. He died in the comics but since MK11 is all about timelines death shouldn't be a problem for any character right now.
Kai is very generic, there is nothing special about him, he is completely forgettable. Jarek is a joke and I'd rather have Kano in MK4 than such an uninspired copy.
MK DA
good: Kenshi
bad: Bo Rai Cho, Li Mei, Mavado, Nitara, Hsu Hao, Frost, Drahmin, Moloch, Mokap
Only Kenshi seems to have established himself inside MK. Yes, Bo Rai Cho was DLC in MKX and will probably return, but I'd rather see a remade Drahmin on next gen. Li Mei was kind of there in DA. Nitara needs a solid redesign. Frost is a female Sub-Zero and I've never been a fan of making an opposite gender copy. Moloch is the lamest sub-boss and Mokap is supposed to be a joke character like Meat.
MKD
good: Havik, Hotaru, Onaga
bad: Ashrah, Dairou, Darrius, Kira, Kobra, Shujinko
MKD may be the best 3D Mortal Kombat game but I really think it has the worst newcomers. Dairou, Darrius, Kira and Kobra are so lame, all they're good for is being fatality dummies for other characters. Shujinko is just special because of his backstory with Onaga but otherwise it's a lame old dude. Ashrah could be better but in MKD she's lame too.
In MK11 I'd like to see Havik because he could be great. Onaga is a possibility but only if story mode is something about him.
Taven and Daegon from MKA are also plain stupid.
In MKX the newcomers are much better though I don't want so many characters to be children or relatives of classic characters. I like Cassie and Takeda but Jacqui is a female Jax, even her name is lazy af. Same for Kung Jin. I really like Kotal Kahn, D'Vorah and Erron Black. Ferra/Torr is creative but not very cool.
What I want to say is that they don't need to have that many new characters as they've introduced in MK DA and MKD. I would be fine with returning characters and 2-4 new ones. They just need to be done properly. So yeah, I agree with [MENTION=11230]Guyver Spawn[/MENTION].
Another thing that bothers me is the lack of bad guys. This whole revenant story arc is interesting but if Liu and Kitana really are the bad guys in MK11, I really hope that they have motives for being "bad". I hate this generic "I'm bad because I'm a revenant" thing. It would be great if they were bad by own decisions and not only from being Quan Chi's servants (which they're not since he's dead).