Mk9 was nothing but “old guard”.
MKX did focus to much on new characters but most of them were awesome and didnt disrespect the originals, just didnt use them much.
MK11 was super focused on the “old guard” characters. It’s biggest issue was pointless retcons but those retcons didnt hurt the characters (Kitana being able to defeat Shao Kahn 1V1 was pretty fuckin stupid, though.)
Other than D-Vorah getting the most epic push since Roman Reigns, I’m not understanding your reasoning for that statement. Personally, I like D-Vorah so even that doesnt bother me.
Honestly, though, it’s a fighting game. I dont give a rats ass about the story so maybe that’s why I dont see it.
I was disappointed Cyrax and Sektor were never added into MK11 despite appearing in the story mode.