Can DA4 even compete in today's quality of games?

And ironically, a lot of people were upset, despite the fact that BioWare has apparently given them the complete game at launch, just like we all said we wanted!

"Live Service" doesn't necessarily have to be bad thing. Games like AC: Odyssey, Fortnite, Monster Hunter, Final Fantasy, No Man's Sky have Events, Holiday Specials, Mini-Games, Side-Quests, New Gear, New Monsters/Mounts/Pets, Crafting, Cosmetic Items, Photo Mode Contests, etc..

Maybe take a page out of Fortnite's book, and have an events that starts as small mysteries that unfold over time? Custom Home/Base Building? Business Building? Nug Farms? Surreal events that take place in the Fade? Party in the Fade? Celebrating Thedas Holidays with fun events and minigames? Something like AC's Discovery Tour, but maybe have helpful spirits in the Fade to convey history & lore in the area you're in? Just roll them out incrementally with rewards.

AC Odyssey had an overpriced cosmetics store, but they offered pieces from those sets (changing weekly), mounts, epic gear you could purchase with an in-game currency. Repeatable quests took place in random locations across the map, changed it up in some way (random mercenaries & possibly pets, different ships) and offered higher tier currency, XP, gold, gear, unique cosmetic items. AC also has a very solid Photo Mode community, which is another way to keep people coming back, especially if you have a gorgeous OW game.

I think he's trying to say that DA4 will be competing with... a desire for violence? in the gaming community at large? and that 2077 has said list of violence. 

I just want the kind of darkness we had in Origins. I don't need that list, and I don't think games are written competing via age appropriate ratings from third parties. 

This is assuming 2077 will be THE GAME everyone compares things to.  I don't like Breath of the Wild, but people adored it, and it definitely didn't have that list. 

also 2077 will come out 1-3 years before DA4 so why will it still be the game to make comparisons to?

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Which pretty much renders a CC pointless in my opinion, but whatever.

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Although the retail channel is slowly dying. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if COVID-19 finishes it off outright.

The last physical game I bought was Dragon Age Inquisition.

In the age of Store Fronts being required to actually run a game, regardless of where/how you bought it (GoG releases being an exception), being married to the idea of physical copies does seem a bit self-defeating. Although for people without reliable, high speed internet, I can certainly understand the resistance to it.