Next look at Dragon Age 4 at The Game Awards (Dec. 10)

Sure, some people don't like the Inquisitor and don't want the Inquisitor back. That doesn't make the ending any less of a cliffhanger.

The only reason I want the Inquisitor back is for AWR's voice, otherwise I have no problem with a new main character.

From that perspective, everyone will die if he isn't stopped though. That's a cliffhanger for the world of Thedas in general and all of its modern inhabitants (or all of them apart from the modern elves, theory-depending). Anyone would have a vested interest in not dying, not just the Inquisitor, including all the new people they set out to recruit in the table-stab scene and all of the new people we'll meet in the next game. All of the Inquisitor's inner circle would have been told about what transpired between the Inquisitor and Solas in Trespasser, it doesn't mean every single one of them is going to return in the next game or that every single one of them is going to be involved in the plotbeats of trying to stop Solas/persuade Solas otherwise. Honestly, whether or not the Inquisitor should be PC is completely subjective.

And the Inquisitor would tell their inner circle about it in turn.

Solas and Little Bengel I will never see the ending as being anything other than a cliffhanger for the Inquisitor. So, will agree to disagree on this subject.

I would mention here that the response of several more casual players (not as passionate about the game as we are) I have spoken with after Trespasser was "so we'll be playing as Inquisitor next game". They weren't aware of the "new PC every game rule" and it just seemed to them that the end of the DLC was setting up for the next instalment with the Inquisitor trying to stop Solas. The ending of the main game tied off their story better than Trespasser does. True, depending on whom they romance, some seemed to have more closure than others but Frost is right, if you've just been told your former ally intends destroying the world and everyone is going to die, they are not just going to head off into peaceful retirement.

That said, Trespasser did end their story as Lord Inquisitor of Thedas and Herald of Andraste (although for me that ended after Adamant). It is clear from the epilogue that they do intend to continue being involved but the necessity to find "new people Solas doesn't know" was the clue they will be doing this from the background going forward but they will continue to be involved with the story and at some point their path is going to converge with the new PC, whether they are directly connected or not, assuming of course that the new PC knows about Solas and their primary aim is also to stop him. (If it isn't then I for one will spend the game wondering what is happening on that front rather than getting invested in anything else).

What I hope they don't do is come up with some lame excuse for the Inquisitor never appearing like they did with the Hero when given what a major part the Wardens played in DAI the Hero should have been involved (unless they were already dead). Conversely, there was no real reason why Hawke should feel particularly responsible for Corypheus, given how that had always been a Warden responsibility and their father had been blackmailed into getting involved with them. So if they could have Hawke feeling they had unfinished business with the antagonist in DAI, how much more would the Inquisitor feel they had unfinished business with Solas when they had been so closely connected with him.

It has nothing to do with whether someone likes the Inquisitor as a PC or not. It is to do with logical story telling.

TGA hype trailer, has times in different timezones in it. don't think there's anything DA in the trailer tho

I liked back in Baldur's Gate where they were able to make the Playable Character the same for both games. That continuity was nice, which I liked also in the ME:T

I realise that this will never be the same for Dragon Age but because I get attached to characters I've never been a fan of how Dragon Age does things. Feels like a book of short stories set in the Dragon Age Universe and I've never been a fan of short stories either, or a series where the "world" was the "star" of the series.

I've never seen it as a given.
New crew. Old crew. Matters mot. Just matters how well written they are.

It is highly unlikely and even so, they need to be exceptionally better written. At least, the public needs to think so. Look how hard it was for TNG. And TNG had a fantastic cast. And had the added benefit of not directly competing with the TOS cast, as they were still making movies with them, all the way till 1991. So it wasn't like Kirk, Bones and Spock had been retired, when it launched and the TNG cast were taking up their slots.

It's not impossible. It's very difficult and fails more often than not. Eventually, you're going to have to swap them out, or introduce new characters, but the way Bioware goes about it, isn't very audience friendly. It makes for a good starting point, until the next starting point.

You're the exception that verifies the rule. Most people don't. It's just how it is.