Continuous story? or One game One Hero

I hope it will be the same character if they do a new trilogy, like what they did with Shepard. Having the same character is wonderful for the player's immersion in the story.

Now wait and see, we still don't know if it will be just 1 game or a new trilogy.

Agreed with Scarlett.
For me, having one protag over several games was what ultimately drew me a lot more towards ME than DA. There was a real bond there
I think we all know it was tough for the devs to do this trilogy, and to work with all the variables, but they still did a great job and created my favourite videogame experience with this. So I kind of hope that MEA will be the start of a new trilogy.

If it will be a standalone game I hope we have plenty of choices to influence the story and character fates big time! Time will tell, but I'm excited.

Prefer continuous story. I think it makes it easier to create a believable world when your characters are able to grow as individuals while the story progresses.

As said above the immersion is there because of the familiarity with the world, through characters you already know and get to know better.

That does create certain issues if outcomes are based around the character but they aren't entirely unavoidable.

The Genophage story shows what happens when its done well. Do it badly you get the Catalyst.

I'm fine either way, I like both DA's approach and ME's approach, I might prefer the latter only because we already have DA with the first type.
I don't think they've been clear so far and what they intend to do, and I think they might not be clear, and wait until MEA is released and hai successful it is.

Well, one thing I don't want is for somebody else to be running around all the time, "You remember when Ryder did ________?" That'll get old, and be reminiscent of the DA franchise too much.

I think that BioWare knows this, but who knows.

Both have their ups and downs.

On the one hand, the DA approach gives more freedom with the setting (almost 15 years have passed between DA:O and DAI: Trespasser) and makes it possible to choose to play people from different backgrounds (for example: anti-mage Warden followed by pro-mage mage Hawke), plus I have to say I hate it when sequels strip away PC's progress to balance early gameplay (although props to ME2, the in-game reason for lost progress is actually pretty good one)... but I also hate it that in ME3, if I want to play with the character and background that I want, I am forced to play in Easy More even on Insanity because I automatically start with level 25-30 Shep.

On the other hand, building a PC character in layers during the course of multiple games is amazing, and IMO makes it possible to create more detailed and intimate stories. In general I feel like my Shepards are more defined because they've had 3 games to sort this shit out, whereas each DA protagonist always has to go through some growing pains at some points, even if they're different than those their predecessors had to go through - and this carries over to companions and recurring NPC's as well: for example, I think Varric's "character development" from DA2 to DAI is just confusing and there seems to be little point to it, except to give him something to angst about and the Inquisitor to help with / bond over so Varric can also have his Character Development and Companion Quest quotas filled. Compare that with Garrus' character development from ME1 to ME3, and the difference is evident IMO.

TL;DR: it's not a deal-breaker issue for me, but if I could choose, I'd keep the ME franchise as a continuous story with a single hero, for variety's sake if for nothing else.

I wouldn't mind playing with the same protagonist but with largely disconnected stories each time.

They seem to really like the way a new protagonist can show new areas of lore with Dragon Age, so I could see it happening.

Personally, I'd prefer that they have a different protagonist in each game. Tell us a self-contained story in which our choices actually matter. It's really difficult to accomplish that across multiple games, which is why many felt their choices didn't truly matter by the end.

I think both approaches have their merits but ultimately I felt much closer bond with my Shepard(s) - it's nice to see the character change and grow.

Much prefer the idea of having the same protag across multiple games. I was was more invested in shepherds story and ME than DA, especially after they ditched the Warden ( although I understand why they did it, variables an all that ).