What would be a “Perfect” Arc?

I feel like plot-wise, the various arc have some really intriguing storylines individually. So perhaps combining certain events from multiple arcs to make an entirely new one (which could even work for a soft reboot of the series) might be an idea to consider.

As angyfrog already said, when it comes to character relationships, I really do miss the days of TPB, TNP, PoT and even OotS when characterization and development even with the background characters was done a lot better (at least most of the time) than within newer arcs (AVoS and TBC seemingly focused a lot on either protagonists or former ones with not much room for most bg cardboards to have a chance to "shine" so to speak). The different platonic relationships dynamics appeared to have more depth generally although this series has sucked for a while at portraying romantic plots specifically in interesting and understandable ways, in my opinion. It has been ages since there was an actually compelling romance (if there ever was since that can also be seen as debatable). But it can be argued that even those previous pairings, while interesting for the arc, were not written well either in terms of them getting together in the first place (such as LeafCrow for example).

My wish would actually be to go back to one protagonist per arc because the "requirement" of three or more main characters can get frustrating quickly when one PoV is more attention grabbing than the other two. I saw this with fans who thought both Violetshine's and her sister's perspectives were more enjoyable/fun to read through than Alderheart's in AVoS or even people who thought Lionblaze's and even Jayfeather's PoVs for some (but moreso in regards to Lionblaze) in OotS were rather unnecessary at times and overall took away from Dovewing's and Ivypool's screentime in that arc. I can see where those fans were coming from with that take, to be honest. Although I think we can all agree that Flametail's five chapters in Night Whispers could be seen as the most pointless andshould have gone to another character with actual important relevancy to the story (iconic drowning death scene though bro). But yeah, maybe going back to one PoV (or at least only taking it down to two protags) per arc might be a good idea.

Letting things take place in a Clan which has largely been unexplored could make for a "fresh" start in the newer arcs (modern timeline) except for a few smaller storylines in the earlier arcs or focusing on a few characters from that Clan and a couple SEs. WindClan is the one I'm talking about, of course. They are at a risk these days of becoming the new RiverClan who had almost no plot relavancy in the lake territories after TNP except for a few small "side quests" until finally getting a main series PoV with Frostpaw (good luck by the way girl). WindClan is the only Clan with no main series protagonist at this point. They deserve some spotlight.

I already wrote about an AU on another WG thread with the concept of "Create the next arc protagonist". There, my WindClan centric arc idea took place five to ten years after ASC which would hopefully be enough time to kill off/age up known characters but still could serve as the soft reboot mentioned in my first paragraph of this comment.

For real, me too. And I would just love a soft reboot situation o top of that where they make an arc set in the modern timeline (maybe the final one even) but also five to ten years (or even more by all means) in the future after ASC is over. That way, a lot of the former protagonists and other beloved characters would be dead or at least in the elder's den (out of the spotlight) at that point and could give a new cast of cats time to shine. I'm almost ready to beg for that to happen at this point.

Yup. Agreed on Firestar's death which initially was the reason for me to stop reading after OotS and only come back to it in 2020 after Veil of Shadows had just gotten released. The look on my face when I saw a video (I think it was a Moonkitti one) talking about "an impostor" must have been priceless at the time. Like, what even was going on in this battle cat madness universe at this point, must have been my thought at that point. I thought the DotC arc was at least interesting and overall enjoyable because it had new characters or ones only mentioned/seen briefly previously (the four founders) though. AVoS also had a good first half imo but made a big mistake killing of Darktail mid arc. TBC just sounds unbelievable to someone who came back to the series while that arc was still getting released (like I did). At least Ashfur got what he deserved instead of staying in StarClan due to the "because he loved too much" bs.

There are way to many characters in ThunderClan right now for sure. I personally think that the PoT amount of cats in the Clan was just enough already to still be manageable for the most part.

But yeah, literally all of the older characters from the first three arcs need to either die or retire at this point. That definitely includes both Bramblestar and Squirrelflight for me. Those two have been hogging the spotlight for a long time. They had their own arc (TNP) to PoV feature in but also played big roles in PoT with the major "Original Three true parentage" plot some of which seeped into OotS as well and then the TBC "Squirrelflight's crazy ex steals her husband's body send help" plot which was the main focus of everyone involved, even the obligatory forbidden "romance"between protagonists Bristlefrost and Rootspring played second fiddle to that. BrambleSquirrel especially really need to get iced or retired from the spotlight already fr.

Absolutely getting your point. But circling back to the main topic of this thread now, the "perfect arc" would certainly have to involve a soft reboot set a few years in the future (or decades even if needed) for me. With all or most of the cats alive in ASC (but specifically the older ones from the first four arcs) being dead or retired in the elder's den. Also, only one protagonist instead of this constant "three PoVs or bust" bs. It was fitting in PoT (literally in the title even) but has become a seemingly mandatory unnecessity at this point in time imo.

The Prophecies Begin and The New Prophecies for me something like ideal arcs. So something like TPB and TNP.