#Whereas v4 onward there wasn't as much focus on the kids' actual journey to learning to be huntsmen

[valentinerose529]

does anyone else get the feeling that RWBY might have done differently if it was a monster-of-the-week fantasy school type story instead of the chosen-ones-against-the-evil-mastermind path it's going now?

From a storytelling perspective, I think the plot could have been more consistent if it had remained in the schools with a smaller-scale plot. The gang moves to other schools as part of exchange student programs, and every few seasons end in an Amity tournament at the end of the school years, signifying the move to a new story arc. As the gang settles in the other schools, they get to uncover the backstories and whatnot of various characters.

This would require smaller-scale antagonists and villain-of-the-week setups with various cronies and schemes. Perhaps if it stuck with the season one villains: Ronan and Neo, whose main motivation was nefarious profit, and Cinder, whose original characterization was someone who was so cool and awesome that she simply had to be the best at everything, including gaining all four Maiden powers. You'd likely have to scrap characters like Salem and Oscar who are 100% related to the Big Destiny Plot, but honestly I think it would have remained consistent with the original vibes of the first few seasons.

And of course, you could return to the tried and true method of using classrooms for worldbuilding exposition--how better to explain your lore than to make the characters quiz each other with flash cards about the upcoming test on the king of Vale? Weapons upkeep class (perhaps taught by Professor Qrow, wouldn't that have been better than just hearing about him and Tai being teachers offscreen?) in which Ruby gets to present her scythe and excitedly talk about all the aspects of huntress weaponry?

I think i would have liked that better than the World of Remnant segments because I didn't even learn about those until halfway through season three. And I'm not the kind of person who likes having to find information elsewhere (a la authors posting important backstory details on Twitter), so honestly I would have liked the worldbuilding to, yknow, be in the story instead of as a side piece. But that's just me.