One thing about the older characters being gone is discussions about them, of course, died too. There's nothing new to discuss about old characters, and so people stop discussing them entirely.
Sadly, DP's pacing turned a lot of people off. I know there were a lot of people here who watched DP regularly at the beginning, but then in the middle they kinda phased out of it. I guess that's what happens when 1 arc is stretched over 4 years.
While I'm probably not going to follow Best Wishes regularly, I do think it was an enjoyable ride.