Well it's not Dragon Force, are you watching FT 2014, then you'll see it in a few weeks.
He's still one of main characters with the most fights, he or Lucy are not playing second Fiddle to Erza or Natsu. same with Lucy, who I wish people would stop neglecting her or Suing her up.
Being a main character and having a lot of fights doesn't equal development though. :x From what I've seen he is playing second fiddle considering how he seems to be lagging in the power department.
The new anime series doesn't look that bad, imo it's better looking then the old series.