There definitely needs to be balance.
I get so tired of the retreads of the first two movies, drawing from the first two films tropes, using the same factions, revisiting the same locations, answering questions nobody gave a damn about as a main selling point.
But they are so familiar to the franchise you can't just abandon them either.
That balance is tough. I'd expand on known factions and locations and introduce others that make sense within the narrative. But PLZ no more Hadley's Hope or Acheron stories, for the love of god.
I also don't like taking the franchise in some crazy ass direction. As much as White showed the positive potential of the black goo, I still think that is going to be the most Marvel esque bullshit the franchise will ever be involved in and now it is in the series bones and will never leave without a total reboot. NEED A SUPERVILLIAN FOR YOUR COMICS-BLACK GOO, NEED TO MAKE THE ALIEN EVEN DEADLIER-BLACK GOO, NEED TO MAKE A HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENT-BLACK GOO. Its that kind of shit that I totally wish was never introduced into the plot and its that kind of stuff that will not go away after it is introduced. The BLACK GOO is more dangerous than the Aliens are. I'm also totally against the engineer retcons. 15' tall biomechanical pilot species becomes a 10 tall blue bald dude who is seemingly just a wizened human. I don't even know why it aggravates the f**k out of me it just does.
The writers/producers have to find the balance of moving forward from what is known, and not just haphazardly throwing a stick of new idea dynamite at the story for the lulz.