User blog comment:N7EagleEye/New Mass Effect 4 Details/@comment-183.90.103.148-20130626065702

I think ME4 may possibly take place during the Prothean era, 50000 years ago. There's a lot of lore to expand on, since their war with the reapers then was a few centuries long, their backstory has been well established, and the prothean empire was very different from civilisation today (& thus interesting to build and play.) According to Javik in ME3 dlc, there were early asari & salarian during their time, so it would be fun for long time ME players to explore. Perhaps the rachni can make an appearance. We get to see a galaxy before human civilisation came to be; lots of rich stuff to explore. Perhaps the main quest/storyline would be to get the beacons up and try to ensure preservation of Prothean race against the collectors -- or something along that line.

The part about the new protagonist not being a soldier could just mean that he/she would not be human. Doesn't mean we can't have a Prothean mercenary/hero/renegade.

One thing is right - the ME universe created by the trilogy is so rich that it would be a shame to just end at ME3. I don't think we should revisit the Commander Shepard story - that should end with the current great lineup - but I'm open to a new main character, even if not human :)