A quick starter note: I'm a fan of the game, and I've already got ten bucks in on energy - and will be putting in more, over time. I'm not intending to leave the game anytime soon; I expect to be around a fair while.
Now, I feel that the energy system in the game needs some tinkering. It doesn't need a complete revamp, just a little tuning. Here are my thoughts on how to do that:
-The amount of mist energy a character accumulates over a day should stay capped at 100, but there should probably be a somewhat faster refresh rate (say, 200 / day). Not so much that buying CE isn't tempting - that's how you makes your money, after all - but enough to make it easy to play in longer spans. While this might mean a few less purchases of CE per-player-hour, I think the increase in hours played would also give more exposure to that constant temptation to pick up a little CE. Which is good for everyone.
-The "blocks" of energy you buy / sell with and for crowns should be 50 CE, rather than 100. This will mean that players who are already planning to hunt up the cash and buy with in-game monies will 'stall' less often. Their frustration at not being able to get a good hunt-buy-play-on cycle running, I believe, doesn't push them towards spending more real money; it just makes them annoyed. The promise of awesome equipment and being wicked cool a little faster, that drives real money sales. My opinion on this is anecdotal, but seems to match up with others.
-A materials and goods exchange is needed, preferably right on the same pop-up as for energy. Keep it simple, and do have a tax on it, but not a punishing one. The lack of such an exchange is... Not good.
-With such increases in circulation and base 'energy income', there would also need to be one or more added "sinks" - ways for people to spend energy and have it vanish from the system. Recoloring your character, unbinding items, cool gear for guilds, all the odd little conveniences; if those are all luxuries you can snag, then the added "ins" can be matched up with significant "outs", and also give the top-tier folks stuff to keep on buying.
Thanks for your time and attention to these suggestions;
-Levi
Oh, forgot one:
-As an obvious alternative to increasing basic regen, change the 1 Crown that vendors offer for materials to 1-5 Mist Energy (not crystal, mist - this matters). This will drain off a lot of resource hoards, and it means that materials prices via exchange will never dip so low as to be silly; why would I take your measly ten crowns when I can just grab a top-off and do some more running?