Found out my steam account IS capable of accessing the forums.... so, as i discussed with people last night when i found this fact; these forums are about to be serious business.... any odds you thought i was joking with the letter you received, or are you truly ignoring everyone? Well, suppose that is not my job here.... but according to that letter, what was it? Oh yes! I am to post the letter so everyone knows it exists. The one that i requested a dev answer... the one that says EVERYTHING that is wrong with this update.... and that we are waiting for you to confess as to what is being done and make it right. Since battle sprites are due mid-month, you now have only shot yourselves in the foot by leaving it unanswered: you have 3 days tor respond.... or we will all know why. Without further adieu, i must ask if you are familiar with..... this:

"I regret to say, yes, you have another piece of flame-mail... you have likely gotten at least 100 or so from plenty of disgruntled players. Having given a run-through on all of your new updates in the preview, i will summarize my analysis with this: there are easier ways to make your wallets weigh more. I am certain this may be a bit of a wild accusation, but as far as things go, and noting your objective, it does not meet the stated objective... it only serves to meet the money objective. Me and the community seem to share qualms, so this is the list of the big ones for convenience, and a good explanation as to why.
REVIVES: Revives costing a fixed 10 ce amount is nice... free, full health revs are good. Disallowing party revs, not so. and certainly is not a way of encouraging team play as you said. You cannot say you are encouraging teams, and put this in. Teams, in most cases (from experience); serve to add a little extra firepower, and help ensure the party does not fall apart. You are necessitating that we ourselves pitch in to our own success with what is, in the grand scheme of things, real money. Yes, REAL money. because even if it is bartered, it still initially came from a PAID source that may have changed hands 10, or 100 times but it is REAL. You are now requiring money be put on the table if you are not full 5*, or happen to have a better connection and fast fingers. And as far as your "Observations" go, paid revs are ALWAYS more frustrating than health revs. It makes loadouts more linear for those who wanted health to act as medics (i hate linear loadouts... i cringe every time i am asked in FSC: "do u hav blitz?" as i know a kick is soon to follow); And, being as it removes a party mechanic, does NOT improve team play, only bank made.
RANK REQUIREMENTS ON ITEMS:
thank you... thank you for making me clear my schedule for the next half-month so i am not stuck in proto. I needed that. BADLY. Honestly... i have exactly 327 hours invested in this game (15 i9n the preview), i stopped counting FSC runs at 40, i have even invested about 8 bucks into your benefit check, and you are going to leave me with nothing if i do not work up to vanguard. I was a recruit when i heard of this today... and quite honestly; i half lost faith THEN and there. I had half begun to say goodbye to all my guild members. If they had not motivated me to do them, and ensured me i could (i am a soldier as of now, by the way) i would no longer be a working part of the community. Based on my rate of progress (made it to soldier over 5 hours time), i WILL make it, but this is still ridiculous. And that does not account for an uncalled for number of your BETA testers who never had ANY of these rules who have not played and may pick it back up. As well as any inactive people you may have. This change may very well be the worst of the bunch. It is a stab toward those who are casual players, it is a stab at beta testers, it is a stab at people with less time on their hands, it is a stab at those who spent their time getting equips out of the way before rank, it is a stab at everyone but; guess who? Your bank account, and the site hosts that bill you. And your taxes, and ANYONE that you are paying with the money you make off of people panickedly buying energy to make their way up. They will be proto-locked. Revs are not free, so they will be forced into buying their every rev while doing 5-2 in proto. not to mention the amount of energy they are inherently required to get up there. Does not prevent alts, and inversely only earns you MORE money than you do on the people who pay for 5*. It also broadens your audience, and lowers that pretty little 7.6 rating on IGN. But, all in the name of money, right?
DIFFICULTY:
SURE! how about we make it even MORE fun for free players, and make the main way of earning money for those who dont dump a surplus of 20$ into our game worthless? THAT SOUNDS GREAT! Sure it takes an hour to run vana; but who cares? Let us make it so the vana they are used to is the one no-one does, and throw in one where defenses are meaningless, you earn only about 1k more than normal, and you only survive by hacking? PERFECT! (if you do not get that this is sarcasm by now, you never will and i am getting support from sheldon dylan couper) Honestly... vana ALREADY takes enough time to grind. We already work hard enough for our bread. Now you make it harder? if you do this, there better be a removal of the binding system shortly following. Otherwise, NOONE will ever get to 5*. Except, of course, those whom invest their money in the game repetitively. They may sell off their ce for the unfaltering average 7.2k ce prices, selling in bulk to people who genuinely need it just to crawl a more painful vana run to buy a 5* full set while the rest struggle just to get 4* now. this is the clearest example of the P2W future of spiral knights this update promises. [No personal attacks please.] This also has nothing to add to team play... it does not detract, but no addition. For those who have no shadow lair experience (a P2W addition), it will only make their F2P life a bad one.

CONCLUSION:
There was already the calm encouragement for donation. This is a .45 revolver aimed at the head to force it for any real progress. That makes this game aimed at already-millionaire, 5*, best UV's all max, vanguard; and generally people who pay to achieve that ideal. People who appreciate what you do (sometimes more than paying members), but do not fatten your wallets are axed. For those with nothing but accessories to buy, it is about 8/10. For those who pay, 10/10. For us who don't frequent pay, have little time, have low progress, lack a .0001 second reflex to push a button, or actually form a community and like to interact in this great and free way as opposed to being in the seven-year-old "my mommy is a lawyer who pays for everything" cults who fill the LD matches and only live to destroy the community, anywhere from 5.5/10, to 0.5/10. sprites mean you get a guaranteed .5/10, but i would honestly rather you just said nothing were ever to change again but bugfixes. This is 4 stabs in the back with a prison shiv to all of them. To me, as well. It does not accomplish your broadcasted intent. It only makes your vault a few greenbacks fuller. There are plenty of team play elements to add... none of these inhabit the list. Level requirements are, in fact, not foreign to gaming.. but all other games put them in AT LAUNCH if they are going to have them... you are bargaining on new players who will not know it different, and this covers more. This knifes any old players with progression issues or with low time another two times, to the chest this time.

This game is a fun experience. The community is nice, the art style is something i have come to love, it has a decent story, and i am all for anything that does not require payment for all it has to offer. Do not change that. There are places i could go and take my potentially-to-be-spent money besides here if you do... but i don't. We don't. We could go places like this one soon to join the free-to-play 3D mmo roster: http://www.aq3d.com/, but we like it here; we really do. Don't change that, or everyone WILL leave. Look at the statistics: about 4 posts in the ENTIRE feedback forum actually support it. out of 39. Think about that. that is 1/10 people... who like what you are doing. take your player number, divide it by 10. That is your future population. The bit that does not care about this. DO you actually read that forum?

Posted, just in case you think i am making this all up:
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/83404

add this, if you think we can be ignored:
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/83442

add this; in case you thought we can be silenced... this is a person i have seen as a big, credible site contributor, too:
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/83491
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/83508

and in case you think this will go forgotten if unmentioned, my guild website shall have recorded this post, and so shall all of the SK forums (i will ensure it indirectly through a confidant, as i connect via steam and can't use the forums); so you can't shy it off. Banning will only make it worse, too. Provide your community the feedback response they rightly deserve. Making this simply, i request response telling me IF you are listening, and IF these will change. If not, me and that 9/10ths will walk ASAP, and ensure not one joins again. As i am not arrogant to the fact that you are merely a member of support, i request this reach a dev, and if possible, that they give input.

All of cradle is waiting. Please respond if you do not wish we assume the worst... silencing will prove the worst."

Now... all of cradle truly is waiting. Please, do us all AND yourselves a favor: Listen to us.... we KNOW what we are saying... tell us you acknowledge it and fix this broken update or whittle it down to just the sprites... forget any of these changes. Unless you seriously take us into account soon; this update is bad, and you should feel bad

Oh; and before you delete this hoping it won't exist and covering it up, i was not sure exactly which thread on this part of the forums it went under, so i posted it in all of 'em that didn't have a fixed topic, and made it it's own. Regretting nothing. Have fun.

proverb of the day time (Ezekiel 25:17):. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

A spokesman for the hopefuls seeking to be heard,
~DestroyerOfTheNorth