Have 5* weapons be about on par with 4* weapons at level 1. As mentioned in this topic, http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/92085, 5* weapons are so much worse than 4* weapons that they are "upgraded" from that it breeds hatred and people feel cheated. This leveling system is very counter intuitive and never made sense except as a way to try and get people to buy heat amplifiers and extra weapons slots just to make the weapon not a joke. It feels horrible using the downgraded weapons.

Lots of new players will find out too late how bad it is, and the in game gear check forces you to "upgrade" a weapon in order to continue missions. If the weapons were considered on par or close to it at first level, then it would not be bad. Helms, armor, and shields don't have this issue and you don't hear much complaining about them. You'd still have people complain about it being more expensive to pay with energy than the old system, but people wouldn't feel cheated.

Orbs are great and allow players to get new gear easier. It allows new players to get farther into the game before reaching what would be considered a paywall. The problem is that the 5* weapon "upgrade" is a deceitful downgrade. It feels like Three Rings is screwing you over due to it being much worse with no realistic way for new knights to even get back to the damage of 4* weapons without paying real money or grinding forever with or without that crappy weapon. I would gladly use energy to buy radiants if the suggestion get implemented. Right now, I feel really resentful and keep suggesting to people not to pay for radiants so that you might reevaluate your weapons or at least not make the drop rate this bad.

Edit:
Even if you pay $9.95 for energy, it will still be worse than the 4* version for most weapons.