Hello Spiral Knights everywhere,

It's a pleasure to be amongst you all in this World of Clockworks, Strangers, Gremlins and other miscellaneous creatures. And yes, the jellies. It has come to my attention that somehow the cost of crowns for energy has made a SIGNIFICANT jump from what it was. I have played for a while and the energy back then was rather cheap. Later it heightened a little, but still manageable enough to be able to grab a few CE after every run. Now, the energy cost seems to skyrocket overnight to the point the cost is more than one could receive in a single run, whether tier 2 or tier 3. I understand that the player base has more control over the cost of CE but with prices as they are now, I do not see the general energy sellers to drop their prices for the sake of the general populace anytime soon. I appreciate the ones that have made the attempt. Some knight somewhere must be rather grateful.

With the significant rise in CE, it appears many are resorting to MIST energy for their runs, although it takes 24hours to be able to replenish 100ME, so the player base may see someone once every other day. Even they seem to be at a steep decline around here because of the price of energy. Without the players being around, there will not be many to sell recipes, weaponry, or armor sets (even if low tier...), no one to run the Clockworks with, or even Boss Battles. I have seen a massive decline in people running for Vanaduke, even though T3 has crowns to spare.

What is my point in all this..? Many runs give a decent payout of about...well, somewhere between 3K-9K Crowns depending. In two days, CE cost spiked from 5200 Crowns to about 6400 Crowns. If this continues, in about a week or so, the prices will be about 7K or even 8K. The profit out of a basic run is killed along with even the Boss runs. Every run will cost about as much as the crowns to purchase energy. There will be no real reason to make a profit by runs alone, so we buy recipes and weapons to make up the difference. Since there is little reason to run due to costs for CE, There is not much to gain from the recipes and materials to craft armor to level and use for Tier 2 or Tier 3 except dress up and have tea on the corner of Haven Town Square. Party at the fountain, perhaps. So we will end up camping about the Auction House, grabbing cheap recipes to resell for a profit to be able to buy our armor sets and energy to make these armors sets. Energy for items are 10, 50, 200, 400, and 800 for bombs weapons and armor sets (if I am missing a few bomb prices, I apologize, I am obviously not a bomber xD) . Most recipes have a profit margin of 2K Crowns to up to 25K (not including Unique Variants, which may have huge profits.) About 25K Crowns are worth about 400CE. That is a 4-star something or other. Just 1. And that's if you sale something REALLY good or High tiered (generally 5-star). For smaller profits, you will be working the market a LONG time before ever reaching 5-star equipment. Who wants to come online just to run auction house when there are PLENTY of things one can do in this game? Clockworks are fun, especially with a great guild. Being able to not look like everyone else and work for costumes for fashion purposes can be fun. Boss Battles are hilarious at times and fun. But the fun is killed when it goes for nothing...but CE. Not everyone can pick out their cards and use hard earned cash for pixelated pleasures and have CE up the broadside. This game was initially free and many believe that is how a game should be: free with a change of faster advancement through appreciation in payments, not pay to get everywhere. Sinking in?

Either way, this is more of me venting about the CE market being so...steep. If you agree, that's great. If you do not, that's you, I have nothing against it. However, views are always good to know and learn, so post your feelings if you wish. Afterall, that's what a forum is for, right? Have fun, Spiral Knights. :D