Want a material sink? Want to customize your equipment? I've got a possible solution. My suggestion is that SK use an equipment system like that of Dark Cloud. Some major characteristics are as follows:

1- equipment, when they reach a max amount of heat, can be upgraded to the next "level." Levels would have a cap of 20-25, and the amount of heat required would increase too.(sound familiar?) rather than equipment leveling up automatically, players would go into the menu, equip materials to their equipment (See 2), and then level up their equipment manually. Upgrading could require, say, X amount of ME, where X is the next level. This would still allow three rings to make money and would push players towards building up (see 3) their equipment quickly, rather than decking out their equipment before building up.

2- materials, which are currently used only for forging, could be attached to equipment in material slots (default 2, a UV could be for 3-4 slots or even for a higher level cap), the materials would then be melded with the equipment their attached to when the equipment is upgraded (dash 1). Materials would add or increase certain stats of equipment. This would allow players to customize their equipment.

3- Building up. When equipment has reached a required level for stats, equipment could be upgraded to the next * level, Ex. upgrade a 2* Calibur to the attack and/or speed required to build it up to a 3* Tempered Calibur and build it up when you want to after you've hit the required stats. Building up equipment could still take energy, but not nearly as much as it would take to forge from scratch, maybe 10 from 1-2*, 25 from 2-3*, 50 from 3-4*, and 100 from 4-5*. Plus, the stats of your customized equipment would transfer over to the next level.

4- When an equipment exceeds level 10, players could break down their equipment into spheres that can be attached to other equipment. These spheres would add 30% of the broken down equipment's stats and could maintain UVs or special abilities. This would allow dead end equipment (Super slime slasher anyone?) to be utilized, thus making them worth more than they currently are.

-pros. The upgrade equipment system has many pros for all partys. Three rings could still make their money but players who aren't willing to pay money can still get 4-5* equipment through upgrading. Some may say that players would get bored of level grinding to get 4-5* equipment, but I believe players wouldn't become bored because they are upgrading "their" equipment. The equipment their upgrading is taylor-made to the stats that they want their equipment to be. This system would also make Auction House 3-5* equipment less intriguing because it won't be as strong as the same equipment that has been upgraded from 1-2* equipment. Customized equipment could also not be sold at the auction house because, to customize equipment, you need to level it, which requires that the equipment is bound to you. This system would also be a material sink for all of the unused materials players have.

-cons. Creating the upgrade system would take a major patch, and thus, a lot of time and money that three rings probably doesn't want to spend. Some players (the instant gratification players) might quit because they do not want to spend the hours upgrading their equipment.

What does everyone else think about this? Any additions?