I think it would be nice if there was a way players can rent equipment to other players.

Benefits:
1. People can try out various high level weapons without having to fully commit to crafting one.
2. It will open a new market for people to rent out high level gear instead of trying to flip them for profit
3. The game can collect a flat fee for every rental transaction.

How it might work:
In the trade window, there can be a "rent" checkbox. If the checkbox is selected, a field will show up that allows the player to select the expiration time for the rent. Possible times can be 1 day, 2 days, 4 days, 7 days. The person renting out the item will be charged a fee (paid to the game) depending on the duration selected. (The default is 1 day, so if the player doesn't have 4k crs, the "rent" checkbox would be faded out.)
1 day = 4000 cr
2 days = 10000 cr
4 days = 25000 cr
7 days = 50000 cr

Once the expiration time is selected, the player is allowed to offer one single equipment up for rent.

The person renting the item will only be able to offer crowns or energy once the "rent" checkbox is selected. The renter will be able to see how long the rent duration is. Since the item owner has to pay the tax, they will probably transfer the expense to the cost they charge for the item. However, this system allows super nice people to lend items out to newbies free of charge.

Rented gear can only be equipped on top of an item a player already owns. This is to ensure that if the item is returned, the player won't be stuck with an empty slot in their equipment. For example:
I can equip full Proto armor with Proto sword and shield. I can then equip a rented full Skolver with a rented Voltedge and a rented Volcanic Plate Shield on top of all the Proto gear. The Proto gear no longer shows up in the inspect profile, but it is still treated as equipped in the inventory.

Once the rent expires, the rented item will be automatically returned to the owner via mail. The return process is immediate, so the person renting out the item must be wary of the time if they are in the clockworks. If the rented item is returned, the item equipped underneath becomes the new equipment worn by the knight.

Additional Notes
1. Rented items cannot be traded/sold/crafted,etc. They are automatically fixed to level 5 and do not gain heat and cannot be forged.
2. Rented items can only be equipped by players with the appropriate rank.
3. Rented items cannot be used to satisfy Rank Up requirements.
4. Any equipment (bound or otherwise) that can be sold to vendors can also be rented out. This will not kill off crafting because owning your own weapons still has a lot of nice benefits.
5. Rented equipment cannot be used to make loadouts and cannot be used in Lockdown.
6. Rented items automatically bind when returned. Renting out an unbound item means it will bind when returned. This prevents people from renting and then selling without paying any unbind fee.