So these are some of my ideas along with other ideas I've seen, read, and heard through the forums, and in game...
1) More Levels:
Adding more levels too the clock works would be a great improvement to the game in the aspect that the higher skilled players will have something new to search out and venture in. The monsters in these levels should be new also. (In the opening quests you're faced by a giant Lumber sentinel) and in the danger missions there are new monsters that only show up there. These along with some new monsters should be a Very welcome addition to the game.
2) Gear/Spiral Knight Level and Damage:
With the addition of deeper clockworks levels There would be new added missions to play and with the new missions a higher ranking system to get to such as Earl, Duke, Grand Duke etc. Also with higher levels there should be an increase in equipment level passed the 5* range maybe even to a max of 10* items. I realize that with the added star levels the whole game would have to be redone with damage calculations and rework all the weapon and armor details and increase the damage/defense tally area to account for the new items increased stats above the current 5* items.
With the max rank being 10-2 and the equipment being 5* the new level max should be raised to 20-X since the items would be raised to a 10* max level now.
3) New Weapons:
Not new weapon Types, but new weapons such as 2 handed weapons, long range guns, land mine type bombs. Each new weapon would already fall into the basic categories of Sword(melee weapon), Bomb (midrange weapon), and gun (long range weapon).
The 2-handed melee weapons could be Axes, Hammers ( I understand the Crimson hammer is already out) Maces, Spears. Each of these has their own unique traits and characteristics such as... Spears would have a farther melee attack range than others (not as far as a bomb would if you stood at the center of the blast) but about 3/5 the distance along with a semi high attacked due to it being a spear with slightly increased damage. Axes would be able to have a 180 degree hit range in front of the character along with increased damage from being a 2-handed weapon, rather than 45 degrees like most. Hammers would have a low chance to cause a stun off basic attacks along with increased damage. Maces would have a possible bleed effect that would cause the afflicted enemy to lose a bit of hp each second along with impairing their movement for a short while ( some maces depending on the weapon line can be wielded single handed).
The Guns would be more like Sniper rifles, rocket launchers, and artillery type guns. The rifles would have a high damage output but a very slow attack speed that would only be able to attack through a weapon charge and has the unique characteristic to pierce up to 3 enemies in a single line. Rocket launchers would act like the rickets the gun puppies launch in the sense that they cause a big blast at the impact location where they hit a wall or monster with a very low set attack speed that can't be increased by trinkets, armor (swiftstrike buckler) or sprite perks and the unique characteristic to have a chance to do a "concussive blast" where the afflicted monster(s) will move slower and lose their targeting for a short duration along with a bleed that does a little extra damage per second to enemies. The artillery guns will be a charge only with a Very high damage output and are charge only and can be fired from large distances elsewhere on the visible map ( as you run through each one, making it more useful in team runs rather than solo) and have the same style characteristic as the rocket launcher.
The Land mind type bombs could be tripwire bombs, basic land mines, or low motion detector type bombs. All bomb will still have to be charge attack only like current ones. The tripwire bombs would have to be set in areas 3 squares apart or less (4 depending on tripwire bomb) with the unique characteristic of paralyzing the first enemy that hits the wire (unless hit by multiple around the same time). The basic land mine bombs would be laid on the ground only in earthen areas (not usable in construct levels due to not being able to bury them) with the unique characteristic of causing a heavy stun on the monster(s) in the blast zone and causing a bleed for a short duration. The Low motion detector bombs would hold their charge until a mobile monster comes within the blast range (won't go off if just gun puppies or howlitzers are the only monsters in range due to them being stationary targets) with the unique characteristic of slowing enemies and disorienting them due to the bomb blast when nobody is near.
4) "Legendary" Items:
Items that are considered "Legendary" should have a near 0% drop rate and appear randomly at only the deepest depths of the clockworks during random boss encounters on levels (not set boss encounters like snarbolax, jellyking, roarmulus twins, or vanaduke). These items should have 3 weapons one for each class (gun, sword, bomb) and a basic armor set along with weapon specific sets. They should be able to be brought to a Special version of a Punch and Vise workshop that can only be used on Legendary items. This workshop will let you pick which increase you would like on the item although it would cost a minimum of 500,000 crowns and give a minimum or a medium increase, with a very high Unique Variant costing 1,500,000 crowns and the maximum stat of your choosing costing 2 million crowns. Due to the items being legendary they can get a max of 5 UVs (which the tickets can be purchased at the special shop) some of the Variants these items can receive can be reversed where weapons can receive resistance variants and even damage type variants and armor can receive damage variants and other normal weapon specific variants. If a full set of these legendary items is gathered it will then reveal a special UV which would be predetermined based on the set collected.
5) Guild Specific Events:
There should be guild specific events in the game such as Guild arcade races where there is special arcade levels made specifically for guilds to run through with 10 people at a time max, and you earn points based on weapons used, time finished and monsters slain. Also thee should be events that the guild can do to generate crowns for the guild automatically without having to donate their own crowns. There should also be guild Prestige missions which can be completed by various ranked members ( each rank would be able to complete a harder prestige mission with guild hall/ guild specific items given as rewards. ( Guild Prestige would also be a rank system as seen in #6)
6) Ranking System:
A ranking system should be added to the game with different criteria and achievements for each one such as... "Most Popular guild" where it has the most people logged on within the passed week. "Most Prestigious" Which could be the player with the highest Prestige and would change whenever the rankings change which could be each day or a week or a month and they could also be grouped into sections (Rank1, Rank2, Rank3, Rank 4-5, Rank 6-10, rank 11-25, etc.) The rankings would be able to be viewed Cradle wide regardless of server.
7) Dual-Wielding:
The aspect of dual-wielding weapons would be a widely popular aspect of the game if added. When it's added it obviously would allow characters to remove the shield and replace it with a second sword or gun (bombs take 2 hands to set up so they wouldn't be able to be used in this sense). Due to the shield being removed and a second damaging item being added it will essentially let you do twice as much damage (depending on which 2 weapons are used) but on the other hand you receive twice as much damage due to not having a shield anymore.
This should also be included into the game due to the fact that when you reach the core there is a SK Warden that is holding 2 Grand Flourishes which would seem to mean that the player (as a Spiral Knight) should be able to dual-wield weapons also.
8) Player Names:
Due to the Age of the game and how long some players have been around I feel there should be a time limit where if a player has been inactive for 4+ YEARS then the name should be released and be able to be reused again and the character who's name was given up would be able to have a free name change. ( they would be able to keep the same name if it hasn't been taken by the time they return otherwise they'd have to pick a new one just out of fairness to the new character with said name)
1:
As you know, Clockwork levels are typically made up of pre-existing sectors. Like a puzzle. That's why no level is ever the same. I do love this idea, yeah, it'd be nice to see them reuse some monsters or objects.
2:
That would be a very complex system. New missions and new weapon stars would take a lot of time to make. We'd need orbs, fire crystals, etc. And Grey Havens themselves have said that new missions are a possibility, not a certainty. But I would like to see some better ranks to separate the men from the boys.
3:
Once again, that suggestion is VERY complex. Creating new weapons does require quite a bit of work, but creating new weapon types is a whole other story.
The bleed idea with maces is not something that will be implemented into the game.
As for the guns, sniper rifles already exist but in a different sense. The Magnus' charge attack is slow but penetrates all enemies in front of it. Explosive weapons do sound pretty unnecessarily powerful, but don't seem like a bad concept. The Drakon's first ability is something resembling that, so it's not too bad. As for a charge only artillery, a charge-only weapon does seem interesting, but not in the way that you suggested.
As for the tripwire bombs, the whole idea of only having them placed in earth soil does seem like it can severely affect the weapon's usability. It seems to be an interesting idea too, having motion activated bombs. As for how they'd work in PvP is something I'm curious about.
4:
A concept of Legendary Class items does seem overpowered, but it sounds very neat. There are rare drops in the Clockworks, like the Darkfang Shield, so I don't see why not.
5:
Yes. I second this idea, I see NOTHING wrong with it. Next!
6:
A ranking system sounds similar to a scoreboard. A scoreboard is something I'd prefer to see, because there's a scoreboard-esque thing on SK, but it could probably be improved on.
7:
I've seen this idea suggested so many times, and it brings a lot of complexities. How will the dual wielding attacks work? Grey Havens will need to make new animations for it, and a new system of dual wielding could really mess up weapon switching.
And as for Valeyn, she uses two Flourishes. But that's only because her shield has been swapped for a weapon. She doesn't use the second Flourish, it's just there for show. Creating dual wielding would be a complex system.
8:
Doesn't seem too bad. It's not unheard of to have games clear out their username cache over a period of time.