So, you guys are keeping Shadow Lair difficulty... but the reward is the same? I'm sorry, but that isnt going to sit well with the community. You need to increase the rewards in order for the community to be satisfied with this change. Here's my possible changes.
Change 1: Raw Payout
Simple, we increase the amount of crowns and rarities Shadow Lairs are dropping significantly. It's taking the average player tons of sparks to clear one, they need something to seek after behind it. Maybe change the red boxes to purple. Considering the playerbase is always starving for Radiant Fire Crystals, perhaps greatly increase that.
Change 2: New Drops
We could introduce new drops to Shadow Lairs, perhaps variant tickets as possible drops. Maybe drastically increased odds of getting an equipment piece to drop. What if each Shadow Lair had a rare trinket or something that could drop?
Change 3: New Craftables
Sanctuary hasn't had any new craftable since it's release. People like weapons, perhaps add some new variants of existing weapons here that are really good. Maybe you could even introduce a craftable mixer this way...but as if that would happen :C
Conclusion
I think all of these combined will make Shadow Lairs much more worth running considering you guys are keeping the difficulty, I hope you make some changes so many people are able to enjoy Shadow Lairs again. Remember YOU guys made it cost more time and money to do these things, but we're not getting anymore in return. Please consider these ideas.
Shadow lairs are not fun now and require a lot of sparks to get through. I tried Snarby with my friends and almost ended up quitting in the final depth because of a shortage of sparks. Monsters barely drop anything useful and the payout is incredibly low compared to the amount of time, sparks, and ce wasted.
I would never go on a shadow lair after this experience if nothing changes.
However, there could be some kind of buff issued to weapons when entering a shadow lair to make things less dreadful.
Anyway, I completely agree with Rakaraka.