I've been a player of spiral knights since the golden days of mist energy and no fire crystals, and I've absolutely loved playing the game. The missions and characters were all unique dynamics, but in past years there hasn't been a move towards game progress. With that in mind, I'd like to suggest a couple of things. First, new pets.
As we know it, Spiral Knights has no use for the green or blue minerals, and as such they're just pretty things to look at in the arcade. What if we had a couple of exclusive pets that were fit to those minerals?
Green Mineral: What if we could have a nature centered pet that physically altered the terrain around you? For example (for now let's call it Gaea after the greek god of the Earth) Gaea's 3 could be to create a hollow 4x4 of breakable blocks, either trees or bricks, depending on the current biome you're in. It's evolution could be the shape you want it in, or how deep (maybe a 5x5, but double thick).
Blue Mineral: We don't really have a water type in game, so I've been playing around with the idea for a while. What if we had a pet that made all enemies in a certain zone (would have to do some shepherding and some strategic placement) take neutral damage from all sources, code name Asklepios (greek god of medicine, like a monster cleanse)? So, say you were killing the Jelly King, and you had only piercing weapons. In any normal circumstance, they'd deal weak damage, hardly any really. What this pet would do though would "cleanse" the enemies of their class, to the point where say a Blitz Needle (primarily pierce) would deal normal damage to the Jelly King. It's an easy way for Knights who haven't quite been able to fully specialize in equipment to suddenly be relevant in game. Crit hit weapons would remain crit hit, but everything else would stay normal.
Missions: We haven't had new missions in ages. Granted, there's prestige missions that rotate out but after a while even those become repetitive. So, I've been thinking about how our current mission set can be continued. We're currently fresh into the core, with new knowledge about Alpha Team and Parma's drone telling us about the Sleeper and the Swarm. Also, current Shadow Lairs hint about a great threat, where the sanctuary is really the only safe haven in the core. What if we continued the story line by us delving to at least find the bodies of Alpha Team (the ones that passed) and meeting Parma face to face? After that mission could be one where we actually can't find the bodies, then mission 3 comes and it's arena style and we face off against the reanimated, core versions of Alpha Team? Each piece of the arena could be modeled after a great feat of one of the members, where maybe Grantz (the Squad Guardian) could have a missile themed room (took a missile hit and barely flinched, read RT module) and Parma (Squad Scout) could be a puzzle room, in the style of like scouting things out and disarming traps? After each battle each member of the squad could be almost like poisoned by the core, and it's your job to bring the members of the squad to the sanctuary where you can craft a vial that is a cure, after which you can apply to Squad and bring them back from essentially the dead. It would be a really cool way to meet Alpha Squad face to face, and would be an amazing way to continue the story.
Anyways, thanks for ya'll who read this, I'd love for a Dev to check this out because at the moment I feel the game is at a lackluster point. We've got Halloween and Christmas mission style events (with lockbox events based around IRL things like the equinox or St. Patty's Day) but they're a yearly thing that have been around since essentially the start of the game. Let me know what ya'll think in the comments of my ideas, and please feel free to offer suggestions for story plot or abilities on Gaea and Asklepios, I'd love to hear them.
Cool idea for a new mission and pets but this isnt really what the suggestions board is for. This would take far, far too much time to make and is far too specific of an idea for them to ever take seriously or put into effect.
That being said, you are right to feel that the game is at a lucklaster point because it has been for quite a few years now. Nothing any of us can do can fix that, it is entirely due to the team behind the game.
To talk about the neutral damage to everying pet though, this could have been okay if arsenal stations were never introduced. At the moment you can change gear at the beginning of almost every depth. Weapons that deal neutral damage are also extremly effective at times (acheron vs beasts outdoes flourish and mixer vs fiends outdo piercing guns).