Some stuff that I and my SO talked about while we had the downtime, regarding our favorite game. We've talked about some cool concepts and as well some idealistic changes that could happen to the game itself more-so in my perspective.

-- Shadow Lairs ---

They don't feel as valid to run these days, especially regarding the loot and events more so ran for endgame content. It's been through several adjustments, good and bad, but I can say right off the bat that it doesn't offer as much as it should. It is WAY too expensive to run, even for gear that a Knight would like to add to their collection. The input is much more than the output and makes it not even worth it for most endgame players. Here are a few suggestions to help spice up and possibly make it more appealing to do Shadow Lairs.

- Bump the price of Shadow Lair keys from 1800E down to 750E, along with not having them appear in Lockbox pools anymore. It's unreasonable that non-DLC endgame content should cost you more than $5 worth of energy a run by yourself and unboxing a key for a key seems strange. With a 4 man squad as well, the split cost would be under 200E per person; Much more reasonable than 450E (over $1 of energy) considering the loot for running a Shadow Lair currently.
- The output of Crowns should change from 10k Cr to 15k Cr non-Shadowfire Vanaduke and 20k to 30k for Shadowfire Vanaduke.
- New weapon crafts to add to the Alchemy Machine. Perfect opportunity to apply Diskguns, Shocking 5* Trokia, and a Skeleton-themed Flourish.
- Rarities also appear on the ground to pick up alongside Treasure Boxes and the boss material. Each Shadow Lair would be able to give you an additional 5 Sparks of Life and 27 Radiant Fire Crystals to add to your inventory. When you reach The Sanctuary, not only will you get the Boss Material, but 3 Eternal Orbs as well to pick up alongside.
- When you arrive at The Sanctuary, you would be able to use the Forge System at half price for leveling up your gear. That way, you don't waste Fire Crystals after running the Shadow Lair with gear that's still being leveled up.
- A possible new mineral would be included that only appears in The Sanctuary that each player can pick up.

Speaking of Minerals...

--- Minerals ---

Minerals currently have lost both interest and usage outside of Battle Sprites and collecting for fun. Gate Construction dropped off a few months after the release of the Battle Sprite Update, especially when all the gates would be mostly Freeze-themed and the occasional Shock/Construct. It would be great to introduce back the ability to Mineral Deposit that wouldn't influence the whole stratum of Gates, but to help cycle while you're depth exploring in the actual Arcade yourself. Adjustments & suggestions will be included below.

- Bring back Mineral Deposits in a different form which is used during Arcade runs rather than in Haven to influence the Themes for Stratums. Legacy Achievements will be brought back as well for Steam users.
- Have Mineral Deposits be nearby the Elevator at the end of a depth to help select what level should appear next instead of waiting it out (exp. Swapping to Jelly Farms with a Valestone or swapping to Jelly Farms II with a Luminite). No payout is included, but it guarantees the next depth to stay in place.
- Introduce new Sprites to help balance out the usage of minerals and as well as spice up choices. Wild Mote/Dust/Stone/Orb/Star co-relating to Valestone, while Wisdom Mote/Dust/Stone/Orb/Star co-relating to Moonstone.

For a section, I'd also like to possibly introduce 2 New Minerals that would appear in the Clockworks as well.

Name: Amberflint
Color: Orange
Reason of Color: Co-relates to the final piece of the central 6 in the color wheel. Red, Blue, and Yellow represent the Primary colors while Purple, Green, and Orange are the Secondary colors.
Material Variants: Orange Shard; Desire Mote/Dust/Stone/Orb/Star
Representation: Hope, Dreams, and Ambition.
Enviormental Influence: Curse and Sleep status depths + 3 new Monster Families to be introduced that would use this said mineral.

Name: Danburite
Color: White/Grey
Reason of Color: Due to how white represents all the colors in the color spectrum and that black would be if you were to combine all through pigments, it would technically become something and nothing at the same time. It's also a nod to Grey Havens as well.
Material Variants: Most likely would contribute to Shadow Lairs via crafting system or towards the Proto Sprites/HQ Scouts
Representation: Abstraction, Complexity, and Concept.
Enviormental Influence: Crystalized energy from the Core that attracts many powerful foes to its sources... Including the void...
Additional Interactions: Once placed into Depth 22's Elevator, a possible chance of one of the gates would be unlocked at Depth 23. The chance of that happening would be less than 1%. They would also appear only in The Sanctuary at the end.

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Those are a few things that I would suggest doing in regards to both Minerals and Shadow Lairs. I might see if I can come back and edit this post in the near future, but this is what's popping into my head in the dead of night.