The energy system as it stands is very good, with only one minor problem and one potentially game-breaking problem. The minor problem is immediately apparent- New players, who are at that crucial stage whether they decide the game is worth playing or not, have their gameplay severely limited by the current system. They do not get desirable loot from dungeons, and do often fail to get far enough to make enough crown to cover their dungeoning costs. As a result they have to wait for their energy to recharge multiple times, especially when equipment costs for entering Tier 2 are factored in. This can easily ruin the game for more impatient players, and they'll leave without knowing that f2p is entirely sustainable at later stages. Currently, for tier 2 and 3 players it fairly easy to get enough crown via Crystal Energy to buy more at a profit, however tier 1 players often do not and can't afford Crystal Energy in the first place. Some consideration should be taken to make the game a bit more easily accessible at the sensitive early stages for new players, while also minimizing the chance of abuse by veteran players.
The potentially game-breaking problem is not immediately apparent, as it hasn't actually happened yet, but it is something that anyone can see will happen eventually. Currently, the entire game's economy and f2p strategy is based on CE being sold for crowns- There are people who are supplying CE for the rest of the players and thus make it playable for others. Time and again evidence has been shown that when there is a dip in the number of new players, the price of CE begins to climb rapidly, and when there is a flood of new players the price falls. I theorize that this is because most CE buyers are newbies who wish to quickly establish themselves within the game instead of crawling up the slow stages like normal. Furthermore, there is little reason to sell CE unless you're either a merchant, (which means you're doing it at a profit, most likely selling CE you already bought at a cheaper price via crowns, and thus not benefiting the market in any way) or you're low on Crown but have lots of CE. (You can't buy crown with money directly, and recipes/alchemy still cost crown as well, so even a CE buyer would need to sell some to get crown unless they want to grind the dungeons for it. Most t2/t3 players usually will not find themselves at a loss for crown, so this further evidences that newbies are the primary CE salesmen.)
In any case, the point is that there is a correlation between fresh players and CE availability, and that keeping a stream of new players coming into the game is directly within the interests of both the free players and Three Rings for obvious reasons. However, there are also dire consequences should the number of players begin to fall. As I mentioned, when the number of new players (or players in general) begins to decrease, the cost of CE begins to increase, and the game becomes more difficult for everyone to continue playing-- especially the newbies who can't profit from Crystal Energy yet. This can potentially just lead to a lot of people buying energy and balancing the market out, but it can also theoretically begin a vicious cycle of more people leaving because of energy prices, less people joining and energy costs continuing to climb as a result- the game could have it's own market crash, and it would be disastrous for everyone involved. I think for the sake of both encouraging players to keep bringing fresh players into the game and for stabilizing the market should the population take a dip, a referral system awarding Crystal Energy (and possibly even some cool/unique prizes, though most importantly Energy in SOME form for the sake of keeping the market stable) should be added to the game. With a referral system that awards energy, players in general who might not be aware of the indirect benefits of inviting others to the game will have an incentive to invite. Furthermore, if energy prices begin to reach unsustainable levels, they'll be theoretically met by an increase in player referrals for the sake of getting energy without spending too much crown, followed by a slight decrease in demand, as well as a flood of new players. (A percentage of whom will be buying CE and contributing to market stabilization, others will also be inviting friends to help build up enough wealth to sustain themselves within the game.) Furthermore, this can also answer the above issue with newbies, because they would be able to get out of the tier 1 slump more easily by inviting others to gain more energy for equipment and dungeons.
So yeah, that's my wall of theorycraft regarding the game. Overall, I love comparing this game's energy system to the oil-based economy of the real world. Like oil, CE literally fuels almost the entire economy of Spiral Knights, but it is a 'limited' resource and could eventually run out, which would be catastrophic if we are not prepared for said event. My idea simply attempts to make CE a bit less of a limited resource while also directly benefiting Three Rings, who still obviously need to sell CE to keep the game running. The referral system obviously shouldn't give energy to the point that everybody can quit buying CE and only invite others in order to play the game, it is simply a fail-safe to stabilize the market and the game should things begin to go out of control, as well as a method to encourage healthy growth of the game's population in general.
If you actually read all that, thanks. I know I could probably have compiled my thoughts better, but hopefully people understand what I'm saying and give it a serious thought regardless.
As a side note, other than those two issues, I feel that there is nothing wrong with the system at all. I feel that the elevator costs, alchemy costs, and all the other Energy costs of the game are perfectly fine and fair to both free and paying players. It is simply a little more difficult for new players to start out than it needs to be, and the ever-present nightmare scenario caused by the playability of the game being directly tied into the market of a consumable, limited resource.
TL;DR: What happens when people stop buying CE from real life money?
This is a very real problem and I don't think there is a real solution to it.
First off, the game needs to retain stable players. New players will only buy something from a game that seems worth it. And seeing other players is very VERY influential.
Invites also need to keep coming. (which is where the problem lies) What happens when Spiral Knights becomes one of those games that people say "Oh? SK. yeah... been there done that." Buying CE from real money is only important for new players or new characters because by tier 2, CE trades are so obtainable, it becomes almost infinite. Also the reason behind the CE market is when new players make the common "mistake" of buying too much CE that they don't know what to do with it.
Sure new armors and features will work for sometime, but that's just it. it will work for SOMEtime. Sooner or later, the lack of CE will cause the game's demise, and the need for a Spiral Knights sequel.
My Ideas:
-The Release on April 4 seems to work with a lot of people spending for CE for that sudden refresh with interest. Maybe you can build benefits for purchasers. Not necessarily refreshes. Maybe a raffle and you enter a ticket for every 200 energy bought since (insert time and date here)
-Do what Artix Entertainment does. A Beta Server with early releases that can be brought to the normal server for people who pay for energy. Entrance could be granted at limited times depending on the amount of CE purchased and the recency of those purchases.
-Give the game a wonderful story. When the game dies, release a complete epic line of events or quests. This may seem odd, but it works with WoW. What would happen is that Old players would come back and buy CE because they want to be first to beat that shiny new boss, and invite new players cause they think the game is awesome.