As far as I can see, spiral knights could use more material sinks. From the time that I started to now many material prices have dropped 80% or more.
Many mats never seem to sell quickly if at all.
So I was thinking that a good way to reduce the material surplus would be to allow then to be deposited in gates. what this could do is modify a floor/stratum by adding/changing new paths, areas, weather effects, or enemies. Levels could be made easier/harder with more variety and secrets.
You could make a level easier for certain gear so that you can move on to lower floors or you can make in harder for the opportunity of getting more loot/crowns/secrets.
This suggestion could increase replay value of levels and hopeful get the material economy moving again.
Oof. Hard part about this is that customizing levels with materials would bring nightmares to any programmer. It's hard enough making so many levels without making so many variations to levels. But I agree that materials hardly ever get sold. Mostly because the AH has saturated demand for materials, as they've become so easy to obtain that prices are forced to drop to keep up with middling demand. Solution? A mild decrease in material drop rates.