I've never really used accessories until recently because before the last few days, they really never meant anything. But now that I've lost some interest in the actually gameplay on Spiral Knights, I've been just doing auction housing, meeting people, and just managing my character.

So I want to use accessories. Makes me character look all cool and shiny right? I wish :/

This is what I don't get about accessories. Why do they have to be destroyed after taking them off equipment? Does anyone else think that is absolutely ridiculous?

Here's my reasoning for it:

1) It already costs a huge time investment to try new gear. As someone who has switched gear 3-4 times, it takes forever trying to get any decent gear of another set / alchemy line. That's fine, it's a free game, that's cool, they need to make it difficult.

2) That being said, it's gear. Accessories are not. They're 100% cosmetic and do not gameplay.

3) Accessories are already incredibly expensive. If you actually open an iron lockbox, it's minimum 750 Energy. For something cosmetic. While I do think that's quite pricey, that's not the point I'm trying to make or argue. But because they're so expensive, shouldn't you get to keep or sell them if you decide to go with a new look for your character?

4) As a game where it's intense on colorful visuals and atmospheric level design, Spiral Knights should encourage people to try as many accessories as possible to have their own unique character. Can they do it now? Yes. It's expensive. But if you want to change, you just completely lost an accessory. for good.

5) If there's a special one, like the pumpkin one, it's gone. Forever. You can't get it back.

I'm stuck in between 4 and 5. I used the pumpkin one, and I would love to keep it, but I just recently got a Canteen I like better. I also just switched armors so if one looks more appealing, I can't switch it over.

Why? Is there a real benefit to destroying the accessories?

I get that it keeps the number of them down and helps the market from getting incredibly inflated, but given that the cost is so high to get one, I don't think that'll change that much based on destroying it. Even if the market was a bit flooded, it's something totally optional that doesn't affect gameplay, so there's really not that much of a negative effect on the overall quality and experience of the game.

I'm not a new player, but I feel like if I were and saw accessories, I'd want to wear them to stand out and make my character look cool. Sure there's a price. But given that it costs nearly the energy for 5* gear (750 energy), that seems incredibly excessive, especially if you lose it forever because you want to try new looks.

Trying out new options should not penalize the player as harshly as it does, even in a free game. Or that's how I see it. I think that accessories are being done in the wrong way. There's needs to be more encouragement to use them to have "that" character for the player, especially for newer ones. That's how it was for me with gear starting out, but gear was more expensive. Given that gear served a function, sometimes it was worth it, especially when 2-3* gear was affordable. But for that much investment for no function...ouch.

And before someone says you can buy them cheaper at auction, I know. But someone out there had to unlock the box at some point, so somewhere in that a 750CE price was paid.

If I'm missing something, feel free to chip in or correct me. This is how I see it as a relatively experienced player. I really want to use my canteen, but I also want to use my pumpkins at times. I can't do either in this current system, and like I said, something without function shouldn't penalize me this much. I don't get the logic in there, even from a grander scale such as the market influence and other aspects.