Everyone knows about the flood of player-based weapon (and shield) ideas. Some of these ideas are really neat. All of these ideas have excited players jumping for joy at the remote possibility of seeing them in-game, even if the only excited player is the creator themselves. It would be sad to see all this creative energy go to waste.
Let us assume that the most unlikely of scenarios occurs; that there are player-conceived items made playable. The development (and appraisal) of such items would keep the developers busy from doing other development work; in other words, they aren't doing the thing that earns them money.
What if the reverse were true, that these items indeed generate revenue for Three Rings?
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For this, I propose the concept of The Emporium.
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Each player may propose exactly one concept item. Artistic submitters might produce concept art and textures. Other players may choose to promote this item, if they deem the idea to be good. Over time, a list will develop of the community's favored concepts. They may not be refined ideas. However, more experienced players will understand the system better and provide a better perspective on how the item would affect the rest of the game. We can prorate the voting by the number of stars on your current equipment set to favor experienced veteran players and weed out floods of "secondary" accounts. (If you want to unbalance the voting by creating multiple accounts and equipping them all with full Vog Cub armor, you'd have to be a veteran.)
At this point, we now have an item that players generally wish to see in the game. Players may choose to further support this item by backing it with cash; they may choose to donate $5 or $10 towards this cause, perhaps more. If an item has reached a total of $100 (for example) offered from a set of players in the game, it becomes approved. The developers now have an item to produce and funding to produce it, should their schedule be free. Balancing of final stats could be a candid discussion between the designer of the winning item and the game developers themselves.
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To prevent this from becoming a rich snob's game, the newly conceived item would be available to the entire player populace. Concept items must rank high among the player base in order to be funded, to prevent a rich player from creating an unpopular item and funding the whole cost themselves. There should be a limit to the rate of new items conceived this way, to reduce the amount of voting needed and to prevent the developers from being overloaded with work; one new item every two weeks might be reasonable.
The result of this is a Community. Every player's opinion matters when it comes to promoting items. (If you feel strongly about that dual-wielding guns concept, you can further it by earning your 5★'s faster for higher voting leverage; there's a direct way for you to spend effort towards making it.) The creatively-inclined have something to strive for. Players with access to credit cards and Paypal can make it happen. Finally, everyone feels like the game is their own, that the game is something to be treasured and protected. This can go a long way in developing a strong community that stays with the game for many years to come.