Overworld******************************************************************

There's a road blocked off in the main town square. In the future, post whatever events there might be, I would like to see other places one could go to.
The game reminds me of .hack in many ways, so the idea would be we could have several themed overworlds with weak monsters to populate it (since it's further from the core.) They would be similar to dungeons, but static in nature and featuring no dropped materials or chests. The only things monsters WOULD drop is small amounts of crowns.

Hidden here, however, could be other gates, leading to dungeons that feature theme'd areas (rather than the clockworks which the themes change regularly.) This would mean something like all ICE or all JELLY. You could travel to these places in order to focus on collecting a particular kind of material. These dungeons would only go a certain number of strata down, though, so you couldn't reach the core, bosses, or vanaduke this way. The deepest would only barely reach into tier 3, and tier requirements still apply. You also won't find basil, treasure stages, or arenas here. You could possibly discover hidden 'rare gates' which house some kind of unique enemy, item, or experience. Something worth discovering...discovery is always fun and could add to the oevrall storyline.

The second effect is, also like .hack, you could have new cities, perhaps some for characters who've obtained a certain tier. Say all are welcome to Haven, but you must be tier 2 to access "Babylon." Some form of qualification could be used, maybe even 'factions.'

One of these cities could feature the return of the PVP system, and other cities could implement other player suggested ideas, such as an Auction house, or other trade venues. Certain cities could feature special trades, like Guild Schematics, Weapon tempering (See this topic), or even the costume shop.

Cities would have thier own arcades to access the clockworks. Perhaps this can open even MORE varied dungeons, and new types of enemies. Overall, it could be part of the mystery surrounding how to access the core.

SK needs variety desperately, as it's already a really solid game but too small. I know it's a month old in release time, so I look forward to the changes. It's a big world out there, and I'd like to see more of it.

Mechanics******************************************************************

"Abilties" in this design cost energy. I do not specifically note "CE" as the source. We have mist energy, a renewable resource, at our disposal, and the purpose of these abilities below is not to rely on them (save for the dash) all the time but use them in situations where you'd absolutely need to. If you're smart, you'll save your mist energy and use them situationally. It's seriously like 1 point per use, so you're not wasting as much as you think you might be for a pretty useful power. If it's really that horrible though, they could use cooldown times instead.

Ability slots: Buy/Find/Alchemize special abilities that can be equipped like trinkets. If you REALLY wanna be capitalistic jerks, you could make it so we need energy to unlock them and last for 30 days.

Dash: Someone has mentioned this already, but I want to support it. Wolvers have it, Gremlins have it, we should have it. I think you should be able to equip an ability that allows you to make a short but very fast darting movement in a direction of your chosing by activating the said ability. Good for dodging or getting through tough situations, and ramping up the intensity of battle (perhaps you could have synergy between dash and melee, allowing you to attack while doing so.) Naturally, it needs a cool-down to be balanced. Perhaps better versions allow damage to be dealt with it, even doling out status effects (flaming tackle.) For energy, of course.

Barrier: I've seen it on a gremlin, so I suggest a barrier ability. Type A) increases your defense against a particular source of damage for a limited time, using a tiny amount of energy. Type B) You're stationary and cannot attack, but you form a field as a dome around a certain radius and for a limited time, team mates can use this as cover to attack from (like those damned GunPuppy runs.) Perhaps it has it's own HP, and better versions of the ability have more HP/Time/Radius.

Cloak: Cool abilities seen on Chromas (I think that's them.) You can sneak past enemies for a limited time using a medium amount of energy (something like 2-5.) Attacking reveals you.

Repel: Whack away projectiles with your sword after activating this ability for a small amount of energy. Limited in duration.

Item Vacuum: Activate for a small amount of energy, a much larger radius around you draws in items (for those pesky thorn-bush or spike pit items.)

Further abilities, please suggest some!

Weaponery/Equips******************************************************************

Costume shop: Perhaps located in one of the other towns, this idea dawns on me with the advent of the Rose Regalia line. The costume shop is a place that sells cheap helms and armors that are simply that: Costumes. They are completely athstetic in value and offer no stats, but allow for a greater level of customization for knights on the go. It could even allow for things armors don't, like extra parts or "pets" that can follow the player in town. Some costumes or equips could be much more costly or require tiers, for status symbols.

Staves: Like the wrench wand (and probably an alchemic line from this one), staves are weapons that have special abilities when used. Attacking versions would release a projectile or series of projectiles a small distance from the swing. The weapon itself could do a small amount of damage, but the emphasis would be on the projected abilities it uses (explosions, bullet spreads, shockwaves). Perhaps charging it would leave stationary projectiles/damaging AOEs that dissipate after a short time, but do damage. This would be a strategic measure, allowing players to push enemies into the stationary projectiles while attacking. Others could swing and release a small wave of element (Flames, shadow, ice...) A special 5* Stave/wand would have a very long charge up time, and fire a short range projectile that would do no damage, but heal teammates it hits a single bar of health. Their primary function would be support, rather then direct offense.

Whips: They fall under the line of swords, and are lower damage, higher range weapons. Usual attacks can reach a much farther distance than a blade can, directly in front of the player. Charged attacks would have a wide sweeping area, to hit a large number of enemies within a range in front of you. Whips could have status effects applied (Like oh say...undead slayer or fire) They would attack fast, but have a small number of actual hits (probably a combo of 2 at most)

Dual Edge: :p Try and figure out where I thought of this! Everyone loves dual wielding, and using knives while doing so is always cool. Dual edges are weapons that attack extremely fast but do marginal damage and have slightly lower attack reach. Benefits would be like so:

-Some allow for a 360 degree attack during a normal combo, to hit all enemies nearby.

-Status knives would carry the unique ability to inflict 1 of 2 different statuses per attack. Example: Fire and ice. While attacking, it would randomly decide between freezing or burning the enemy, and then allow a chance of that occuring. Another would be dealing shadow damage or undead slaying damage.

-Charge attacks would either be a series of rapid assaults like the striker, or actually throw the knives (or multiple knives) ninja-style.

-Dash strikes~ during either a charge attack, or regular combos, you would be shot forward past an enemy, and deal damage as you pass.

-Knives would be held either both blades up, both blades backwards, or both up and down.

-Knives could also come in form of dual wielded batons.

Throwing/Projecting Weapons: Boomerangs, Ninja stars, Yoyos... A weapon that attacks like a gun, but comes in the form of a thrown or released object. For visual fun, perhaps this could also come in the form of "thrown" elements, like beams or fireballs from the knight's hands. Wielding "projected" abilities would look like a glow or floating form in their hands and perhaps a gauntlet or wrist-equipment, likened to magic. They could possibly deal forms of damage that aren't piercing. Boomeranging objects would be useful for dealing damage as the weapon returns (leaving you defenseless save for shields until it does.)

Satellites: Used in place of shields, they would float with a knight and project a marginal damage attack (like a small bullet or shockwave) every time the knight used a regular attack. (Think Gradius.)
-Increases your offensiveness at the cost of defense. Better versions could produce better attacks that deal more damage or have a wider range.

-Other versions could possibly add a defensive element, like a small field that appears while the knight is attacking, reducing damage or damage from a particular source.

-Some could have an indirect ability, like increasing movement speed or even drawing in enemies a bit while you attack.

Guilds******************************************************************

I know other people have made topics about this, so I'll try to be brief

Guild Ranking- Guilds would gain certain benefits based on their rank. Increasing rank would be done by filling certain requirements, such as number of members, global values from all members including enemies killed, bosses killed, minerals gained and deposited, tier earnings of it's members, number of dungeons cleared by all members, and certain events. Benefits include discounts on using alchemy there, be allowed to customize, and adding stations (as well as discounts for those). Running dungeons with exclusively guild members could yield greater crown earnings/item drops depending on rank.

Customizable layout- Customizing your layout would either change the look or size of your guild. This would be done with either modular parts or premade 'schematics' that could be rare drops from enemies, bosses, or chests or events. They could possibly also be bought with tokens, probably even from one of those new cities! Schematics are much like recipies, but using them is limited by rank, so higher rarity schematics wouldn't be usable until the guild earns that rank. Only the guildmaster(s) could alter the layout, for a Crown and Energy cost.

Special Stations- Stations include Adding merchants, a chance to have basil appear, Bulliten boards, Telelport stations, CW entrance, or even a PVP arena. Discounts and quality and rarity of items available would be based on guild rank. Adding stations would first require a schematic with slots to do so. Second, stations would have a minimum rank before they could be placed. Only the guildmaster(s) could place stations, for a Crown and Energy cost.

Storage-A place for people to pool resources or items.

Smelting station- Turn old unused equipment back into materials (of it's last form) or convert into CE (half the amount used to create it).

Tempering Station- Allow the alteration of weapons when you're high enough rank to earn it, at discounted prices. Weapon tempering (See this topic)

Banner/Icon: Get a banner that appears in your guild with an icon of your choosing when guilds are established, and also appear in your guild title. Better icons could be accured for higher ranked guilds.

Bulletin Board- Leave messages to communicate with other players.

Guild Challenge- Challenge another guild to a PVP match, or Dungeon run. Dungeon runs would feature two or more guilds running through 1 set of levels on a certain tier and give bonuses/awards/rank points based on the winners. Success is based on time taken to clear dungeon, completion rate (enemies killed, chests earned), and number of deaths.

Personal Clockworks Entrance- Higher ranked guilds could earn their own access to the clockworks. One gate of their choosing from those available, but at a discounted energy cost rate depending on the guild rank

Personal PVP arena- A station for players to fight each other or weak enemies to test out weapons and have fun.

Teleport pad- Sends player to towns or specific places in the town (if you've visted it already.)

Personal titles- Guild master can give players a personal title along with guild title, which they can choose to display or not under guild options.

Guild based global rankings- Website/game could feature a place that shows the top ranking guilds of all of them.

Factions- Guilds could form factions with other guilds, allowing access between them or allies in challenges against other guilds. Members of factions can also visit each other's guild.

DOminance- In aforementioned cities, some guilds or factions could be noted as more prevalent than others. Issuing guild challenges could change this. Dominance comes to benefits similar to guild rankings.