So I have a series of suggestions, all of which likely need to be tinkered with as I'm clearly not a developer. I'll try to organize them by what they effect.
Section 1 - Knights.
So as of right now there are x different styles you can play as a knight assuming you have no weapon slot upgrades.
1. Sword/Gun
2. Sword/Bomb
3. Gun/Bomb
4. Sword/Sword
5. Gun/Gun
6. Bomb/Bomb
I've seen quite a few knights who choose not to play with a shield, what if this had an effect on the game? For example imagine that if you carry no shield your movement speed increases, or you can do something crazy like dual wield(Please keep in mind this is just an example) I feel like going shieldless should have some benefit..like you lose shield bash but your dash can be used twice as fast etc.
Boots and Gloves!
This in my opinion is probably my least feasable idea. Imagine if you could choose the gloves/boots that your knight had? Imagine the additional range of customization! I see this as doable in two ways.
A) Break apart all current armors into three pieces...this is a huge task and seems unlikely.
B) Add boot/glove accessories to the game, this way it's possible to customize your Knight further without impacting game play mechanics.
I feel like these would give 5* maxed out players something to do, aiming to make thier Knight uniquely thiers.
Unique Variant Skins
What if Unique Variants could be identified by their appearance? I imagine a slight color change or say...a glow or something could be implemented. For example lets say you have a Striker with Damage Bonus vs. Gremlins could have a tiny brownish-red stripe running down it's length.
Section 2 - Clockworks
So right now we have..8 bosses imagine another 8! I think our 5* players need something to do, why not start working on a brand new set of bosses? Here's a few ideas,
(Fiend)Devilite CEO- A corperate structure like theirs has got to have a top boss right?
(Undead)The last Kat- The only known remaining Kat, possibly the Kat that brought all the others down to their spookier forms, a grand betrayer!
(Beast)King Chromalisk- The chromalisks version of snarby, big mean and hungry!
(Slime)Lichen Source- The true source of Lichens on cradle, a monstrous Lichen Colony with a fierce alien sentience!
And of course shadow variants! But where do these new bosses come from? A new Terminal Arcade! Imagine a second location much like haven (like this suggestion here http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/82220 ) Having each stratum only show up on either towns entryways...why are they so different? The other town should be on the opposite side of cradle! perhaps closer to the Lichen crater? Who knows. Speaking of new stratums... these new bosses would be a great place to put more complex levels with mini monsters and other such fandangles!
Section 3- Guilds
I'm sure it's been suggested before but what of something that visually represents your guild aside from the name? like a Guild crest or guild shield line.
And what about say...a guild posterboard? A place to put messages for the guild to read, we could put up rules or other stuff.
Guild Elevator room, works just like any other clockworks elevator but has a fixed set of floors(max say...5) that can be bought like guild hall expansions...maybe even let the guild masters and officers have a sandbox in which to control certain aspects of these floors, they could have varied settings like what types of monsters come in and what not, each time you change the floors it cost X amount of crowns(something like 50k or so)
A guild shop! Imagine a little shop you can set up by putting certain items in the guild treasury and such? The Guild masters/officers can change the prices of the items available(and only the number of items actually put into the shop buy guild members is in stock) All purchases made in the guild shop go straight to the guild treasury!
Guild Tokens! What if you could earn guild tokens through various guild activities? Guild tokens could be used to trade in for things like Titles or special guild costume armor or something like less crazy like trading them in for access to certain rooms in the guild hall for x ammount of days. or what have you...maybe these guild tokens could be recieved in the guild clockwords floors mentioned above? I don't know.
Keep in mind most of these ideas I'm aware need to be worked on, but instead of posting a bunch of threads I'm posting this one for now. Any and all critique is welcome, just please remain civil.
boost on shieldless: shieldless guys are hardcore. they wouldn't like buffs on that. besides, the shield is vital for your survival, so it's a no.
boots and gloves: I have a word copy of an answer to whoever suggest something like this, but if (and only if) it's accessories only, it's fine.
UV skin: ok, but how to dispaly many variants?
bosses: you don't suggest bosses like that. detail is needed. lots. I have done 2 in 2 walls of text (right not I'm not in the feel of searching) and many others have done good boss suggestion only adding lots of detail.
new city: erm, nope. not enough popolation. besides, 8 gates are a bit too much. I would go for a cycle: 4 bosses at a time, that cycle as gates cycle.
guild crest: ok to me.
poster board: the one used right now it's called "wiki", it's more expandible than anything you could put in game, and it's fine. it would be useless.
G. elevator: I prefer El-Odio suggestion on the construction of rooms/ levels. don't feel like searching this one either.)
guild shop: 1 storage is made for exchanging items. 2 unless they are underpriced, many things in shop will remain so because of trade chat. 3 I would open it to the public, and make a fee on the items (like, the shop id held by stangers and you have to pay them). moar crown sink is better.
guild tokens: ok to me.