The new gameplay doesn't appeal to me very much. I don't pick up alot of crowns, heat or mats from monsters and just go for the token boxes to get fire crystals and maybe orbs of alchemy(haven't had 1 of those yet). And i end up lacking a huge amount of fire crystals and getting way too many crowns to make use of them. Perhaps this is just me, since i have almost all recipes and only have to craft the items. Either way, it was easier before the patch to collect many items. Now, you just reach the maximum heat on 5* items and then you have to collect an absurdly huge amount of 5* fire crystals. It is just an additional barrier in the crafting process.

I'm guessing it is intended to be newbie friendly, so they can craft alot of lower tier items easily and later spend more money, time and effort into making the 5* items. To them, currency probably still has a value, because they will want to buy many recipes.

For me, having learned every recipe from hall of heroes, it is impractical to play like that, because i need alot more effort to merely heat up items(and god only knows where to find orbs of alchemy). The least boring thing for me is to play the levels and focus on upgrading my pet and even then it is not statisfying to see the hunger bar go up by just a little bit, when rushing levels and to the maximum, when doing longer runs(wasted hunger). Monster loot does not feel like actual loot to me, i do not benefit very much from it. Even, if i were to buy CE -> Crystals/Orbs, i would be forced to leave the partys in the middle of runs because of my items reaching the maximum heat.

I was looking forward to see more skills of the pets, but i guess that will take a bit longer now. And with longer i don't just mean time, but the boring gameplay(completely useless drops from monsters, useful drops are rare and only in token boxes) will keep me from playing too much PvE or any SK at all.

After having seen a friend leave for a silly reason(new inspect window), i hope, that there are also many players, who enjoy the new changes. I was very worried about Spiral Knights' income, when i first logged on, but now, seeing how the new SK affects the old playerbase, the game will have to rely on new players. It would be sad to see developer's effort go to waste. I, for my part, find the weak little tickle-sprites ridiculous and boring(yea theyre cute*) and it is a torture to send me playing and feeding my hard earned materials(from collector's perspective of being forced to play for many many many hours, not from merchants or buyers perspective) for hours just to witness the ultimate skills, which will most probably have a cooldown, that will make sure, that the skills are used for show only and situational.

This is how i feel after having played SK all day long and 1 day too much.
*Thinking of the changes, i'm also not sure if i'm part of the game's target audience anymore. At least for now, in its current state, that is.
However, should SK ever open the core, i will be sure to hold back my excitement.

E: oh yea the new soundtrack was nice as always! maybe change from game company to music band hahaha