To be honest, I (probably selfishly) thought that over time, the devs at Spiral Knights would ease up on what were the old CE requirements in favor of placing restrictions greater higher Tier content that does note exist yet.. This just came out of no where.
What I think the Devs have overlooked it that "we" the players weren't playing Spiral Knights for the "Difficulty" that they seem to have originally intended. Spiral Knights was not a time consuming or even that hard of a game. I don't think many of us wanted that eather.
I don't know exactly what the Devs "want" this game to be, but we were definitely NOT playing that game. Unless they want to relaunch this game aimed at a very different player base, I really don't see many of us happy with any compromise they make.
The way I look at it, when something like an item or mechanic is not implemented and in development, the devs are the monarchs. They have free reign over anything they want. However, once a mechanic is released and is set in players minds, or an item works a certain way....unless its game breaking, then it should stay. (yes, i know they make it, and can do whatever they want, but that doesn't mean they should)
We didn't pick up this game for what the Devs had envisioned, we picked it up for what it was.
Untradeable points for materials? Sounds like... Tokens.
Earned through participation? Sounds like... Boss tokens.