Hopefully you will appreciate that this isn't another "patch sux" or "CE is too expensive" thread. It's a collection of ideas that compare what I expected/wanted out of Spiral Knights with what I see on a day-to-day basis and analysis/fixes to the differences.

Does anyone remember the first half of the content?
Truly I am disappointed that I skipped or outgrew nearly the first half the game very quickly. There are a lot of very interesting 0* and 1* items that I never got to play with because one hits T2 on the first or second day without really trying. It makes zero economic sense to progress slowly nor is there any impetus to go back and enjoy that content. Later equipment and content is always superior to what came before such that there is replacement and not expansion.

There are several ways in which one could keep earlier equipment and content relevant even when players have access to the later stuff. Imagine if 4* swords were only superior to 1* swords depending on where, when, or how they were used? Suddenly your inventory would wouldn't just be a paltry catch-all smattering of 5* gear but every step down the ladder. Maybe at D7 a 2* sword actually does more damage than a 5* sword. Maybe use degrades the sword requiring repair so using an expensive item on a lvl 2 hostile mushroom isn't cost effective. Rebalancing higher level equipment to be more specialized but not necessarily outright better would help.

Specializing the tiers could make them be different but all necessary as well. Maybe T1 drops more crowns but little heat and T3 drops more heat but little crowns. Maybe T1 drops "red heat" and T3 drops "blue heat." Maybe T1 only drops T1 mats while T3 drops only T3 mats. If you want shards or monster bones you'd need to play T1 or pay someone who does. Elevator costs might be changed 9 for T1, 10 for T2, 11 for T3 or something.

Crafting, how I thought it'd be...
I imagined crafting as an investment into a limited specialty that was only practical if limited. This would require interdependence and trade for everyone to get what they want. I thought that was good for a sense of purpose and the social aspect of the game. Instead of cheap recipes I thought they should be sooooo expensive that one could only really be one link in the chain, trading and chatting for what you needed.

Mats should be the major or equal factor in crafting, not a formality. This Ferrari costs 200,000 and a stick of bubblegum... that's what it feels like now. Way more material exists than will ever be needed for people to make the equipment they want. There needs to be a use for this glut of stuff, less stuff, or both. Requiring more materials to weakly improve UV chance; equipment that degrades, breaks, repairs, etc.; craftable vials; something is needed! No matter how slowly you fill a bathtub it will get full if there are no holes.

I can see this desire to make your equipment a "labor of self," especially at the top end. Perhaps there is a way to make crafting from a click-and-ding process into a playing process without requiring that the user craft everything as if they were the only player in the game. The idea of specialized crafters is really strong and it's disappointing to abandon it. Some kind of UV chance after your 1000th hit on a slime or something.

For the economy, I liked the idea of using the town space for a real bazaar with stall space, dedicated rows for certain items being sold, that kind of thing. The AH window or trade chat just seemed so impersonal. I'd love to walk down to the monsterbone stall and buy some monsterbones.