I'm very keen on new material and crown sinks for the game. There's a couple we know we want to do and there's likely a couple that will materialize if I read a gazillion or two more suggestions :) ~Nick

Nick appears to be interested in sinks.
Not for any particular reason, other than that he likes to wash his hands.

But I suppose making two suggestion threads that are only about an hour apart won't kill this forum too bad, so I'll post some ideas for Crown and Material sinks that I think would work.

1. The Invent-Mo-Tron

Suggestion for my suggestion: Make a better name for Invent-Mo-Tron.

Basically, the Invent-Mo-Tron has no formula to creation like the Alchemy Machine does.
At least no visible one.

Instead, you have to randomly put materials in it. Depending on the number of materials deposited and their rarity, you will also be charged a certain amount of Crowns as well.

The result is different depending on the things you put in there:

• A random, higher rarity material.
• A special item box (like a Gachapon)
• A specific pet item
• Or Invent-Mo-Tron specific cosmetic gear

Now like I said, there aren't any visible formulas. So discovering how to make certain items may require a large amount of materials and things. This would only be temporary, so the addition of items to the Invent-Mo-Tron tables, as well as the randomisation of certain results (like the Item Box) would create a rewarding kind of sink to the game.

I will explain the results of depositing items in more detail now:

High Rarity Materials: This one is fairly simple to explain. Sticking a certain number of lower level materials in will create higher level ones. Obviously the amount deposited would have to make this a less feasible way to obtain items, but it would be another way for players to circumvent the RNG to get rarer materials. It would also mean people with lots of shards and other items would be able to turn them into other items, which may also be used in the Invent-Mo-Tron, basically sucking out all the high rate junk from the game.

Item Boxes: These are special boxes that, based on rarity, have a chance to dole out cool items. They might be regular items with normally unobtainable UVs, special Cosmetic Items from previous events or other nice things.
The main idea behind the Item Box is to have the required items to create change every now and then, but within a certain parameter.
Say, it's always a combination of 2/3 items that have a 3 or lower star rating.
This means people can experiment for them and sink crowns and materials.
The Item Box rarity changes on a random chance, so you could get a 1-star box or a 5-star box as well.

Pets: This is something I thought would bring a big incentive to the Invent-Mo-Tron. It creates pets.
I had the idea from MAGs in Phantasy Star, but I hated the idea of grinding and evolving a robot like it was a Pokemon.
So instead, you feed Invent-Mo-Tron and it creates Pets.
The Pets you create are deployed by equipping them then pressing the corresponding "Summon" button.
They have multiple uses, however if they die they cannot be summoned again until the next floor.

Each Pet has it's own uses.
To get upgraded versions of Pets, you need to use the Pet item you gained as long as certain Materials to upgrade it.
If it fails, you lose the other Materials but keep the Pet item.
Pets don't gain heat and they count as a summon.
You can only summon one pet and you cannot change pets in outside of Terminals, Subtowns and Haven.
They also count as a summon so it reduces the number of Mechaknight Kits you can activate.

I'm not going to go into specific pets, since there isn't much point.
But I may make another thread for those.

Cosmetic Items: The Invent-Mo-Tron isn't just an inventor, in her spare time she also designs the latest fashions.
You can use the Invent-Mo-Tron, to not only create Cosmetic Versions of items (by depositing the same items as you would with the original recipe), but it has it's own ones as well.
I think allowing people to create Cosmetic Versions of in-game items this way would be a real crown and material sink, since that is a lot of the reason people make multiple sets, just to use them as Costumes.
Taking the 800 energy cost out of it would make it more viable now.

Any combination that does not result in success will result in a random material up to the same rarity as the highest rarity item deposited.
So you can deposit items and turn them into other items. but it will still cost you crowns.

2. Guildhalls

Here's some ideas that would help sink crowns in Guilds:

Clockwork Rotation: Your Guild joins the rotation of levels. This does't mean other players will randomly end up in your Guildhall, but rather that at Terminals, you will go down into your Guildhall instead of the Terminal.
The party leader (if they have a Guild) will decide if you go to the Terminal or Guildhall.
There will still be a Basil, but his recipes will be different depending on what level he is.
If the Guild in question spent the money to get an Alchemy Machine and a good Basil, it means your Guildhall will become a default choice for Terminals.
Something worth working towards outside of PvP.

Basil: The Guild Basil will operate outside of the Clockworks in the Guild as well, but he will only take items and not sell them.
Giving him certain items will increase his shop level and as a result, make him offer better quality items from Guild Terminal Rotations.
He will act the same as the other Basil in most ways (not being teleportable, etc.), but he will also have a Control Panel from the Guild after he reaches a certain level. Once he receives a certain number of items you will be able to change his algorithm for generating items slightly, towards certain item types. So if you're looking for a certain helmet, he might have a greater chance of having helmets appear if you select the helmet option.

Guild Alchemy Machine: This Alchemy Machine is Members Only and will offer up some unique stuff if you level it up (by crafting items at it).
You will be able to save a certain number of recipes to the Machine, which will allow Members to Craft Items at it without having the Recipe as long as they are stored there.
You will get a greater chance at UVs down the line.
Eventually, at a high level, you will be able to combine UV items with non UV items to transfer over the UV as well.
So if you crafted a Haze Bomb with CTR MAXIMUM you could slap that UV onto a Calibur or something.
Weapon UVs can only be put on other Weapons and Armour UVs can only be transfered to other Armour.
Fusing items costs a lot of Crowns depending on the items being fused.
You may also need to pay extra if the items are very different in star level, doubling the cost for each star different.
So to put a Haze Bomb UV onto a Gran Faust would cost you 8x the amount, where putting it on the Sealed Sword would cost 4x.

Guild Repository: This is a place where members can store items. Though it isn't like a Bank where you put and withdraw items.
The Repository allows you to donate items to the Guild. The Guild can then offer up items to players in certain amounts to people of a certain rank.
The Guild Master and other ranks with the control level, will be able to modify the items.
So, say, your Guild has a certain Dress Code.
You could make up the costume items at Invent-Mo-Tron and allow people of a certain rank who join the guild to have access to that item.
Maybe basic unbound equipment too or whatever.

Guild Vendors: Unlike Basil, these guys will sell whenever you access the Guildhall.
You can buy items from them and they offer more competitive buy prices for items than other merchants.
They sell Guild Only items too when you reach certain Guild Requirements.
Guild Requirements meaning acquiring certain levels on Guild Utilities, hitting membership requirements and keeping certain numbers of members for certain periods of time, etc.

Guild Expansions: These are going to be essential later on, as the game gets bigger.
Expanding your Guild will give you 10 extra slots for Membership.
The cost for expanding will double each time you expand, so hitting the hard maximum limit for expansions will cost a fair bit.
I think 200 is a fair limit, since I have rarely seen Guilds of over 30 active members in F2P games.

Anyway, that's it for Guilds.

3. Lottery

I think this is also a good way to sink crowns.

Having an in-game Lottery, with rare in-game prizes will get people entering like crazy.
Since 1000 people will be entering in the Lottery and only a few people win.

Pretty easy, really.

I don't really have any other ideas that would be as concrete as these.
Considering the other ideas I have for sinks rely mostly on content we are yet to see in the game.
So this is it for now.