This was originally a response to the other radiant crystal thread, but it ended up covering a lot more than just the radiant situation.

Oh, and post below if you find a curse word before Aphrodite/Eurydice/a game developer that isn't a game master/community manager catches me and removes my ability to post forever. I read over this two to three times before posting it, and didn't see any...

So On Radiant Fire Crystals:

I would like to point out that to my knowledge we have received not even acknowledgement of this issue from a developer.

What we have gotten from recent patch notes pertaining to this is:

"This includes significant changes to the Arcade experience and does not represent our intended final design for the Arcade Redux."

And then afterward:

"Adjusted drop rates for Sparks of Life and Orbs of Alchemy"

Which means that the developers are fully aware of what is happening in their game. The question then becomes why they didn't fix the drop rate. Either:
-The developers are unable to fix it, and it is a bug (I am doubtful of this)
-The developers weren't making enough money, and decided to attempt to tax the playerbase heavily as they did before the update.
-The developers plan to implement a new, unannounced/semi announced feature that will give out the radiant crystals.

Compound this with the "What's in Development" post found here: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/89218

There are three things of interest:
-A new boss
-A new mode
-More to Come

Any of these could explain a new feature, but I would like to point out that the entirety of that post is likely in some sort of chronological order, or that in the least, the developers have gone with "arcade reconstruction" first. Specifically the bit that has the words "Over several patches" bolded and up front where we can all see it points this out. And I simply must quote:

- A sandbox-type experience where unexpected things can happen
- A place where players can farm materials and items in between missions
- A feature that gives players some degree of control over the experience

Now let me quote some more:

"Arcade Redux - Phase 1"

All of this implies that the developers have a plan that they are following closely and that anything on that list above that isn't in the game will likely be.

So... is the arcade a sandbox-type experience where unexpected things can happen?

Sort of, but not really. You go down. You are told a level. You know exactly which enemies you'll be fighting. You know exactly where you will end up at the end of the level. You know exactly how many crowns you'll make compared to other levels, and exactly which materials and monsters you can fight in that level. You know whether there will be a chance at a danger room, or a danger room, or nothing. You know these things because you were a T1 knight before you were a T2 knight before you were a T3 knight. The only difference is that now everything is reskinned and shoots different bullets.

Has this changed recently?

New pickups were added to the game files that may or may not drop. But does that really constitute the entire change?

"This includes significant changes to the Arcade experience and does not represent our intended final design for the Arcade Redux. "

This tells me not. But what else do they have planned for that?

The apocrean mission went to depth 30, and the radiant crystals start dropping on depth 28. This means that there could indeed be deeper levels added to the game, but a new T3 boss doesn't solve the radiant crystals thing... he/she would still be in T3. However, the developers are adding in new end-game content that directly connects to the story.. and-

As everyone pointed out- "You just gave us a challenge mode! Its called Elite Mode and you promised more!"

So... Normal Mode. > Advanced Mode. > Elite Mode. > CHALLENGE MODE.

I don't think so. What if we placed Challenge Mode at the end of the rank missions?

The arcade is supposedly to become "A feature that gives players some degree of control over the experience" again in a future update. This implies that we will be able to control the levels again and that the number of levels may be in flux to some extent.

What if:

Challenge mode = a new minigame of some sort that may provide radiants/other rewards?
With the new boss/missions leading up to it past depth 29?
With an abundance of new handguns and then later swords and bombs added into the game to be used fighting against it?
With the arcade redesigned to accommodate for this new endgame, which would either lock us on cradle farming against it, explain why we must stay, or open up new pathways?

One time I made a suggestion for the core: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/74848

We could see ourselves getting something like this in the future. Not that I think the devs have heard me, but I could definitely see some sort of variation of an endgame that pays out in radiants or something else.

And thats just one trail of thought.

"A feature that gives players some degree of control over the experience." again could imply that the number of levels in the game could change. What if the core were moved downward to accommodate for more missions? If things don't fit together like I think they will, then we might see something like that occur. The new gate construction means that gates as a whole might change entirely. The changes in orb locations and spark numbers could also reflect on this.

And why might the developers do this?

We the goofy-forum-people have long suggested that FSC's payout be nerfed. What if you moved the arcade version down by say, 3 levels, and then made it to where you would have to go to the arcade to farm crystals from it? It fits.

Or if they're making the challenge mode an end-game event/the core/whatnot:

It'd explain the quite sudden, quite large, improvements to the knight. Before the battle sprites, I was quite average. But now... I can dash and bash and summon fireballs and go invisible! Surely, there must be some kind of new content to nerf we the knights of T3? Some kind of legitimate challenge coming our way?

Even if they aren't going to do something with the challenge mode, they could still have us going down further... What if the new T3 boss was juxtaposed downward? After all, there can only be 4 bosses because there are 4 gates. The game could go something like:

T1 > T2 > T3 > Core

Where the Core would be the new boss, and the Challenge Mode made entirely irrelevant.

...and in the end, it all comes down to this:

Something really meh is coming. (Nope! Challenge mode is just like elite mode but harder. Just another money-grab by OOO.)
-or-
Something really AWESOME is coming. (Actual content! Developers were planning something after all!)

And Nick (along with his 24 amazing new guns) made it out to be awesome.