With the current state the game is in, it's pretty clear you aren't supposed to drain crowns from others via material drops/heat gain/learned recipes. (though it still works to some degree)
Play the game for crown drops and gameplay, spend money if you want 5* items. new T1/T2 players arent supposed to pay experienced T2/3 players' crafting expenses.

Sadly I'm not the kind of player to spend 3$ on a piece of redundant gear, and new players barely have any incentive to sell CE to me (due to lack of desirable items)
Funny, considering 90% of the f2p mmo's I played generated their revenue by new players with loose wallets. But perhaps this works better for OOO.

Something else funny, I'd actually spend more money on this game if they embraced the concept fully. (Equip only available for Crowns/CE/tokens in npc shops; No Crafting, No Material drops, No trades, No UVs)

We got our OOO fanboy right here. He apparently runs his life on Spiral Knights. Whoever will use the Heat Amplifier is obviously stupid because Heat only goes up to level 10 and gives extremely limited benefits(if they want to waste money, do so). It also only works for 2 days which would be useless for the amount of Crystal Energy you have to pay. Unbinding will be for selling stuff you are already bound to but I see at as just another way for OOO to milk some more money from fanboys like you.

...

Why would you buy CE if you wouldn't want to use it up? Why would even people HAVE 30k CE, when instead they go just go and eat out or something?

I didn't buy 30k LOL! I bought 7k(?) when I first started playing and then bought low and sold high, and made myself 30k. I made a LOT during the rose regalia sale by buying from people who wanted to get rid of it fast and selling it to people with specific interests.

But the thought of myself dropping 100$ to do what I did for 20$ made me lol. Not at you, please don't be offended!

Interesting to see another fanboy. Your post is invalid because why in the world would you buy 30k CE extra if you know you're not going to use it? I doubt you would buy way more than you need in real life, so why do it here? You're accusing me of not thinking about my post but what have YOU thought out? Hypcorite. He can sell them item later but so what? They will probably over price unbinding like 1000 CE for 1 unbound item. Again, why would you waste more money than you have to? And you can't call it "donating" because you're getting something in return that can be used.

EDIT: How can it be more valuable unless you already have all the crafting materials and you go on a massive crafting spree(you spend even MORE Crystal Energy with crafting)? If it was a 50% increase for 7 days it would be a good price. The only people who can get some tiny benefit that saves 30 minutes or less are the people who buy Crystal Energy with real money. I'd rather join a party with noobs and revive them to steal their Heat.

There is a limit to the content in every game I've played, in terms of what the developers have made intentionally. There is a sandbox element, however, that is only limited by your creativity. Boredom doesn't have much to do with what is available to you. Spiral Knights is not real life, but there are several parallels. For example:

You could work as an employee in the any service industry (food, dry cleaning, landscaping) and it could become a horrible daily grind. Go to work, perform your duties, earn a paycheck. Pay rent (or a mortgage), taxes, buy HD televisions, maybe save for a vacation, whatever. You could get bored with that.

Or you could step out and do something creative. Maybe you start your own dry cleaning business, offering a service you have identified as a need in your community. Maybe you learn to specialize in water-saving landscaping and become an asset to your company and customers. Or perhaps you're working at the same restaurant but just decide to smile more and be more patient with customers' children.

It's not too much of a stretch to think you could start your own business. Which could be ANYTHING. ^_^

Sorry, back to Spiral Knights:

I am sorry if your intense love for the game caused you to power-game through all the 'content'. But there is hope! Your third point indicates that you do think about other people. In fact, anyone who posts here is contributing (for better or worse) to this community. I bet you're an awesome person. Seriously.

Because that is where the fun is. Yesterday, I got a call from my cousin. She was playing with a PUG on a JK run and everyone bailed. She wanted to know if I could come help her kill His Majesty. I logged on and learned that she was already at the slimy showdown. I encouraged her to attempt to solo it but not waste any energy reviving. We both know her odds were slim. No vile striker. Limited poison vials.

I don't know how it turned out. I had RL errands to run. Heh!

This game will remain enjoyable if you carve out a role and create something. It could be a guild. I look at Njthug and I see someone who has created a guild and remained passionate about the game, despite all the haters and personal attacks. He remains upbeat and optimistic despite changes (and people just don't absorb change well, I've noticed) and continues to build and create. It doesn't surprise me that one of his guildies has created the coolest recipe shop since the binding change. Thank you Paska, for providing a valuable service at a competitive price. All it costs is 5k crowns and patience. I wouldn't be surprised if Echo of Silence is just full of excellent people. (Based on the application process, I doubt it's an accident.)

We have well-known experts in the game. I look to people like Eeks for wisdom on the ways of bombing. I miss Magnus and his elitism. I always got a kick from reading his one-line posts. (Someone would make a detailed inquiry about armor sets. His response: Get Vog Cub.) Maybe like a good celebrity, he should have engaged in philanthropy when things got difficult. It makes me happy when I see members of Guild in-game.

I joined the day the game became available to the public and created a guild that includes just my friends and family. Of the 10 or so brave souls, I am the only one who has ever set foot in FSC, to date. We'll get there. Avenge taught me how to shield when we first started playing. (We were both noobs.) Keilow gave me an avenger with a medium slime UV. It is now a divine avenger with that same UV! We roll that Royal Jelly like it's nothing. (I know, you were doing that last month...) It is really fun. We have bomb and gun specialists... Diversity instead of min/maxing.

Yeah, I'd rather pay 500ce than 800ce for my 5* gear. I have criticism for the game. But I've also put money into the game. That's what you do with things/games you love, you either support them financially or you defend them verbally. And provide constructive feedback when it is necessary.

Nick and his team made the game they wanted to play. I'm playing it and I still enjoy it. I expect people who are supportive like Njthug to be personally attacked. It is unfortunate and not very clever. It would be wonderful if some of those individuals posting on the forums would gain a little perspective. Or empathy. Or something.

TL:DR

Try creating something instead of just waiting to be entertained.

Did you really just compare this game to Neopets and Runescape?

Oh, you test my resolve to be kind. If the game is just about amassing wealth, maybe you should just play the stock market. Ya know, with real money.

1. True true. The game HAS evolved over time. However, if the rate of progress is so slow that I can finish the game in 2 weeks (end-game 5* equips with most of T3 finished), that says alot about the viable content that OOO has to offer doesn't it? And so what if they add a T1 boss? Is it gonna help expand the end-game? Nuuuuuuu. Imagine a guildy full of 5* equips ranting: "OMG. T1 Boss!!! Lets get him boys!" What is needed is a T4+++ boss...
^
Well the game was not designed for overplaying and your definition of completing the game and my definition is totally different. Do you have all the armors, helms, shields, guns, bombs, and swords (Maxed out, with uv's, and all the achievements?). I can not wait for a T1 Boss it will be fun, and I know my guildmates will have fun owning the boss as well. How many times did you defeat Vanna sir? T4 will most likely be the core which I do agree they have been slacking on that part to make it, but hopefully will be out sooner or later.

"Most players like yourself do not know the amount of content Three Rings puts into this game" - yeah cause the limited content can't hold me for more than 2 weeks.

^
Thats okay you can have fun in real life then, and you quit from so why does it matter?

2. "Haven expansion was not a bad update at all" - If thats the case, I wonder why there was so much trolling and rage-quitting after it came out >.>
^
Some players hated it others liked it always two sides to an update. =)

Oh yeah, let me rephrase the language: "the update was REALLY crappy" - no new viable content to look forward to while removing the crafting business.
^
You quit why does it matter to you now?

Heat amplifier - equivalent of mmorpg exp bonus charm. Nothing new and extremely exciting. And BTW, what is the use of a heat bonus in this game when jelly runs gives u seemingly infinite heat? Makes it rather redundant isn't it? And WTH is with the price of the heat amplifier?
^
Well if its not useful to yourself then it does not effect you and complaining about the cost of it is a waste of your time since clearly heat does not matter to you.

3. Most of the "better guild and better friends" that I mix with can tell when an MMORPG lacks in content. This is evident when we spend more time trolling on forums rather than doing countless jelly runs.
^
Lol now thats funny you and your friends just troll together great life =).

4. That isn't the point really isn't it?! The point is that they promised an unbinding system. So we should get an unbinding system. Without unbinding, currently unbound 4* and 5* will be in high demand. A 4* faust for 2000CE? Like WTH?
^
With all the jelly runs you do why not get your own faust? Smart, players will not pay that much for a 4* or 5* item they will just craft it by themselves...the reason is overprice due to supply and demand (Low supply, high demand). We will get one eventually....yet again dont see why you care since you quit this game.

5. Hmmm lets see. Other ways of earning money... Crafting? (got deleted in "haven expansion) Plvling? (doesn't exist). Looting people via PKing? (No such option). Even if I found a way to earn billions of crowns, the only thing I would be doing with them is to give them away. THERE'S NO CONTENT TO SPEND IT ON!
^
Yet, again have all the achievements? Have all the armors, helms, shields, guns, bombs, and swords? Have all the rare's from Vanna?
And I am sorry for you unable to find ways to make cash I guess the players who can will profit....But then again you quit why does it matter?

Let me add a "6". Idiotic players with little exposure to good MMORPGS
Case in example: OOO fanboy.
Class: noob
Highest gaming experience: neopets
In-game income: RL Cash-spender
^
Lol most of the online games I have played I was one of the good players of the game. Wow, yesterday I was an employee for Three Rings now a fanboy woot. I can not wait to see what I will become tomorrow just to let you know I have my (Three Rings Cap, T-shirt on, Face Paint, and #1 Glove on as well). I rather be a noob in a game its a fun experience. I never played neopets sorry to let you down =). Yes, cash is my in-game income out of game income, and has not steered me wrong in life. =)

Side-Note:

I love how a player who quits a game keeps posting I guess you may not know what quit means.

If you hate this game so much why post here? Why dont you go play all these other games you talk about?
Oh yeah in response to negative side-notes here and there...

I have been playing MMOs for 14 years. (Sort of embarrassing to say that out loud, heh!) Before that, I played and built areas for MUDs. Omigosh, oldness. I played Ultima Online, was briefly distracted by EQ and was involved in the beta for WoW. I tried out Anarchy Online. I played Neopets with my then girlfriend and it was pretty okay. I tried Runescape; as you indicated, it was super archaic and I just couldn't get into it. It felt like UO only not very accessible. As an aside, someone on Runescape identified me as a newb and tried to help me out, which was awesome. (Again, community...)

I've played a game or two. Your focus always seems to be on the economical side of the game.

This is Legend of Zelda, with friends. (Action/adventure!) The economy is complex, as you said, but I don't think the economy is the heart and soul of this game. I believe you have rightly come to understand that is may not be the game for you. I LOVE the economy of these games; I bought a 1000ce avenger right after the patch and held onto it, later selling it for 185k (after taxes) on the AH. That's a net of 2700ce! It's exciting.

Playing the economy is about patience and timing. I've made serious blunders learning how to work things in this game. Anyway, I get that it's fun to build wealth, and there is a place for that too. I know there are limitation on the variety. I get it.

But the root of all this is running the depths with your friends.

And you must have really loved all this. You can leave the game, but you can't seem to leave it alone.

WARNING DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU PLAY RUNESCAPE

Not as dead as runescape to me. After becoming too rich for my own good, I gave away all of my stuff to a friend after free trade came back. I played the Grand Exchange market for TWO WEEKS, and I end up with 46 million gold after starting over with almost nothing (other than my untradables, like korasi's sword, void knight, etc). The market in that game is far too easy to grasp. I regret spending so much time analyzing the economy now, even with 1980 skill total, I have zero incentive to do anything (at least until the new Mahjarrat quest comes out).

END OF RUNESCAPE RAMBLE

That's why I started Spiral Knights. After a month, if the content of this game does not expand, I'm going to leave for a while. I've finally made up my mind on that. Anyone for minecraft? We can totally get an ex-spiral knight server going!

Oh, and I believe Spiral Knights' population is growing. Also, the fact that you're still posting on these forums is an indicator that you still care. All of us here still have hope for this game, am I wrong?

Post Script
@ GodofSkype1: declaring a game is dead 1 month after launch with a 10 person team in development seems to be a bit hasty.

If you hate this game so much why post here? Why dont you go play all these other games you talk about?

I really do not understand posts like this. It's simply pure ignorance.

The reason they are here is because they have once liked this game, and it no longer pleases them as much anymore, because of recent changes or the lack of content. The Haven Expansion was nice? Sure, to you, but it's pretty obvious that the majority of the community did not like it. It was a good change in general, however the way they had implemented it was terrible and they could have done different changes that would have better results.

But you see, the reason those members come back and continue "complaining" is because that no matter what, they still remember this game. They used to love the game. They have faith in this game. They want to see it succeed.

But the recent updates aren't helping to the success of the game. They are, if anything, harming the game. (or rather, the community)

Those players keep coming back to see if anything was done. If nothing was done, they comment and complain about it, (which ends up being pointless because there's already countless threads on it but whatever) but honestly, not even because the problems are still around - It's more of because the developers never give any concrete answers with detailed explanations on recent updates. (except for wtfwtf_ok. I love you, man.)

Additionally, the Heat Amplifier: This isn't something you can even argue with: It WAS terribly implemented. 800CE is way too much for such a small increase. It was supposed to be for players with less time to play; But with the ridiculously small time limit of 48 hours, and considering it isn't on game time, it completely defeats the point of being for players with less time to play, because they'd pretty much be forced to find time and ragegrind for two days, otherwise the Amplifier is pretty much wasted. (to actually get some kind of profit from it, you'd have to do at least 10 full runs - essentially about 20 hours. The point in here isn't profit however, but even something like 5 runs/10 hours would still be a lot to such members without much time, except on weekends, holidays, or the such) Honestly, if it lasted one or two days longer, or was in in-game hours, (probably reduced duration for this) it'd probably be a great item and people would actually use it. But as it is right now, I don't think players will really be using it.

Myself, I still say they rushed too much with the game's release. It was plain depressing to come back from the preview and see that literally no content was added. They should have certainly held back the launch before they had a good amount of content, mainly endgame content - Endgame players get bored of the game very easily.

@itinerant - I got to say, that post was a great read. I still say the developers are too ignorant towards balancing and are wasting potential in this game with market analysts and the such, but it's always great to see someone with such enthusiasm about the game and community, without being completely ignorant towards the issues the game has.

@hdragon40 - Oh, and I believe Spiral Knights' population is growing.

The population may be, there's no way for us to know that. But the activity is not.
The activity of the game has been seriously dropping - As the CE market grows, way less players actually play actively. Before the latest update, you could observe that on the progress bar for stratums. (which, at launch, was about 1mil minerals needed - then it went up to 1,6mil, and then started dropping. 1,2mil, 800k, 700k, 650k, 600k... However the problem was when the CE market started going over 4000 and reached 5000 - At that point, it instantly dropped to 420k. That's a massive drop in activity. After that, it continuously dropped at a somewhat constant rate, reaching 330k before the update.)

You can also look at players online - A full Haven instance is about 50 players. Add that to the number of people in gates, then get 10% - 20% of the end value and add to it, and you get an average of how many players online.

Players online doesn't seem to have changed much lately, although it's way less than it was on the first month of the game.

7k Crystal Energy that sits in your Crystal Energy spot is still throwing away money for no reason. The Heat Amplifier is ridiculous still. I hope you buy a lot of them and realize you wasted your money on something that would just save 30 minutes or less. I also hope OOO adds some more "premium items" so you guys can throw away more money for no reason. That would make my day.

EDIT: If you think I'm a troll for stating my mind, cool. If you still think I'm a troll, stop feeding me.

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/straw-man.html

Shooting the messenger does not invalidate the message.

I know what I'm arguing with. Someone who would throw away 10$+ on pixels and let the virtual cash stay without using it while they wouldn't do that in real life... Bizzare? Someone who supports the massive price on crafting. It's just another marketing strategey to get insane amounts of people to want to have Crystal Energy so the price rises which influences the amount of Crystal Energy sales. OOO is smarter than you think with their marketing strategies.

EDIT: Although I agree with OOO making some bad moves(all companies make mistakes, let's hope they learn from this), it's really annoying to see 1000s of threads posting this same issue and the same thing being repeated. There should be a search function because there are way too many people complaining about it on 1000s of threads which is tiring for some people.

EDIT2: Prime example of a troll below.

slayer1368
I know what I'm arguing with. Someone who would throw away 10$+ on pixels and let the virtual cash stay without using it while they wouldn't do that in real life... Bizzare? Someone who supports the massive price on crafting. It's just another marketing strategey to get insane amounts of people to want to have Crystal Energy so the price rises which influences the amount of Crystal Energy sales. OOO is smarter than you think with their marketing strategies

Again, you don't know what you're complaining against. He never said he purchased 7kCE to do NOTHING with it. He basically said he used that 7k and bought Rose Regalia pieces, and resold them for a high profit. Doing it over and over, he got 30k CE from it. How easy do you think that could be done without being able to at least buy 1 or 2 of those costumes?

Also, you don't know what the difference is between crafting pre-update and post-update. To take an example of a 5*, it would cost someone 1200CE to craft from a 4* to a 5* before the update, but now it costs 1300CE. I don't support it myself since I WAS a person who had been selling 5* for easy profits, yet I don't complain. You know why?

I'M JUST PLAYING A GAME IN MY CASUAL TIME.

I am "complaining" against an OOO supporter. He said that people who have too much Crystal Energy remaining don't know what to do with it so they buy a Heat Amplifier. <--- Why would you buy so much in the first place but then waste it on something that would save you 30 minutes when you come to play games to WASTE TIME while having fun? If you came to this game for another reason, please tell me. You are complaining about my posts. Mmm, love your lies.

@ slayer1368

Why would anyone have money on their bank, if they don't intend to use it? Same difference IMO.

@ slayer1368

Whether there's options to use it or not, is not what you've been saying in this thread so far. You said, why buy in-game cash if you don't indend to use it.. Which is the same as amassing money in real life, why would you do it if you don't intend to use it?

You're making up extra variables to validate a point everyone has already proven you to be wrong at. Nice try though.

slayer1368
I am "complaining" against an OOO supporter(not that I'm not a supporter). He said that people who have too much Crystal Energy remaining don't know what to do with it so they buy a Heat Amplifier. <--- Why would you buy so much in the first place but then waste it on something that would save you 30 minutes when you come to play games to WASTE TIME while having fun? If you came to this game for another reason, please tell me. You are complaining about my posts. Mmm, love your lies.

Ok, so I get it, you're just trolling? I was assuming that you weren't the whole time BECAUSE of one edit you made saying that you were just speaking your opinion, which others could view as trolling. How could I be ignoring your edits when I even commented on the very first one you made?

And you are still not addressing that he had so much because he traded his way into 30k CE. Pre-update, I already had a plan to do the same thing with vendoring 5*, albeit not as efficient.

Once I had a ton of CE lying around, I would've just made as much crafts as I could make, so at that point, yeah I would even consider the Heat Boost item then.

slayer1368
@Volebamus...
If you want to buy the Heat Amplifier, do so. I'm not stopping you I'm just saying that you're wasting your Crystal Energy as of right now.

...I get it, it's supposed to be ironic since you told me I never read your edits, but you pretend to not read most of my post?

For anyone who didn't follow, he's completely ignoring that I never said I would buy it in any other circumstance besides having a stupid amount of CE.

But I do believe there is something he doesn't know. People who have a ridiculous amount of CE do exist. An obvious example is someone who bought a high CTR Divine Avenger (if I remember the right sword) for 100k CE. That person too may have "wasted" his CE, but he just had so much it practically wasn't a waste. I mean, how could you waste something that you have a seemingly unlimited supply of?

slayer1368
The keyword is seemingly. It's real money you're throwing away. Why don't you throw away Crowns instead? 100k Crystal Energy is a whooping 250$(taxes not included). You could have bought yourself 5 retail games that have a lot more content and are probably 100x better.

...Real money? Do you honestly think that?

Ha ha ha, oh wow.

slayer1368
So now you're telling me Crystal Energy grows on trees? SOMEONE had to purchase it for you to use your Crowns on which is STILL throwing away money but it's indirect. You should just give me that 100k Crystal Energy instead since you want to throw away money.

Aw, I get it. You're just jealous lol.

Not of me I bet, I didn't get a chance to exploit the CE market as well as the 30kCE guy or the 100kCE-for-One-Weapon guy. But wow, if I can't feel your overwhelming jealousy of people who treat CE like nothing, haha.

slayer1368
Yup, I am extremely jealous of idiots. So can you give me the 100k Crystal Energy now?

Nah, don't have that much, like I said I didn't get to exploit the mark---

I mean, OF COURSE! Got a High CTR Divine Avenger lying around ;)

Currently doing a solo t3 run, but you know I'm good for it since I treat CE like nothing, so we're good with the mailing system right?

You can mail me first though, cause I know you're cool like that.