Just to be clear, this is not a thread on collecting/crafting rarities. I'd imagine there are many threads on this same topic, but I just wanted to put this out there.

So many knights have the predicament where we have a ridiculous amount of certain fire crystals just rotting away in the arsenal. I think it is an honest waste that they are just.....there. Not every knight wants to become an endgame equipment collector (and even then, you'd still have a surplus of crystals). Let me be clear, there is nothing WRONG with the current system; I just find it somewhat mundane and lacking.

We've already heard about the implications of unbinding/crafting up/sprite food can have on the economy, so we'll just skip that and say no-no.

So these are just a few random ideas that could possibly work (note: all of them are lacking the fine details):

1. Further upgrade our equipment
Now I don't mean spend crystals so that all our equipment has full bars or max UVs. RIDICULOUS.
- Maybe something aesthetic? Like a glowy/fiery aura? That would defeat the purpose of actual auras, so perhaps just for weapons and shields, and they'd probably only be in effect when in Clockworks. It might even be really cool if you could have different swing or shield graphics. Again, purely aesthetic
- This would probably require us to spend a crazy amount of crystals, but ultimately, the surplus problem will still exist. Though this could be fixed by placing some kind of timed duration to make us constantly put in crystals

2. Spend them at the beginning of Clockworks
Similar to the collective energy deposit system used in the Coliseum (or at least, Blast Network, cuz I've never played Lockdown)
- Possibly spend fire crystals (in respect to the floor and tier) at the beginning of the depth to maybe increase the difficulty of the floor, and therefore, the payout. This could be a roundabout way of converting our unbindable crystals into crowns. If that's no good, just let us increase the difficulty further anyways. Just for the challenge. OOO might feel this defeats the purpose of Elite mode though.
- Alternatively, spend the crystals at the beginning of the depth to give YOURSELF a buff. So pretty similar to many games on mobile devices these days. Probably just something minor that shouldn't influence the difficulty of the floor too much. Things like a minor speed boost, map awareness, crowns/heat boost? Though this could defeat the purpose of the droppable orbs and heat amplifiers.
- This COULD be a way of constantly using crystals, but IMO, does not fit the image of what the fire crystals (currently) are - materials for forging.

3. Spend/gamble them
- Use them in some kinda mini game. I dunno. I didn't really put any thought into this one lol
- Also doesn't fit the image of what the crystals are. Ugh, but who knows, maybe it's a favorite pastime for gremlins

4. Improve guild halls
- A different way for a guild to expand its hall. If not expand, then change the overall look and theme maybe? (I'm not part of a guild lol...Not entirely sure of how halls work)

5. Introduce SOMETHING
Bring something completely new into the game that will just eat up our crystals
- Can be individual or collective. Individual obviously meaning some new item that regularly uses crystals. Collective could be something like a weekly/monthly donation goal that when reached.....man I don't know. Some kind of buff/boost? Better stuff from the Haven Treasury? Random events like a limited time Clockworks location or boss? ...party in Haven?

6. Just let us throw them away, seriously
- Ugh just let me throw them at the AH and set it on fire

Thoughts? I'm sorry if I sound like I stole your idea or something. I mainly just wanna collect ideas and comments. Depending on the response, I can try to organize all the ideas and details together in one post.

For what it's worth, I'm still just a new Vanguard. I've only done one Vana run lol. So forgive me if it seems like I'm lacking perspective.