Helstar is Quitting the game (again, yes I know)... and he, like numerous others that have already/ are in the process of quitting, have legitimate complaints.

So my response to his quit-rant: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/31785

Gambling: meh, Helstar, you're a little right, but meh, I'd rather have smooth game play then have OOO change that

I would happily have never heard of the shadow realms or accessories, go through 5 patches a day, fight Vanna in proto gear, and would be a lot more likely to spend money consistently... if only I knew the next time I went into the Roar Twins I wouldn't have 3 seconds of screen freezing lag for every 5 seconds of play. Some lag is expected on occasion (like on a Friday afternoon), but it has become the ultimate enemy... forget Curse Vanna or Double the Snarbolaxes (what is the correct plural of a Snarboolax? now that there is no "the" Snarbolax)

Yes, OOO does know what they want!

I agree that everything in the SK system is geared towards only the wealthy/ lucky succeeding and the unlucky raging. They want your money, and are doing EVERYTHING to get it, and utilizing minimal creative effort to do so.

Take the Shadow Keys: They made a system where first, a "new" endgame is released with a 2-4% chance of access that encourages elite players to spend their stockpiles of ce/cr or spend hundreds for "new" levels and gear. Hoping to quiet the F2P base, they put out the cute Halloween Punking (yes love him...). A week later they make the keys available to the mid-level masses, declaring it a short time thing, encouraging more stockpile spending and ce purchases.

Suggestion: Make more money by pleasing most of your customer base.

In a gear based game, wouldn't more viable options be conducive to the quest for OOO getting more money?

Onward to a game that IS entirely gear-based... yet the gear is unbalanced, more and more as "new" releases occur. When you begin this game, there is only one real option for gear: the wolver line. Want to beat the piercing T1 boss? How about the piercing T2 boss? And then finally the fire T3 boss. and then there is the T2 construct boss, which can still be easily run by players wearing dusker.

Would you like to bomb? For so long there were 3 options for you! All of which had normal/elemental defense, only varied in status resists... and one of these has no resists, one has negative resists for a questionable bonus to damage and a cool mohawk. Finally, finally, there's a "new" demo gear! Oh wait, it looks different, but it's still normal/elemental with a status resist and well, no ctr - great for using a VH CTR Electron/Graviton Vortex when you want more speed and damage!

Gunners have options stemming from the same line: some for more dmg, some for speed -- yet they managed to crank out a line for elemental, shadow and piercing defense. They got a bit shafted in the "new" endgame recipes though.

Why am I putting quotes on "new" content? How about allowing me to remove them with real new content?

Some of this is covered above. And yes, I recognize the new CSK levels... though I'd rather just wait for them to swap out than play them.

But we all know that the "new" shadow lairs are the same bosses, the same levels. More mobs with dmg/ hp, and oh yes, a twist to each. Yet they are the SAME, and even within the shallow plot of this game that... is... just... SAD.

What makes it even more pathetic as "new" content is the rewards. A little more money, not enough to cover the costs... at least the Royal Jelly provides profit! Bragging rights? sure, maybe... if the bragging was worthwhile. Unique 5* mats that allows you to craft "new" gear!!! Well, well, is this the real good from the shadow lairs? *hangs head*

The "new" armors are more of the same, yet at least they make pretty costumes. Hey, it's a shadow version of our friend the wolver coat (see above)... there's no need to get new recipes AND we have made the Dread Skelly line obsolete! Arcane Salamander, I wants one it is pretty and blue, but stats wise, hey it's just glittery Volcanic Salamander... which isn't actually useful for dmg vs beast and slime when you can toss on vog for asi, or skolver / snarby shield for dmg vs. everything! Mercurial Demo -- see above. Ice Queen crown is another pretty costume. Ice Queen mail is so useless, no one has bothered to put a pic on the wiki.

Suggestions: Retool the lines you have (which seems to be what you are capable of) or at least come out with a reason for us to branch off from the usual 3 lines that doesn't amount to a costume. When you make new content, at least attempt to make something new, not just toss a new damage type onto old enemies.

Bosses should not be worth more than other levels, it gives players few reasons to deviate from those levels.

If the boss runs were not so lucrative, then there would be more incentive to branch out a bit.

Why run T3 other than Vannaduke? Or a gate with many arenas, actually... but then you simply farm them.

New achievements & Make Achievements visible to other players.

How can you tell the difference between a player that paid for a Snarby Mask, and one who actually did the work for it? You can't unless you are in Steam, looking at another Steam player.

In fact, I don't even have the satisfaction of seeing that I beat a Shadow lair at the moment, but for looking at my little artifact thingy, which no one can see that I have!

Accessories: we finally get something that seems new, yet it has absolutely nothing to do with gameplay???

Accessories... uhm wow. As someone that's managed to grab the ones she likes for ~5-20% of the cost of a silver key each (except a heavy bomb bandolier... ty for the pumpkins!), I must say I've got no problems with the system. I am an endgame player with ce and I don't find it worthwhile to open the boxes (I have ~40 sitting in inventory), nor to sell them.

Though what is the point other than to look pretty? it's yet another useless endgame cr/ce sink that has nothing to do with running clockworks/ shadow lairs/ "PvP".

Oh and why make some awesome looking and others just ugly and unable to blend in with 90% of gear? A coloring system that turns a pretty significant portion of them gray?

Suggestion: Why not make them useful? This one's a little tricky, b/c the ways of doing it all seem either silly or way overpowered/ stacky... though I'm betting if you made the meadates give dmg to fiends VH we'd see a few more people running about with gray horseshoes on their foreheads, or with a costume to cover it up. Maybe 1/2-1 tick resists based on color? Fancy = shadow, regal = elemental, toasty = fire, cool= cold, divine = shadow+elemental, Volcanic = fire+shadow... Maybe 1/2-1 tick based on shape?

However you decide, give us a real reason to make crazy costumes or add to our gear! And give the lockbox openers a chance to make at least some of their expenditures back (though some of it admittedly is their own fault for selling them FAR beneath their values...)! Or hell make the opening of a lock box reachable for more than the gamblers with stockpiles of ce... I get a month's time on a trinket slot for 150ce, but one unlock for 750ce? *sigh*

PvP where a low Tier 2 player can be tossed into Tier 3 b/c they decided to upgrade one item to a 4*?

Not even really going into most of it.

Suggestion: Make it like clockworks tier progression, 2* armor helm and weapon before T2, 4* before T3.
Suggestion: Give lower tier armor/weapons bonuses to make it a little more playable for them, instead of a 4* against a 5* with all max'd dmg/ asi being neigh on unplayable.
Suggestion: Have the nifty abilities, but take away the bonuses and negatives. Make it truly about what gear you bring.

A few tiny things

> Accessory slots for the Halloween Masks.
> Make the Boss Reward equipment permanently bound, INCLUDING the Shadow Lair 5*s crafted. (nope, if you don't know why, I'm not explaining).
> A Movement Speed Trinket from Krogmo.

All in all, I like much of the game... but it needs significant improvements at a basic level. Then again, like so many of us, I'm prolly going to be leaving when Torchlight 2 or Diablo III is out. Give me a reason to stay... I'm much more likely to do so than the rest of my main gaming group.