In The Binding of Isaac, there is a function in which each enemy has a ten percent chance of being "special". The only difference between them and the normal enemies, is that they are slightly more athletic, or can shoot bullets, or something along those lines… they aren't that visually different, just a different colour. Spiral Knights could really do with a system like that, where special enemies have a chance of spawning… and I know you're all thinking "We have that, they are soul lichens, and rock jellies, and mew cats…." which is fine, and we all love those. But what about making more common differentiations amongst enemies? I love the existing randomization, but I wish that more of my runs could be different, rather than 1 out of every hundred containing a rare mob.
We don't need to copy precisely what Isaac has, but it would be nice to have something based on that. What if each enemy had a variable attached that changed its stats? There are any number of systems that could come from such a thing to be applied to common enemies… if some slimes randomly appeared larger while some came smaller? If some of the wolvers were smaller and attacked more often and faster?
Or better yet- people already like the game as it is, but you can still learn from this a bit and make something. Lets say that you need a new concept for a beast enemy; implement it in just that enemy, for instance, a raptor that spawned with some of its colors randomized (others would correlate to its status) that would all function differently. Not cookie cutter differently, but actually random in nature…. if I went out in nature and found a colony of wild dogs, they would each look different, be different in size and would all run at different speeds and bite with different amounts of force. What if you made something like that?
But only in preset circumstances.
You know what I would like, personally, as an addition to Haven? A new Clockworks which basically has its own tier system based on tactical difficulty rather than having enemies which are faster, stronger, and sturdier. Sometimes invulnerable enemies get in the way, but defeating them is not the goal. Sometimes hallways ending with treasure can only be accessed by using certain weapons. Sometimes you want to get out of there because the spoils of war are not worth the potential loss. Sometimes to get out of that dead end you need to use a certain weapon which got you there to begin with. Whatever this is, it would not be a main focus of the game; it would be something for the bored 5* players who need something new to do that does not focus on vomiting damage.