So, working third shift at a REALLY boring, mindless job, I've come up with a design draft for a new feature for the Arcade, to revitalize it and bring traffic back through it.
It's called Core Distortions. As anyone in the Preview Event remembers, the Core wasn't supposed to be at the bottom of Tier 3, the Clockworks were supposed to be much deeper than that, expanding over time as new content was released. However, many players are now to the point where reaching the Core is child's play, and daily Missions provide better rewards than what you can get in the Clockworks.
I'm proposing a system that extends the Clockworks - Core Distortions. By reaching the Core with a character, you can contribute Dark Matter (which will be obtained from Tier 3 Arcade runs where Tokens may normally drop and from boss rooms IN THE ARCADE only.) to a Strange Device, with an NPC explaining that they are unsure of what the device does, but the core seems extremely unstable.
A new (story only, no dungeon) mission will explain that the Core seems to be expanding slowly, and rifts are appearing that are threatening to tear Cradle apart unless the rifts can be stopped. The Knights must now work to preserve Cradle in addition to attempting to finding a way to get off the planet and unraveling the fate of Alpha Team. Dark Matter seems to be the method of containing a portal into the rifts in the Arcade so they may be safely sealed, and do not open all over the planet, destroying the Clockworks AND Cradle itself.
Each week, the Dark Matter is tallied up and if it exceeds a certain amount, a Core Distortion will open for one week. This is an anomaly in the space/time continuum which features a shifting (but set each week) set of floors including a few new types (detailed later). As anomalies disrupt all communications, players will be separated upon entering the Distortion and communication links are down, meaning players must go through seven floors ALONE. Players will be "given" a homing device and a teleporter on entering the Distortion to return safely to Haven should they be defeated or need to leave, but can only attempt the Distortion once per day.
The floors themselves are a bit more random than those in the Clockworks. There are 7 floors per rift consisting of (for example):
-A basic floor of Tier 3 difficulty, as a beginning floor to test players initially
-A basic floor of Tier 3 difficulty containing monsters not normally found on that floor type (example, Gloaming Wildwoods containing mewkats and mecha knights)
-A basic floor of Tier 3 difficulty containing monsters with unusual attributes (Wolvers that deal Elemental damage and weak against Shadow)
-A maze floor (a large maze filled with enemies the player must find their way through, changing weekly)
-A preview floor (A single floor of a type not yet fully completed for the Clockworks, that the developers make for the Rift to show off, for example Tunderfall Canyon, a rocky/dirt/rugged floor with a thunderstorm background. Since Clockwork floor types need many Attribute variations to work, this allows developers to preview upcoming floor types before they're "totally" ready as the floor will be "set")
-An Arena floor without Attribute, containing a variety of monsters and no early exit. Occasionally will also have a Knight Arena, using the "Evil Knight" monster models. (The "Evil Knights" are from a parallel world where the Knights, rather than being guardians of the galaxy, are CONQUERORS of the galaxy. The space/time anomaly caused the two universes to blur, creating the Arena)
-A "Gauntlet": Similar to Deconstruction Zones, but rather than one large area it is a series of somewhat narrow passages that must be navigated, filled with enemies and flanked by Golden Gun Puppies with a high rate of fire A "preview" boss floor (Thunderfall Canyon - Boss: Coatl, the Thunderbird who has guarded the Canyon for eons, who unfortunately percieves the Knights as a threat to his peaceful realm)
Clearing all 7 floors rewards players with a new Crafting station containing new gear of a Silver-Star ranking (A single silver star, with stats somewhat better than 5-star, with a silver bar overlaying the status bar if it is full on the 5-star item it is derived from). These do not have to be fancy, just new gear like a Radiant Snarbolax Cap (White Snarbolax Cap, with the glowing eyes the Personal Color of your Knight), or a Molten Vog Cub Coat (which is red but the magma is the Personal Color of the Knight), etc. New Materials that will be required will be dropped within the Distortion, for example, Green Fragments rather than Green Shards, etc.
This will allow for future expansion of the Clockworks themselves with new floor types gradually becoming available, and open up new possibilities for equipment. As the game progresses there can even be missions to open up deeper (higher tier) Rifts that offer 2-Silver Star equipment and above, allow the dev team to show off new enemies and floors they are working on before they're completely finished, and allow greater personalization for players (by using the personal color more in the new equipment).
NOTES
-A certification mission along with the explanatory mission may be needed to make sure players qualify to enter. Qualifying requires a full set of 5-star gear.
-The higher tier Distortions added later will use the same Dark Matter count as the Core Distortion, opening a Distortion opens all tiers of the Distortion.
-Transportation between levels will use a new "opened rift" animation rather than the existing elevator animation. At the end of the floor is an apparent gash in the background your Knight steps into. This is a space/time anomaly, not the Clockworks. It cannot be explored normally by teams, and so no elevators can be built.
-As new floor types are added to the Clockworks, and Silver Star gear becomes more common (and 2-Silver Star gear is added), the Core can "recede due to our efforts" and allow for Tier 4 Clockworks for teams to tackle as a group.
-The list of floors is not a set list, and is just a guideline for the new types of floors found in the Anomalies. They don't obey the laws of the Clockworks since this is NOT the Clockworks.
-This will take time to implement. If the devs decide to do this, or a variation on this, it WILL take considerable time and effort to implement. Realize this won't happen overnight, it will take many months of labor to come out, if it ever does.
-How did I come up with the idea of Core Distortions? The Clockworks have been revealed to pull in matter from all over the universe and be constructed within Cradle. If the core acts as a "White Hole" expelling matter, then it may be an unstable wormhole that holds even more chaotic floors than what we've currently seen.
-I do have a few more ideas and concepts, but it is very late/early and I am very tired. Feel free to ask questions, offer suggestions, or give feedback. I may have skipped something or you may have noticed something I overlooked in my sleep-deprived state.
Then when it got to "6*" equipment it went in the porcelain.
The first part is possible, but it just leads to a weird version of a Shadow Lair for normal floors instead of boss ones. Oh boy, some broken maps and randomized enemies to fight against with scrambled resistances and damage types. Then some generic-evil-whatever because all games need that apparently. At the end of it all some bird that pops eggs at you or something, no one knows. It just sits somewhere being a bird and hates us.
None of this "herp derp 6* equipment" nonsense, especially with the only detail being "stats somewhat better than 5-star". How are they better other than cosmetic? Do they scratch your back for you?
"These do not have to be fancy, just new gear"
You describe a little on what they look like, but it has absolutely no relevance to what makes their "stats somewhat better" or why we should have your 6* equipment. Wolver lines not defensive enough for you? Good, that armor is supposed to be for offense. If you want defense get a defense set. Then we all remember how the defensive sets are underpowered because in practical use the difference is so tiny it may as well not exist.