This won't be what you expect.
First of all, I need to give SP props. Of late, they're doing a few things right. They've realized the game is evolving, and have either eased up on monetary pressures (eg. free skill swapping) or given a few more freebies (eg. the cave) to compensate. The point is, the game we've come to know and love has changed dramatically since it was first released, and some aspects need to catch up.
Over the last two weeks, rune-swaps-for-gold has been GLORIOUS. Seriously, it cannot be overstated how much life this has brought into the game. I understand it was only intended to allow for conversions to mutant runes, but it's made other things possible. I enjoyed watching my friends change rune configurations to better combat certain levels of the nemesis survival dungeon, and joined fellow teammates in moving runes around for wars. It also let us change monsters' ROLES as needed, something that's been sorely lacking in this game. Customizing our monsters shouldn't be such a drain on our resources, especially considering how expensive good monsters have become lately.
On the ML Community page on Facebook, we were told that when the game was first made, the intent was to have all our monsters equipped with runes. Folks, that was when people had probably a dozen monsters to equip. We're WAY past that now, and to add to the strain, you've given us a rune sink in the Mutant Runes feature.
25 gems to remove an X rune is way, way too harsh. When reconfiguring a monster for war, you'll usually need to change at least two runes on at least one monster. Then after the war, you'll usually have to switch them back. That cost is bonkers, by any metric.
Now, I'm not onboard for a permanently "free" rune removal. That on its own wouldn't just change how the game is played, but could impact the economy in a negative way. However, there are no shortage of ideas for compromise I'd like you to consider. For example:
- Tie further discounted rune removal fees into the rune guardian. For example, 50% off fees while the guardian is active.
- My favorite: Keep the rune removal fees, but create a mechanic for unlimited rune type changes. If someone has a speed rune equipped, let them change the type to strength, team life, stamina, etc. on the fly (excluding golds). If they have a mutant, let them change the mutant combos. This way all monsters will still need to be equipped (which is already crazy expensive btw), but reconfiguring for wars will become accessible to non-whales.
As I've said in these forums before, we're increasingly feeling like we're being squeezed. Milked. Even ripped off. Why not back it off just a bit and evolve this part of the game as you've done others? This little change would make a big difference for your best customers. Please, consider this request and make them happy.