[b]"May god have mercy on our vaults..."[/b] Those were my words when I noticed that Bungie had [b]taken out[/b] the ability to [b]exchange materials[/b] for marks and cash. Some may recall a time where you could actually get rewarded for gathering these materials. It was much like picking up change on a sidewalk; watching that little jar fill up with pennies and exchanging that sucker for a candy bar further on down the road. It almost felt like a little victory to stack up a couple hundred Spinmetal and spam the little exchange icon. [b]But everything changed when the Materials Exchange attacked...[/b]That update(whenever it was) was the beginning of a crisis that still haunts me(and undoubtedly many others) today... Now, this problem has not been highlighted even once by Bungie(at least, not that I've seen. Please correct me if I'm wrong), and I have silently coped with it for a while. But shortly after the House Of Wolves dropped I noticed this problem grow even worse than before. When the expansion dropped the [b]amount of materials required[/b] to upgrade gear was [b]cut down immensely[/b], and the ability to get more materials [b]went up[/b] due to Ether Chests. These chests are quite important for getting Engrams, EXP, Cash, (and most importantly) Treasure Keys. I am normally part of the minority of people who have the “Overload” problem, but for the past couple of weeks, I have heard complaints from nearly every person I have played with that they have far more materials than they know what to do with. I would know this problem quite well, considering most of my free time consists of me roaving about the Cosmodrome and opening up the chests for cash and materials like the little drone I am. My Spinmetal count has reached an ungodly level as of late: [spoiler]Over 3000...[/spoiler] and needs to be cut down!(And no, I cannot bring myself to scrap over 3000 Spinmetal) Now, I am not here to cry and moan with no real plan of how to go about fixing it, but rather here to give a [b]couple of suggestions[/b] on how to solve this little debacle. So without further adieu, here are my suggestions! 1.) Bring back the ability to [b]sell materials[/b] to the [b]Quartermasters[/b]. Pretty plain and simple. Let us sell materials for, say, 500 Glimmer for every 50 of a given material, or five marks for every 50, and or both(Like it was before). 2.) [b]Exchange[/b] them to [b]factions [/b]for EXP. Again, pretty simple. Give 50 or so to a faction for about 100-250 faction EXP. This would relieve you of your pesky spare materials, and help you rank up your favorite faction! Variks could also accept it for some EXP.(but quite a bit less less than the other factions to balance it out) (I lied, I have more than a couple...) 3.) [b]Mystery Packages[/b] could also be a thing. You take a stack of 200 to a given faction(HoW factions included) and get a random package which could contain anything from Strange Coins, to Motes Of Light, Weapons, Armor, Glimmer, and even Ships and Shaders on very rare occasions. This would be a bit of a [b]"Pandora's Box"[/b] of rewards, and would still follow the Random Loot System that is currently in place.(Think of it like the packages when you level up, but with a little better rewards like 5-10 motes of light, coins, etc.) 4.) You could also trade some to the [b]Shipwright[/b] for a [b]random ship[/b]. 50 for a common ship, 100 for uncommon, 200 for rare, 500 for legendary. The ship would be random, adding a bit of mystery as to what you are getting. You could also use them to [b]improve[/b] your [b]Uncommon Sparrow[/b]s to Rare Class as well! This would help people customize their Sparrows the way THEY want!(I want the red one for the record!) 5.) Let us exchange it for [b]Motes of Light[/b] for a 10-1 ratio with the Speaker. 6.) This one will be really farfetched, but allow us to [b]create gear[/b] out of the materials. Take it to a forge or something of the like and craft armor and weapons. The more you have, the more you can create.(This will probably never happen, but it was noteworthy to say the least!) 7.) Give us the ability to [b]throw it off of the Tower/Outpost[/b] and watch it [b]EXPLODE[/b] into confetti!(At least we could finally do something with it...) Okay, I'm outta ideas... There are quite a few ways you could fix this little problem(Many of which would take [b]minimal effort[/b]). It will put grinders minds at ease to know that their effort was [b]not in vain[/b], and trust me when I say that every player could use some relief without the need to scrap all of those materials! [b]Thank you for reading this rather long post![/b] I would love to hear the community's opinions on this topic! Have an idea of your own? Do you disagree? How many materials do you have kicking around? Go ahead and comment! I read 'em all and am always happy to give feedback! [b]See you starside Guardians![/b] [b]-Miko[/b]