I'm still not sure what were PA's goals behind recent crystal presets update but I assume dramatically increasing importance of crystals was intended.

However, with crystals still breaking on death it feels like one-step-forward and two-steps-back update.

There are only TWO scenarios in which I lost important crystals:
1. BDO freezes and I lose control over my character in the middle of a monster pack, then the game unpauses or reconnects but my character is already dead and suffers from crystal break penalty.

2. I fight monsters but suddenly I get pulled under the map with no defensive option and I die fast to mobs or keep falling below map surface into certain death. Escape-escape function is not reliable enough as safety feature.

I got minor crystal breaks being fed to mobs, I also lost some basic ones learning Karanda and Nouver patterns but these situations I may consider forgivable.

With recent changes we lost a reliable safety tool for protecting super rare crystals by including them in copied tag gear. Silver can be farmed for tag fuel purchase but super rare crystals can't be rushed as market preorders. Also, ONLY those who got characters tagged recived a copied set which SHOULD be announced before the update. It's not a lot of unfair adventage but it's a bad decison and I dislike that even if I benefited from it.

This situation discourages me from grinding tougher monster zones even more. Not only I risk being fed to mobs by trolls competitive players but also losing unique crystals due to game glitches and server problems with no backup method. I will be stuck in the same spots for another two/three years before my gear will allow comfortable fights in "endgame" challenges without relying on bufs and protections from crystals. Practical aspect is crucial but it also simply feels awful on psychological level. There's no thrill in losing progress. It does not spice up the game in any form whatsoever.

We should have crystals breaking removed from the game or at least allow us to restore them with silver in cities, even if the price is greater than market value.

I agree with that. While I do think it's great that there's a feeling of risk involved with going out and fighting, possibly dying... The game does have a lot of bugs and not everyone has the most stable internet connection. There's also the issue of mob feeding so losing crystals is a real issue especially now that they can be billions of silver each.

Crystals used to give a sense of progression to the game and now it's more akin to gambling. Perhaps they could provide a means to make each crystal slot unbreakable or the crystal itself rather become unbreakable through a chain of events that the player can do. Think like the Master sword in Zelda64. There was a replica sword that could break but if you went through the efforts of obtaining the Master sword which was a fulfilling achievement, you had the genuine deal and didn't have to worry about it breaking anymore. There may had been more perks to it but I don't remember the game too well.

Tagging was safety and peace of mind. You could still play and feel the thrill of risk without tagging if that was your playstyle. I'm always all for progression in games. I'd love to see something to where our precious 2bn or 5bn silver crystals can be upgraded for full protection without the pearl shop.

If there would be no crystal breaking 90% of the crystals would sit at min price like the lightstones do.

Also crystals are not progress. They are consumables.

when lightstones sitting is no problem either for PA, why would crystals be?

why don't lightstones break?

how many other "consumables" do you know that cost billions?

losing so much due to disconnects and the massive fall-under-map bugs is just idiotic.

making crystals will have zero impact on market or the game. make them meltable for magic shards, just like the black magic ones. problem of "sitting" 100% solved, game 100% improved, frustration and shit mechanic gone.

Well PA do not care about the market that is true.

As for fall under bugs, that is extremely rare. I probably had it once in 5year, also u not supposed to lose crystals from fall damage in the first place.

As for disconnect if you're talking about the server instability, they said it on the website that they will restore lost gems cause it.

they should add a 10 bucks brand on crystal present where you dont lose crystals on pve death while not red.

i'd buy 2

foward and back foward and back cruz chaser

That's actually a really good idea imo. Maybe similar to cups for accessories but for crystals instead. Gives players a choice in the matter and something to strive towards. 

Could even spread these drops to forgotten grindzones to improve their interest. Do you think the item you use to upgrade the crystal should be sellable like cups are? And should the crystal 'cup' provide any additional benefits or no?

Honestly though, I am waiting for some meaningful progression to be introduced that's tied to our actual characters though, and not on gear and items, but that's off topic.

While I don't think it should be completely removed, as it does add good sense of risk when grinding in new and hard areas, it's an interesting thrill, as you have to pay attention, otherwise you just go to a stable average spot like centaurs at the moment and don't worry about crystals breaking.

I think it's ignorant to say that it is extremely rare and that somebody probably had it only once in 5 years and then only addressing the server conenctivity issue lately. No offence.

At the time of writing I don't know how to fully fix the issue, apart from implementing a good code that detects a proper internet time-out or no user input in a specific period of time which therefore disconnects you automatically or maybe puts you into some kind of protected state OR/and if the code would detect that the application is no longer being focused process.

However I do believe it is a big issue losing 300 or 700mil and 1b crystals when dying due to stuff like internet connectivity issues or bugs.

The 1st being the most common, as when you have internet instability at some point of time, you only move in your screen, mobs dont take damage, they dont move anymore and you know you will most likely get a disconnect any second. Now when that happens the game doesn't detect it with its sophisticated system and disconnect you as it should, you are actually still standing there and not moving, taking all the damage and beating from mobs. Same with crash of a game, say you're grinding and your system or the game crashes, freezes, you're still there standing for a few moments and if you happen to die, that's it.

What you see afterwards ? loging back into that character, ready to use Elions Tear and looking at a line or two of red text saying how you broke your jin viper and/or a glorious ah'krad. Gee, thanks.

That's technically correct but crystals aren't synonymous with consumables. There is a psychological barrier that assumes crystal = progress rather than crystal = consumable. With that said, PA could use that to their advantage by making a few tweaks so people can have something to work towards, for instance, permanent crystals. I'm sure you can agree that BDO could use more goal related systems that feel like you are progressing. I think this would be the perfect opportunity for them to do this and add hundreds more playtime hours at the same time. Personally I don't think it matters if crystals don't ever become max price, although they could -- I doubt most ever will get near it even with the current system in place. The value of crystals on the CM shouldn't determine if crystals become permanent or not, it should just be another thing that people are willing to buy. But for all we know, PA could decide to require 10 crystals as part of the amaglamation process? Who knows...