Lost caches rarely drop 4-5 keys, and I appreciate the surplus. But it takes some time and clicks to pick them up. They are usually a bit scattered, so that involves a bit of running and clicking at different screen regions. When you run for one key, the tiny name boxes (that could be bigger/adjustable) for picking up the rest are moving. Looting should feel fun and rewarding, not painful.
Keys are consumables with no identity. Right now they require a lot of inventory management (more clicking). And from what I remember, they won’t be tradable (though I’d prefer if they will).
So I don’t see a reason, why keys should not be treated as shards. Sending them to a special storage and seeing their quantity seems natural to me, unlike hoarding full tabs of different keys without the possibility to sort automatically.
Given how frequently they drop, keys seem completely unnecessary to me. Other than the Arena Key of Memory, what is the point in having them? I would think the one-and-done nature of the dungeons themselves is already enough of a cock-block mechanic, that (attemping to) gatekeeping them behind RNG key drops is just pointless. I have 2 tabs full of keys, and don’t see myself every having a binge 75+ run session of Lightless Arbor, that keys would ever be a limiting factor for me.
Keys do just seem to exist as a way to add rng to any races that involve dungeons, as after 10+ hours into monoliths, you start hitting a point where you’re basically never going to run out.
Yeah, either way. I only keep about 20 of each, just so when I do want to do a spree I have them available. The rest I just sell. I think they should either be treated like shards or just do away with them (except Arena as you mentioned. The only reason I think they might be keeping them is it is another way to get gold by selling them but as more stuff gets added this may eventually be completely moot as well.