Thoughts and suggestions

[Mocurin]

I really enjoy this game, but i think it is too unbalanced and unfair in some ways. I hope that changes i suggest will help

ARTIFACTS
There-are-artifacts-that-do-the-same-and-have-different-risk-values section:
"small vallet"/"toy scanner" & "empty box". Before loop they all effectively deny upgrading your weapon in the closest shop. Money are very crucial and 0.4/0.5 value just do not compensate for them early in the run. I suggest making more valuable versions of the first two artifacts, that would drop before loop
"Little horns" & "green crystal", first one impacts game a lot more, but has lower Risk value. Swap them!
"Dirty bubble gum" is worth mentioning, because it effectively halves players dps, while having low risk value. It should be 0.9-1.0
Not-worth-taking section:
"newt tongue" & "sand", terrible, just terrible artifacts. They are never worth taking, until you are facing shop in the next stage. They should both at least guarantee Risk level increase. And even after this change they are terrible. You wont take them most of the time and they just take space in the artifacts pool. (It would not be that big problem if game was not repeatedly giving player same artifacts until you take them. It is very frustrating facing "trap"/"small wallet"/"newt tongue"/"sand" instead of other artifacts every stage until closest shop. Im not sure if it is a thing in a game, or just my bad luck, though)
"guts" - it is not worth taking until it costs more than 1.0, as it nearly always makes you loose 1+ max HP. And even after this it is too risky and just does not worth it. It seems to me like an unavoidable damage, especially if the thing i described in the last paragraph happens.
"oblivion stone" & "venom". 0.3 & 0.7, really? Second one does nothing as feathers is currently the best (and really only useful) active in a game. Oblivion stone - 0.3->0.5/0.7. Actives have their impact. Event if impact is small, denying it for 0.3 is.. uhm, just bad.
"bogy bone", "slipper", "dead slug". Lack of speed kills player more, than lack of dps. Some bosses just require speed to beat them, for example. Their risk values are too small. Slipper makes most of common mobs hard to kill, and terribly interacts with other artifacts. Its price surely should not be 0.5
"Dead bug". The only artifact i dont take at all. You just cant avoid losing money in 90% of cases. It not only removes your money, but also denies picking them until closest shop. 0.6 does not make up for that.
Others section:
"Invisible key". At current state of secret & locked stages does nothing. Potentially its price is too low.
"Rusted bolt". It is not risky until player has 3-4 of them. 1.0 is too much, 0.7 seems like a way to go
"Goblet of mire". No risk. 0.5 to 0.3
"Cracked clock" After loop denies picking money (Pots/lots of mobs/etc), after loop should at least be 0.5
The problem is that a lot of artifacts impact different before and after the loop. Some of them are ok, but others should be adjusted.

ACTIVE ABILITIES
Most of them are useless, heh. Also they drop in the most of secret/locked stages, which is very frustrating. Solution - restrict their drop only to bosses and remake all of them. At current state feathers, again, are only useful ability.

WEAPONS
they-are-weak section:
Golden gun. I like this gun, it shoots fast, feels great, etc. But it uses coins as ammo and you cant upgrade from it unless you are really lucky to get bag of money. I would change it in the way "Golden bullet" item works
All "Ice" guns. It feels like they are overrated in a game (they cost more, do less). They are ok against common mobs, but always terrible on bosses. Their damage is too low because they freeze, but they do not freeze bosses. Why should i take a gun, which is useless on bosses?
I think their debuff should be remade. Let it slow, then freeze after a few shots, for example. Bosses do not freeze.
Zap-guns, all of them. They are too weak against single enemies, especially when you comapre them to plasma guns (and most of other late game guns)
There is no other sections, honestly
Also some guns from the second floor should be moved to the first. (Zip, Icy and some others)

OVERALL SUGGESTIONS
Threre is no guarantees in the game. You never know how much money and artifacts you will get. If shop appears early on 2+ floor, you are not guaranteed to get one on the same floor, leaving you without weapon upgrade in most of the cases, which can be crucial to beat floors boss. It is still possible to come to the first shop in the 1-6+ without money and artifacts. You can easily get 5 "Cracked clocks" in a row. Artifacts do not drop on stages, where door to the shop appears. Its ok, unless shop door appears right after another shop door, leaving you without potential artifacts from this stage. Sure, those are all luck problems, but they affect runs too much. Too much to that point, where skills do not matter, as you dont have proper artifacts set up for current area.
1) I`d suggest introducing "minimal drop", which guarantees player that he will get, for example, money for a "random gun" in a shop (3/6/etc) and 1 risk level.
2) Make artifacts drop even when there is a shop door on a stage. Artifact pool can be rectricted to only some of them.
3) "shared value" for a consequetive artifact drops. For example, two closest artifact drops have 1-2 risk value in a sum. If 0.4 artifact drops, the second one should be (1-2) - 0.4 -+ 0.1(for example) Risk value artifact. That will surely solve 5 "Cracked clocks" in a row, ahah.

Ehm, thats all. Feel free to correct me if i said something wrong.

[Applava]

Thank you for your feedback. Below you will find our comments.

Regarding "Small Wallet", "Toy scanner" or "Empty box" - pick up is optional and depending on the strategy that you choose they can be not dangerous at all. On the other hand, the affect can be the other way around - if you need money, it's really not work picking up "Small wallet" or "Toy scanner".

Regarding "Horns" and "Green Crystal" - risk value difference is very small. "Horns" can be do a favour in Daily Runs - the more HP enemies have, the more points player gets by killing them.

In our opinion "Dirty Bubble Gum" is relatively safe. You do not lose anything, just weapon has a chance to jam for a shot.

Regarding Not-worth-taking section, as we mentioned before every artifact pick up is optional. You need to manage your taken risk depending on the situation you are currently in.

• Trap - if you have a lot of coins and you still need more it's not worth picking it up. If you don't need any or you don't have them at all it basically becomes a "free" artifact.
  
• Newt's Tongue - if you just left the shop and/or it's your first artifact that you found it's probably not the best choice to pick it up. If you already have a lot of artifacts and you certainly know that you won't pick up anymore then it's like a "free" artifact again.

Spawn of shop door is not random, it has a pattern so you can predict in some way. If you know that shop door are not far away then picking up "Trap", "Small Wallet", "Sand" or any other artifact is way less risky.
Another point is that a lot depends if you play single or co-op mode. So new various strategies become available for co-op play. For example, one co-op player can pick up "Newt's Tongue" artifact and another will still be able to pick up the rest.

And so on with your other mentioned artifacts. Different players with different strategies, different style of play, different situations and etc. have different view what kind of artifacts and abilities are useful or not. In some situations you can find artifacts that have unbalanced value, but this is one point of view.
From my perspective as a player, "Guts" is one of the most fun artifacts in the game. "Goblet of Mire" is very risky.

Active abilities:
In our opinion active abilities are the weaker part of the game. We know that and will try to improve it.

Overall suggestions:
Some of your points are fair. In general, there is a minimal guaranteed drop, especially with artifacts, loot from locked/secret levels, loot from bosses. There will never be any artifact drops in the same level where shop door are, because it's always a "free" artifact. Regarding the same artifacts in a row, in our opinion it's not a problem but rather an advantage. For example, maybe you will pick up one "Green Crystal" artifact, but you will consider picking up the second one and the following ones. In such situations your risk is not spread on various negative affects but concentrated on one. So it's your choice.
Another thing, one of the defining aspects of rogue-lite, rogue-like genre is randomness. Every play is different. In one play you might be weak throughout entire run, in another you might be more lucky and more powerful. By playing you try to overcome your challenges. We noticed that some players are not happy about some Blazing Beaks RNG, but it's not entirely true that RNG is totally unpredictable.
It can be made to spawn particular amount of items, artifacts, coins and even specific things mentioned before can be spawned in specific moments. But if you know what you get in every moment of the game wouldn't it become too predictable and boring? It would diminish replay value.

[Mocurin]

Oh, ok, wow, thats a lot to think about. Thank you!
Now i, honestly, after playing a bit more think differently about some of them. And i totally forgot about other playmodes, im not sure i can give "healthy" feedback while not even playing them once.