Any system that takes from the core mechanics but doesn’t enhance it. Parasitic features do not resonate with players and result in player loss.
Parasitic Features:
Housing Tax (paying earned gold to maintain a paid for house in a game is parasitic)
Crafting Tax (paying earned gold to utilize materials you earned and recipes you earned is parasitic)
Orb costs for expeditions (farming, paying and earning to clear the gatekeeper to play the core mechanic of expeditions is parasitic)
Core features:
Expertise
OPR
Expeditions
Weapon skills
Armor perks
Crafting
Gathering
Enhanced features:
Umbral shards (enhances the core expertise and armor systems)
Crafting and gathering reward boxes
Mutators for expeditions
Please help me expand on this list and push to call out the parasitic features so they can be improved as enhancements or core features, or removed.