An alternative to rank-down tickets
I came to this idea because of two things. First, I understand why we can just have rank-down tickets every time content changes. On the other hand, I also understand the frustration of ranking up champs for defense, and have those champs basically useless.
How about this as an alternative - rank up stones based on class and star of champ.
For instance, I ranked up a 4* NC to r4 purely for defense. I know some like him on offense (and I acknowledge that he has some value there), but personally, I don't care for him. But if I were to rank him down to r3, I could get a rank-up stone which is 4* mutant R3 to R4. I know some of the concern is that we would just take what we used for 4*s back when they had greater value and use them on 5*s. It's not healthy for the game to do that a lot, but Kabam has proven that they can give stones which are class specific and rank specific. So why not do it here?
You could give one or two for 5*s, 3 or 4 for 4*s, and let people use them as they want. Ranked up a 4* Juggs? Well, you could rank him down and use that stone on a 4* Magik. 5* Antman? Now you have something for that 5* Hulk.
I don't know. I've been trying to see this from both sides, as I've been really disappointed in AW. I used to love it. Now, not so much. This would maybe help alleviate some of the disappointment. This may have been suggested elsewhere, but I haven't seen it.