Allow a "rarity exchange" of parts and power cells

It seems that a large chunk of the community here is in one of two situations:

I can't use these (Rare/Epic/Legendary) resources. Can I trade them for lesser ones?

And as you play longer, it becomes

I have too many (Common/Uncommon) resources. Can I trade them for better ones?

Now, I'm aware that we've had this thread before:

https://forum.battlebay.net/threads/downgrade-parts.14411/
https://forum.battlebay.net/threads/uncommon-power-cells-in-guild-raffle.14451/
https://forum.battlebay.net/threads/how-to-solve-the-power-cell-issue.14203/
https://forum.battlebay.net/threads/power-cells-and-pieces.14359/
https://forum.battlebay.net/threads/power-cell-transforming.14348/

But I'd like to flesh it out a bit.

Power cells get bagged on a lot; unlike low-rarity parts which are still needed when upgrading higher-rarity items, Common and Uncommon power cells are completely useless once a player is able to build higher-rarity gear. Personally, I've just recently been able to go full Rare gear on my ship, and I'm left with 2256 Common and 2083 Uncommon cells. Unless there's some miraculous change, they're useless. It feels bad, and I imagine most players have similar levels of wasted resources.

The concept of an "exchange rate" seems to be pretty universal; what hasn't been agreed upon though is what said rate would be. Obviously, it can't be 1:1 - but something based off of the market cost wouldn't be off the mark. 350 Uncommon parts costs 88K (or about 251 each), and 400 Rare parts costs 409K (about 1022 each) - that's about a 1:4 ratio, so in the spirit of not outshining the shop, a 1:5 ratio for changing rarity seems like a good compromise in my opinion. Perhaps there could be different ratios for "upgrades" and "downgrades" - I'll do some math and hypothetical scenarios based off my current resources in a follow-up comment.

The early players would primarily use this to feel less dejected when they roll their Legendary Guild Raffle and get "4 Legendary Parts!" because that just became 20 Epic, 100 Rare, or 500 Uncommon parts, and the veterans would be able to funnel their useless Common and Uncommon power cells into the much-needed Rare or Epic type for an item evolution.

 

My current resource levels of parts and powercells are:

25448, 23936, 7493, 2955, 82
2256, 2083, 188, 241, 14

And I'm currently building Rares.

If we apply the 1:5 ratio in both directions, and did the "burn bridges" approach to maximize my Rare resources, I would end up with

25448, 23936, 24318
2249 Rare Powercells

While that gives me a truckload of Rare resources, that's absolutely shooting myself in the foot for future Epic items; and with the guild raffle, Epic gear is closer than most people think. If I go "forward looking" and keep Rare+, I get much less:

25448, 23936, 7493, 2955, 82
0, 0, 694, 241, 14

 

100% couldn't agree more. It's the most irritating feature of this otherwise flawless game.