It was for the Indiegogo campaing which was to fund the forums, website and orthographics for the mech thmpr and player model. It has ended but the game is going to be funded from donations so you will get your chance to contribute :)
the first ER that we had on pts had only small hp buffs, hp regen buffs, jj energy/regen and consumables nothing game breaking
Edit: your tagging always makes me laugh :D
Thinkering is a typical chinese grind mechanic and unless mark sells ember to some chinese company we wont see it
Elite ranks just dont fit in a game with horizontal proggression but i'd love my extra exp to be converted into consumables and such. Elite ranks arent a bad idea red5's execution...