Those advocating the end of PoW are just not smart enough to understand what PoW does and how it is helpful.
Camo, POW is brilliant. It was a genius way to secure the bitcoin network. I'm not 100% certain we don't need it, but I can't seem to find anyone who can tell me why masternodes can't do the job even better. You have very clearly explained that you think POW is important. I agree. Now explain why, from a technical stand point, it is necessary at all for DRK if the masternodes can complete the same task even better.
I mentioned several reason s why many pages ago. You were caught up in other arguments and maybe didn't notice. I'm not keen to repeat myself while being ignored...
PoW is law of the wild. It's a brute-force concept that can be set free to anyone able. It keeps the network externally exposed and that keeps it honest. The code is open source, so is the proof of work. If we completely internalize the coin production, it's nothing more than a Proof of Stake/Federal Reserve/QE again. Yes, the MNs are providing Service, but it loses it's connection to the underlying paradoxical ruleset that makes crypto work. It's basically the same argument as "we don't need guns." If you lack the intellect to figure out why that is a bad choice, you definitely should not have the power to force that
choice handicap upon others.
You need a wasteful, brutal concept to keep the paradox working when you're using the ugliest traits to leverage your security. It's a perfect combination and it works. It's worked as a stand-alone metric since the inception of crypto. It was chosen and used because the reaction was unmeasurable and unknowable. It was a wise selection because, as it turns out, humans are garbage. Any other metric would have failed. The law of the wild should never stop being part of an unregulated currency, because that is exactly what it is. Pretending to be more civilized will only get you killed. Choosing to be helpless does not make you safe from those less enlightened.
Greed will drive the base. We're dealing with digital money here. The very nature of it will attract the lowest of the low, and the only way a ruleset can work in that range is if it is based on a paradox that feeds it's own brutality. Use the greed to beat the greed into submission. If you do not maintain your connection tot he law of the wild, you will be compromised and your coin will be useless. Only the deeply stupid buy or use Proof of Hoard coins.
Fundamentally, no single block proof metric will ever be better than 2 or more combined. Why not use what we know is a solid rock? You can MN if you want. Mine if you want. Do both. Or neither. The network benefits either way. If you've got the solar panels to push TH into the network, do it! If not, run a MN. If you can't figure any of it out, get a job and sell your life for fiat. Whatever...