There's a strong argument that Trace is a failed mechanic in Netrunner, despite it being quite thematic.

With Trace being less relevant, the associated Link mechanic also loses relevance.

Could Trace and Link be saved if we remove the ability for either player to spend credits during a trace and also avoiding the use of Trace inside subroutines?

To make it backward compatible, the text could read "Trace² - Neither player can spend credits during this trace. If successful..."

This would encourage use of cards that buff/debuff Link.

Avoiding its use in subroutines means we can't just focus on strong economics to break the subroutine in lieu of investing in Link.

Thoughts?

I didn't play in Trace era, but how many link sources are there? It sounds to me like e.g. Trace 6 would be absolutely unbeatable. Wouldn't cards like Winchester or Punitive Counterstrike be way over the top?

There are a few cards that increase link (Access to Globalsec, The Toolbox). What's actually missing are cards the corp can play to reduce the runner's link count.

But imagine if there were. Now there's another layer to the game: should I spend clicks/credits to buff/debuff link so that future Traces are less/more effective? The "bidding" process of Trace becomes part of overall play in anticipation of the Trace instead of during the Trace.

It sounds interesting, though I'd assume all trace cards would have to be banned and newly implemented to balance that? It would also probably force every runner to play link strength cards. Which would feel rather bad when a Corp isn't relying on trace.

I’d assume all trace cards would have to be banned and newly implemented to balance that?

The rules can just be changed to not allow bidding during traces. Most old cards should be fine if that's the rule since trace numbers tend to be low.

It would also probably force every runner to play link strength cards. Which would feel rather bad when a Corp isn’t relying on trace.

True, but this is already a problem for other aspects of the game. For example a runner might have cards for stealing agendas from remote servers, but the corp deck might be focused on meat damage combos to win and may rarely/never install agendas.

Sure, but every runner can somehow interact with meat damage by drawing cards. Running remotes is a core necessity so that almost every deck will be prepared for that (Deep Dive decks may have different plans). But if link, without being able to pay up the trace, becomes a win con for the corp, every runner needs to have a way to boost link. What's the benefit of such a fundamentally warping change? It would need to improve the game vastly to be worth that deck building constraint.

Actually that's a fair criticism 👍