The client update has been put on hold for now although it should be happening sooner than later. Next major feature update is a revamp of the refining system and addition of several new items.
I will be implementing "Safe to +7" certificates. How these work is fairly simple, There will be a certificate you purchase and when you are upgrading and your refining fails, instead of your item being destroyed the certificate is consumed instead. If the upgrade completes successfully then you'll keep the certificate. They will only cover up to +7, above that the item will suffer the normal failure result.
I will also be adding a new refiner that takes HD ores instead of the standard ores. This refiner will only upgrade weapons and armor in the +7-10 range. When you upgrade on this refiner, and the refining fails, instead of destroying the item, you will lose one upgrade. So for example, you fail on upgrading a +8 item, it will get knocked down to +7.
Overall there will be 3 main classes of ores you can use for upgrading, with 3 different sets of refiners and chances and prices. Here's the breakdown:
Standard refining:
- Oridecon and elunium found off of monster drops.
- Default cost and success table, single roll for refine chance.
- If an upgrade fails, the item is destroyed. Certificates are not checked or used.
Enriched refining:
- "Enriched" oridecon and elunium purchasable in cash shop.
- Same success table as standard refining, but the refiner will roll twice for success chance.
- Safe to +7 certificates are checked. If refining fails certificate is consumed and item is left intact.
HD refining:
- "HD" oridecon and elunium purchasable in cash shop.
- Will only upgrade items at +7 or higher.
- Same as enriched, roll twice for success chance.
- If an upgrade fails, item loses 1 point of refinement. Certificates are not checked.
So, in layman's terms, you can continue to use the standard refiners with normal items at the standard chances. The enriched refiner will roll twice for success chance (effectively raising your chances by 50%), and if you have a Safe to +7 certificate it will consume the certificate rather than the item. For example, if you have a piece of armor you want to get +7, you should start with standard refining to +4, then obtain a Safe to +7 certificate and use enriched refining to increase your odds. If you're at or over +7 you can elect to use the HD refiner which will only knock off a point of refinement rather than destroy the item. This should make getting +7s much more viable, while still making +9/+10s a moneysink but not out in the realm of impossible.
Costs will be set at 150k each for enriched elunium and oridecon, 250k for HD elunium and oridecon, and 1mil zeny for a single safe to +7 certificate. Remember, the certificate is only consumed when the item fails to refine, so it's possible (if not likely) to make it to +7 and still have your certificate.
I am also looking at rebalancing the socketing NPC, possibly by either boosting the chances and lowering costs, or leaving the chances as is but removing the item destruction. I'm leaning toward the latter, leave the cost, chance, and reagent requirements at default but remove the item destruction. Your zeny and any reagents required will be consumed but the item will not get destroyed.
I will likely have this all implemented sometime this weekend. Stay tuned!