I will be discussing the improved upgrading system. Or, to be more specific, the new Force Core Upgrading system, seeing as the general upgrade system was improved a while ago with the possibility to upgrade all the way to +15.
As most of you reading this will be aware of the fact that the force core upgrading system will change with the Legacy Of Darkness update I will simply try to clear up some rumours surrounding it. Random Option Scrolls, Defined Option Scrolls, etc, as well as go through some minor changes to the system. For the most part it is a visual change and some options to give you more control while enchanting slots.
I think the best place to begin is with the new Upgrade UI. Force Core Upgrading is still done through a Core Alchemist NPC. The first thing you will notice is that the upgrading window now looks different, appearing in the middle of the screen.
The different parts of the window is fairly self-explanatory. Clockwise from the top left you have the item being upgraded, the two different option scroll types you can use, the number of force cores you want to use (and a useful button to add all the force cores you have in your inventory, to the maximum of ten), with the upgrade cost and the success chance below that (the cost to upgrade the second slot is double that of the first slot, and I have not checked 3rd slot costs yet) while right at the bottom you have the attribute that will be added. It uses the old ‘cycle-through-the-possible-upgrades-and-failed-upgrade-icons’ animation that everyone is used to by now once you actually start the process.
So far so good, and not terribly surprising.
The main change, of course, comes from the new Option Scrolls. Transmuting items now gives you option scrolls as well as material cores and force/upgrade core pieces. The type of option scrolls you receive when you transmute an item is random, and the better ones are rare, as they should be. And yes, Critical Rate is one of the better ones. I know people were wondering about this. So is 2slot item drop, although I gather not as many of you would be interested in that particular one, vocal as the farming minority may be.
The rules for which Option Scroll can be used in which weapon/armour piece is still the same as it was before. For example, you cannot upgrade a weapon slot with MP. Those rules still apply, as the following table shows.
Nothing has changed here, at least.
OK, back to the Option Scrolls. You can get any Option Scroll from transmuting an item, and the grade of the Option Scroll depends on the grade of the item you transmute. Option Scrolls come in two types, Random and Defined (or Fixed, the dev notes and game change between the two names at the moment). A Random Scroll is exactly that, you can gain a random upgrade option from the available options, while a Defined Option Scroll allows you to control which upgrade you get, exactly like the catalysts used to do. The only difference is that you can now control the old level 2 upgrade options as well, with the exception of Skill Amp. 7% Sword/Magic amp is still drop only. You cannot get it with Defined or Random Option Scrolls. Everything else is possible.
The other change is that the Force Core grade, and Option Scroll grade is now very important. You can only use Option Scrolls and Force Cores matching the grade of the item you wish to enchant. You can no longer use highest cores on anything other than Mithril, Lycanus or Drei Frame Items, and so on. The item levels are in the following table.
You only need one of the two types of Option Scroll when you want to enchant an item. If you manage to get your hands on the Defined Option Scroll that matches the upgrade you want, congratulations, you only have to use that one. You do not need to add a Random scroll as well, in fact, it is much better that you don’t. The game will first check the Random option scroll, and if the random upgrade fails it will fall back on the Defined option scroll, and check that one for success. Think of the difference between using one or two force cores, with and without a catalyst, when you currently try to enchant a slotted item.
If you don’t have the Defined Scroll you want (Critical Rate comes to mind again, for some weird reason) you can still take a chance and gamble with a Random scroll. You might get lucky.
I just need to point out a small bug here, because I am not sure if it will be fixed by the time the update goes live. If you use a Defined scroll and a Random scroll at the same time the enchant result window will still cycle through all the possible outcomes, both level one (attack, magic, defence, etc) and level two (1slot, critical rate, min damage, etc) even though you can only gain one possible level 1 enchant and any of the possible level 2 enchants. Don’t panic if you see this. If you have a Critical Damage Defined Option scroll and a Random Option scroll you can only get critical damage in the slot, or one of the level 2 enchants, even though you will see other options once you start the enchant process. It has been reported, and perhaps it will be fixed before we go live.
The success rate is now linked to the number of force cores you use when upgrading. 10 cores will give you an 85% success rate for the first slot, and a 70% success rate for the second. Again, I have not yet checked the third slot options. The success rate goes up with 5% for every force core you add. The price to upgrade varies according to the type of item (Greatswords and Daikatanas cost double) and item grade level. The second slot costs double what the first slot does, for a 2-slotted item. Osmium level costs 500,000 Alz and Mithril level costs 7,000,000 for the first slots. The rest is scattered in-between.
Credits:
GM Viral of Cabal EU
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