This is my humble opinion for a better upgrade/progression system:
-- Reset all current gear to +0 (prerequisite)
This will function as a soft reset which is needed for the current state of the game (refunding cash shop currency as deemed fit). Alternatively, this could also be solved by having Seasons (see below).
-- Make upgraded gear non-tradeable
This will keep the economy from overflowing with upgraded items and encourage character investment/building.
-- Make the system progression/grind based instead of RNG based.
My proposal is to get rid of the RNG by implementing an exponential progression system by converting the upgrade stones into a form of currency.
In details:
- Get rid of all stones except red/blue/white ones.
- Make red/blue stones drop from mobs/daily quests/pretty much anything you do in game.
- Make white stones drop from bosses or other content you want to promote people playing.
- After level 4 (armors) / 6 (weapons) white stones are required to upgrade.
- Make each upgrade require more stones than the previous and optionally add an incremental zeni cost that can act as a zeni sink. Keep the numbers of stones/zenis required lower for lower level items (e.g. a level 70 item is harder to upgrade than a level 30 item).
For example, to upgrade a level 70 weapon: (Numbers just for demonstration, don't take them literally)
+1 => 1 U70 red stone + 10000 zeni
+2 => 2 U70 red stones + 50000 zeni
+3 => 5 U70 red stones + 150000 zeni
+4 => 10 U70 red stones + 400000 zeni
+5 => 18 U70 red stones + 1000000 zeni
+6 => 30 U70 red stones + 3000000 zeni
+7 => 45 U70 red stones + 9000000 zeni + 1 white stone
+8 => 65 U70 red stones + 9000000 zeni + 1 white stone
+9 => 90 U70 red stones + 15000000 zeni + 2 white stones
... etc
-- Optional (but strongly recommended for the health of the game)
Implement a form of Seasons (similar to PoE or Diablo 3) that will last for a significant amount of time (e.g. 1 year). When the "Season" ends all the "seasonal" characters become non-seasonal and are moved to the same server with characters from previous seasons.
The "Seasonal Server" will then be clean and provide a new start for everyone. Also the "seasonal" server will have some season-exclusive items, like dogies for example, to encourage players to play "seasonal" characters.
Just my 0.02
Thanks for reading