T5 Enhancements - Not a Pretty Sight

I don't usually write things that put myself in a non-positive light.  I mean, I can poke fun at myself and have a laugh about things I've done, things I've said, and encounters that I've been a part of, but this is different.

This posting has to do with enhancement.  More specifically Tier5 105 Orange enhancements.  I recently got my 105 Ashur Bow to +10, and I should be happy right?  Who wouldn't want to strut around their server with the only-one-of-it's-kind, gleaming-away-at-its-full-enhancement-level weapon?  Well, me.



While I am happy, and most of all relieved, that I finally got my bow to +10, it's actually somewhat of an embarrassment.  How could that be?  Well along with the bow comes the questions.  How and where did I get it?  How much gold did it cost to enhance it?  How many stones?  How much SC?  And I'm not one to lie or sugarcoat it for you, so I'll tell you.

It's definitely not easy for me to admit to this as I really am embarrassed about what this attempt at enhancement has done to me and my in-game and RL pocketbook.

This is not a condemnation on OutSpark or OnsOnSoft about the enhancement system as we all know what it's like, where the frustrations lie, how low the success rates truly are, and yet we still enhance.  I'm not saying not to enhance your items, because they are after all yours, and it is your money.  I just want this to serve as a warning to all of you that may want to enhance that godly 108, that sexy 105 or whatever you have.  Learn from my experience, my demoralized spirit, and remember that enhancing is gambling.  And with any type of gamble, don't wager what you can't afford to lose.

Okay, so here's the SparkCash breakdown:

Ouch Fatal, right?  Yeah, so what was the in-game costs associated with this enhancement?  This will be just as staggering.

Granted that I farmed much of my own dusts, but I did a lot of buying also.  I avoided buying created stones from players to keep my costs down as much as possible while keeping a steady flow of dusts coming in.  Vended stones go for about 250-300s per Elrue, 2.5-3g per Lix, and 25-30g per Xir.  By creating my own stones, even after buying dusts, I still saved about 40-50%.  It's a bit of a consolation I guess.  I also didn't factor in the costs of HQ Gold Ores and Sapphires used to create the Lix and Xirs.  I used about 15 of my own Karis, bought the rest @ 700s per.

So anyway, that's that.  *sigh*

If you're curious how the bow turned out... here it is:

 

So is there a lesson to be learned here?  Perhaps, but there are also more questions...

1.  Why don't you use Gold Nines?

• I simply don't use Gold Nines because I don't believe they do much of anything.  The Tier5 Gold Nine gives the user a 15% higher chance of success.  However, that statement is often misinterpreted.  That 15% is not "in addition to" your base success percentage.  It is 15% of the base percentage added on.  So, for example purposes only, if an item had a 10% chance of success, the Gold Nine would not bring your success rate up to 25% (base 10% + Gold Nine 15%), it would only bring it up to 11.5% (base 10% + (15% of 10%)).  And with a cost nearly equaling the Red Eyes, it wasn't worth it.  Even if I could have gotten them at a discount by buying the T5 Enhancement Bundle.
• EDIT:  after reading my post, [GM]Delita did some testing of his own to hopefully uncover a bit more about enhancing for us, and while his sample size was small, it did show a marked difference in the effectiveness of the Gold Nines.  You can read his findings here.

2.  Why do your Red Eyes significantly outnumber your Blue Miles?

• You can tell how many Karis I burned, and yes that number is embarrassingly legit, by the difference in purchased Reds vs purchased Blues.  You see, as of right now anyway, items do not degrade once they are +9.  They will not go from +9 back down to +8 when attempting to use a Karis.  If my 37 attempts to +10 this bow without the use of Blue Miles isn't proof enough, I don't know what is.  But yes, Reds are still necessary, your item can break, but not degrade.  If OutSpark/OnsOnSoft decides to change this in the future, just be aware.

3.  Aren't you scared of breaking even with the use of Perfect Red Eyes?

• We've all heard the stories of players' items being destroyed even while using Perfect Red Eyes.  Some of these breakages are because of user error.  Either they didn't put the Red Eye in, used a 50% Red they acquired from James' Forge thinking it was a Perfect, or in some cases, they lagged when attempting to put it in and it never made it there.  But in any case, I always always always, take video of my enhancements.  With each attempt, I record and am sure to hover for a second or two over each item used in the enhancement process.  So a second or two over the Perfect Reds, Perfect Blues, Enhancement Stone, and a bit longer on the item itself so that the stats and current enhancement level are clearly visible.  Remember:  only video will save you should you get a break using a Perfect Red.  Screenshots for the most part, tell nothing.  After your enhancements are completed for the day, shut down your recorder and delete the old videos since you're safe.