In order to make this a non-profitable non-enterprising skill, I propose to make it somewhat costly so that the main purpose is to give yourself higher % catalysts for refining and not to upgrade for reselling (unless you'd like to sell a higher catalyst for a loss).
The formula success rates should not be influenced by a player's Con; the success % is based on luck (with slight influence by chems used) and that all players of all levels and jobs can use the skill.
The upgrades will go as follows:
3 White powders + 1 Chem (Of any choice, Higher Quality Chem gives a better % success) = 1 Grey Powder
3 Grey + 2 Chem = 1 Green Powder
3 Green + 4 Chem = 1 Blue Powder
3 Blue + 6 Chem = 1 Pink Powder
3 Pink + 8 Chem = 1 Orange Powder
2 Orange + 10 Chem = 1 Red Powder
2 Red + 20 Chem = 1 Lisent FE
2 Lisent FE + 25 Chem = 1 Lisent AL
2 Lisent AL + 35 Chem = 1 Lisent NA
2 Lisent NA + 50 Chem = 1 Lisent AU
These are not set in stone, just theoretical values. This would allow the availability of the higher catalysts to anybody, at the cost of the lower ones. Those who farm at spots that only drop certain catalysts can upgrade to their choice, and those who would rather not farm can always upgrade from whatever base level they choose from.
I cant quite predict the economic repercussions, but i took in consideration current catalysts prices, and upgrading to the next catalyst up will result in a loss in value. This would purely be to give you a better shot at refining, and not for profit.
Please let me know what you think, thank you.
Addendum:
It may also be suitable to have the Weapon Seller NPCs (Crune, etc.) be responsible for upgrading catalysts instead of having a separate skill of our own, thus having all related to refining at one NPC location. Either way would be ok, as I'm not sure if this would be catagorized as a craft or a refine (Probably a craft since we recieve a new item as opposed to a (+1)). As long as we are able to see a % based chance instead of the "Easy, Fair, etc" categories in crafting. Also, the % success should be relatively high throughout the upgrades, as a loss in value is already built into the proposed equations (also Crune can add an additional surcharge for upgrading).
This would continue the trend of allowing Crune to be the bane of our existence, when upgrading a catalyst fails.
Edited by ZookeeperAndy, 16 December 2010 - 03:40 PM.