The forge reopens next patch

Forging lands next patch. It is the system most people ask about, and it is
the one most easily ruined, so here is exactly what it will be before anyone
can be disappointed by a surprise.

How it works

Take a weapon and a stone to a smith. Each attempt has a published success
chance — printed on the panel, before you commit, and it is the real number
the server rolls against. No hidden pity timer quietly helping you. No
invisible modifier that makes the tenth attempt kinder than the ninth.

Success moves the weapon up a grade. Failure costs you the stone and, past a
certain grade, some of the progress you had.

Grade	Chance	On failure
+1 → +3	Generous	Stone only
+4 → +6	Even-handed	Stone, and a grade
+7 → +9	Unkind, deliberately	Stone, and a grade

A +9 is meant to be a thing people notice in town. That only works if it is
rare, and rare means most attempts at it fail.

What it will not be

It will not be purchasable. There is no forging currency in the donation
shop, there is no protection scroll, and there is not going to be one. If you
want a +9 you are going to have to lose a few +8s first, the same as everybody
else standing next to you.

This is the clearest line we have, and it is the one we expect to be asked to
cross first. The answer will keep being no.

Where the stones come from

Drops, mostly, and the mid-tier of the world rather than the top of it — which
means the people supplying the smiths are not the same people using them, and
there is a trade in that. That is deliberate. An economy is more interesting
than a vending machine.

Patch notes closer to the day.