How many people have purchased the starter pack or gotten a weapon like the... dunno, the Zapper, and found out that it's basically useless beyond the start of the game? A large amount of you, I'll bet. Anyway, what if you could reforge lower star weapons to even more strength?
For example:
I have my Cautery Sword, and for some reason I really don't know, I want it to be more powerful. When it reaches level 10, I can reforge it for a cost in Shining Fire Crystals and 3 Elite Orbs of Alchemy. Upon the reforging (I'm not cruel enough to add a fail chance, that really would be unfair), my Cautery Sword become level 11 and will be able to be forged until level 20. From there, it can no longer gain heat in any way. It will also continue to gain extra strength in stratum 5 and 6, and it will also be, in general, more powerful, and it would count as "4 Star" for Lockdown.
Another example:
I have a Thwack Hammer that I want to upgrade, because I'm too lazy to get a Troika Recipe. When the Thwack Hammer reaches level 10, I can go to the reforging smith and have the thwack hammer increased to level 11, and it would be come "2 Star" for Lockdown. At this level, the potential of the weapon increases, and it gains base power in Stratum 3. I can then heat it to level 20, at which point I can reforge it to level 21, and it is considered "3 Star" for Lockdown, and so on.
Now for a bit more detail on reforging:
Items would require 3 Orbs of Alchemy at the level of star number that the weapon will be "upgraded to". It would also require a varying amount of different Fire Crystals based on the star level it's getting "upgraded to" (Max number of Fire Crystals usable for level 1 - 2 on the correct star, times 3.). The reforging service would be performed by a Gremlin in Emberlight (I need name suggestions, fire 'em away!). This is because it's an end game kind of service. Working on a picture of the Reforging Smith. The reforge prices are listed below. Feel free to comment on these too. (Note that Trinkets cannot, I repeat, cannot be reforged.)
"0 Star to 1 Star": 3 Flawed Orbs of Alchemy and 18 Dim Fire Crystals
"1 Star to 2 Star": 3 Simple Orbs of Alchemy and 9 Warm Fire Crystals
"2 Star to 3 Star": 3 Advanced Orbs of Alchemy and 9 Glowing Fire Crystals
"3 Star to 4 Star": 3 Elite Orbs of Alchemy and 18 Shining Fire Crystals
(Not planned, but under certain conditions it could be added:
"4 Star to 5 Star": 3 Eternal Orbs of Alchemy and 27 Radiant Fire Crystals. "4 Star to 5 Star" isn't intended to be added because 4 star weapons continue to gain strength in Stratum 6 (Error?); however, if that were to be "fixed" (4 Star weapons may be, but are probably not, intended to gain power in Stratum 6) "4 Star to 5 Star" would be added. Also the star increases are in quotes because they only count as "2 Star" and "3 Star" or "4 Star" for Lockdown.)
And now to a very important note. I mean this is extremely important. The unbinding cost of a reforged item DOES NOT change, however, when a reforged item is unbound, it goes back to level 10. It's stats drop back to its normal stats at level ten. Also, if a weapon is reforged, it is automatically bound. This is so you can't buy a weapon off the auction house at level ten, reforge it, and sell it for a profit. Or unbind a reforged weapon, reforge it once and sell it on the auction house.
So, I have now added a lot more detail to this suggestion, and I'm hoping to get more responses other than "This would be OP in LD" and the like.
Yeah, but then every wep in the game would be considered overpowered and "cheating". LD would whine alot.