Let's talk about Item Enhancement system — or just MK2, how most commanders call it. Enhancing an equipment piece is possible after leveling it up to level 12. If you opt for this, you start upgrading an item from the level 1 and get a permanent stat bonus in exchange.

There was one downside to item enhancement: you had to upgrade an MK2 item up to a level 9 again to make it as powerful as maxed, yet non-enhanced item. Players who could quicky blast through the 1-9 level valley benefitted from the system greatly, while others had to willingfully sacrifice a bunch of their power for some time.

We have decided to remove this friction. Here's a super short version of what we're doing:

Enhancing an item to MK2 doesn't make it weaker anymore!

In other words, after enhancing an item to MK2 you can just continue upgrading it where you were without a power drop. If you're looking for more details, keep reading!

Charts and numbers

Here's a Destrier levelling chart that shows old and new progression from MK1 level 1 to MK2 level 12.

The idea is simple: from now on, each MK2 level increases item's power by a fixed amount (2%) up to a total of 22%. This is pretty much what MK2 used to give, minus the painful 1-9 level drop.

We have applied streamlined MK2 progression to all items in the game. The upgrade curve will look the same for everything — for example, let's take Bulwark:

As the chart shows, Bulwark progresses through levels exactly like Destrier. You replace it with any other robot or weapon and chart's shape won't change.

You might ask: "But what does it cost?". Not much! First, total amount of Silver and time required to max out a MK2 item remains the same (in some cases these numbers even go down a bit).

The silver cost progression, however, is different: instead of gradually growing, the upgrade cost now settles on a flat value starting from MK2 level 5. Here's a chart showing how much silver each Bulwark level requires now. Note that MK2 costs are similar or lower than MK1 costs:

Same applies to upgrade timers: total time remain unchanged, timers from MK2 level 5 and higher remain constant. Check this sheet for a full comparison of upgrade costs and times for all obtainable items.

We expect these changes to vastly improve the levelling experience. And, as a nice side-effect, they will make all your non-maxed MK2 items stronger than they were before — it might be a great time to dust them off and let them see some action!

All non-maxed MK2 items become stronger. Mk2 Level 12 remain unchanged