My predictions

- Revamp of ALL ITEMS: Yeah, this one is going to suck, but it's something they have to do. Seriously... 5 ACC from an overall? That'd be a big deal in pre-BB days, but the system is now antiquated. They're going to have to increase ACC, MHP (+100 HP from pig headband is now lol). Of course, this is going to make a lot of people angry, but it simply must be done. The current base stats on items are too weak.

- Revamp of Maker: The stats here are too weak considering the investment put in and the comparative benefit of scrolls.

Personally, I see revamp of all items and Maker as the next step. Like you said, people are going to be upset, but it's better to fix it now than continue onwards with a broken and outdated system.

For a while, I was wondering why Lionheart Castle equips were level 120 even though they could have easily made them 125 or even 130 equips. Probably weak reasoning, but perhaps Nexon Korea doesn't want to go ahead with creating Level 121+ gear until they revamp equip stats, to avoid ticking off higher level players who are looking to potential 121+ equips beforehand.

As for set bonuses... It's a lot of work, but I also see Nexon possibly implementing set bonuses for class equipment as well. Compare Lionheart Castle equips to Reverse/Timeless equips. The only advantages that Reverse/Timeless equips have over LHC equips is that they can level up (the important part being pushing of skills past the usual skill cap) and that you can Maker them (which won't matter as much until Maker gets revamped much like scrolls did). Otherwise, LHC equips are superior in the fact that you can actually still trade them after equipping them (provided that you have a PSoK), they already have a set bonus associated with them, and they'd probably be easier for future Maplers to obtain on the basis of Time Temple mobs dropping PoTs being pushed far ahead into the 150+ range.