well there might have been a time whre you could ruin the stone several times during the combines if one was doing a lvl upgrade on both JC and alchemy but now according to www.eqtraders.com you get the augmentation back after most combines failed =))
BUT you need to make the first combine and there have a change to fail like anything ells you are combining as a first, let me try to make an example with say a gate potion combine
when makeing the gate potion you have a change to fail, but when you have made 10 single shot gate potions, and want to combine them with eachother into a 10 dose, you will never ever fail doing that =))
same thing with the augmentation once you have gotten to a certain point you CAN NOT loose the augmentation =))
Edit : subject should say Many not any
Edited, Fri Sep 30 14:01:24 2005