@Cepheid: I think I got it... In Forging Altiverse Eqs, whatever is on the primary slot, it stays intact. The secondary slot just transfers its stats to the first right?
So Forging is like Tempering in the sense that it re-rolls ONLY the stats BUT instead of an equipment preset range (Min ~ Max), it compares which is higher and sets that stat on the equipment.
I haven't experienced forging that much. Its good to know ahead of time before I mess up forging