The way I've always understood it, the grade names of ware are essentially generalizations. Evo and Ares will have two distinctly different styles of, say, cyberarms, even if they have exactly the same stats, but they are close enough and recognizeable/qualifiable enough to fit into the same category as far as general essence use, functionality, etc.
So when you have Deltaware, the cyberware and bioware(and nanoware, genetech, etc) are slightly different from company to company, but for sake of the rules and simplicity, they all have the same grade, essence, cost, etc, even though they might make use of it in slightly different ways. That same Delta-grade cyberarm from Evo might have proprietary super-hard bonded polymers and composite fiber-bundles, whereas the Ares one might have a lot more hard edges and more rugged functionality, but they still both operate in enough of a similar manner as to be comparable.
All this is essentially true, if a little muddled. Different
brands of cyberware
do have different styling (hard edges, rugged functionality) and slightly different tech (proprietary polymers, etc.), but different
grades share significant similarites - and those are what impact the cost and essence impact.
Each grade represents an assortment of sequential advancements - whether that's implantation techniques, 'implant-acceptance' drugs, and/or improved body-friendly materials. The essence reduction represents how minimal the impact is, or how well your body adapts; the increase in cost represents the necessary increase in the physician's training, or the more powerful drug regimen, or the rarity of the materials.
Now, the
reduction in grade costs (from, as Wells said, Deltaware going from 8x cost to 2.5x cost in barely a decade) represents the spread of techniques, the development of better/cheaper methods of producing those materials, or the expanded market for those drugs (and thus increased manufacturing, leading to reduced rarity).
The point of that long-winded blurb is that the grades are subjective. What was delta-grade cyberware 10 years ago might only be considered beta or alpha grade today, based on how quickly technology progresses. If someone in a Corp has prototype Delta-grade implants, they may not necessarily be better than other stuff out there, they might just be using existing technology in new, innovative ways, or be unavailable to the public until trial runs are done.
This, unfortunately, is well off the mark. The essence-impact reduction will be the same now as it was ten years ago; the
techniques may be somewhat improved, but see the above for reasons of cost reduction - the implication is that such techniques and materials have
not significantly advanced in quality, only in spread, and thus the cost has come down. A prototype piece of 'ware, however, is either going to be a complete prototype ("You got a what?!? A bioware
tongue?!?") and thus is not going to be a 'graded' piece of 'ware in any way, shape, or form, or else it will be a tried-and-true technology ("Yeah, I know, just a cyberarm ...") that is using experimental essence-impact-reduction materials ("... but the musculature is a buckytube technique we haven't tried before.") and thus is very expensive - and hopefully possessing a reduced impact.
SOTA advancement - at least in implants - is something that has (IMO thankfully) fallen by the wayside; the core issue with implant advancement is that you always have to compare whether a brand-new piece of 'same-level' 'ware really
is an advancement above and beyond the basic upkeep of a previous equivalent piece of 'ware, and how
that relates to a completely
unmodified individual.
Theoretically, upkeep should maintain your gear at the same level - say, Wired Reflexes 1 making and keeping you '60% faster' than an unmodified human. If a newly-implanted young buck has Wired-1 as well, but his Wired-1 is a 'generation' ahead of yours and he's supposed to be '65% faster', then ... this doesn't get reflected in the stats
anywhere. His Wired-1 initiative roll's 1s aren't considered 2s, for example; he's just faster 'in the fluff', not when it gets down to the grit of throwing them bones out onto the table to see who goes first - or to find out how MUCH faster they are than Mr. Baseline.
If it WAS an advancement, then shouldn't there be some sort of actual incremental advance in comparison to Mr. Baseline? Instead of +1 Reaction and +1 Initiative Pass (for 4e), Kid Now gets ... err ... +1 Reaction and +1 Pass. Because, after all, he doesn't have Wired-2.
Upkeep costs, yes, I agree that there
should be upkeep costs - visits to the street-doc or a ware-grade clinic every six months or so for review and tweaking, and if you
don't, well, then you maybe take a non-permanent -1 to your Physical or Stun Damage Track depending on the 'ware - which of course goes away as soon as you get a checkup and any necessary tweaks and repairs. But advancing the SOTA means (or should mean) real, tangible advances above and beyond Old Codger
and Mr. Baseline.
