Inherent gem sockets (aka let us be gemlings!)

When i began playing this game, i noticed by a striking omission - the utter lack of guaranteed sockets. Even more so than in other games of this genre, players of Path of Exile are utterly at the mercy of their loot drops. It seems an accepted fact amongst the playerbase that your first character will reach endgame before they can expect to have a particularly effective, which is to say at all viable, skill build.
I don't like this, and i think it detracts from the game, especially for new players.

The idea is this: accessible from our character page, all characters should have a set of 'natural' gem sockets, arranged into four circles.



1st tier: a single white socket. all characters start with this unlocked.
2nd tier: 3 locked sockets.
3rd tier: 6 locked sockets.
4th tier: 9 locked sockets.

Defeating each difficulty level unlocks an additional ring of locket sockets. The sockets themselves are unlocked through the passive page - each of the '30 stat' nodes would provide a socket of the relevant colour in addition to their current benefit, while their parent node would provide a socket of the other colour instead of its normal stat bonus. All socket unlocks would be freely movable while empty, so that you can arrange your socket tree to your own preferences.
Additional socket unlocks would be scattered across the passive tree, mostly at junctions of the roadways, where they would replace the present stat boost to unlock a socket of that colour. The scattering of socket unlocks across the entire tree would mean that only someone going specifically for passive sockets should be able to unlock them all.

This might be enough to balance the system by itself, though i doubt it, so i propose that support gems socketed into your inherent socket pages should only be able to reach one link below and two above - so that a 2nd-tier socketed gem would affect the core socket and all its own descendents but not the other two branches of the tree. I think this would prevent most resulting builds from being TOO overpowered.

Every kind of item, save for rings, ammys, belts and quivers has at least one guaranteed socket. That means that even with the worst possible RNG a char cannot have less than 5 sockets, provided they actually pick up white items off the ground (7 if you count the starting RGB item everyone gets)

Having limited gem slots forces players to make choices on what gems to use/level and how to setup their gear to have both the stats and the slots they need. It also creates a natural progression towards items with more and more linked sockets (which isn't that hard, considering town vendors will sell even 5links somewhat regularly) which is a highly rewarding experience. I remember vividly the 1st time i got a 5link or the time I managed to 6link my chest, even though a year+ has passed. These are all good things that would be removed by your suggestion. It would also negate the advantages builds with 2 handers have (2 potential 6links) and remove a lot of the penalty for using kaoms and one handers in general.

This game is about making meaningful decisions based on your current situation (what you called drop RNG) and your ultimate goal. Your suggestion removes many of those decisions, is detrimental to build variety and isn't fun because its handed to you for 0 effort. No thanks.

Exactly what Aggropop said.

I'm sorry but this suggestion is just so unreasonable and really wouldn't do much in the end, it might help out new players but that's really all there is to it. -1 lets hope this suggestion never sees the light of day again.

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Deimos1337 wrote:

I'm sorry but this suggestion is just so unreasonable and really wouldn't do much in the end, it might help out new players but that's really all there is to it.

Well that's exactly what it's aimed at doing. of course if you have fully linked, max socket gear in every slot then the addition of extra sockets isn't going to help you much (or at least not nearly as much) - in which case, simply skip the passive nodes giving extra sockets.

The whole purpose is to give people who have been unlucky with gear drops some extra options for multiple support builds (are there any viable builds which don't depend on this?), or to permit people to use the otherwise good but poorly socketed drops they get. I'd expect this would spike the value on genuinely useful items (rares/uniques) while atrophying the price of simple fully or nearly fully linked gear.

Of course these things will still be in demand, because some people will want to put passive points into other areas rather than stretching miles across the passive labyrinth to pick up their inherent sockets, and i'm sure inventive players both old and new will find interesting new builds revolving around having an extra 6 or 12 linked sockets to play with.

On the other hand, anyone happy with the game as it is now should notice no difference whatsoever.

id rather have the linking be more easy ... the master recipe didnt change a thing

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Aggropop wrote:

Every kind of item, save for rings, ammys, belts and quivers has at least one guaranteed socket. That means that even with the worst possible RNG a char cannot have less than 5 sockets, provided they actually pick up white items off the ground (7 if you count the starting RGB item everyone gets)

Which means that you have room for only 7/8 skill slots. at max. If you're using a full-support combination in any one of those items, or more likely, in all of them, it is simply not physically feasible to fill up your entire skill bar.

Now, granted, most players (myself included) will have at least two active gems in at least one of those equipment slots, but even then, if you want to incorporate a fully passive skill anywhere in your build (e.g. cast on damage taken, or more rarely cast on death) you are in essence not going to be able to fill up your skill bar.

Game philosophy aside (which is what i'm primarily arguing from), More gem sockets would be useful simply from the perspective of allowing people to fully utilize all available skill slots without prohibiting certain types of builds altogether.

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Amiag wrote:

id rather have the linking be more easy ... the master recipe didnt change a thing

The new strong boxes change everything! 6L's are now actually significantly cheaper because you can more easily get one from a fully linked strong box. I tried putting one I got on the market and was amazed at how low prices I was being told it was worth.

The Master crafting just removes the RNG from trying to roll it yourself, which also helps give some people more confidence in being able to 6L at a set price.





Sure, I got lucky, but I got that 6L pretty early in the league, and only put minimal currency into rolling it (mostly luck there.)

I like unique additional systems. So, if special passive nodes gave you a single set of linked sockets in your flesh... I could see that.

This should be something that requires investment, and not be common to all characters.

Theming could be Monk or Demonic.



Generally, I don't want everyone to use tons of Auras, or tons of Cursing. I want characters to have choices to be made, and systems to be able to invest into... and thus character diversity.


So, I'd re-spin the idea into something that sounds cool.


Yes, you can do cool things with sockets. Like having a suffix "Plus 1 socket", or you know, digging holes in your flesh.