General Gem Discussion

Need a strength ranged skill and an intelligence melee skill...

Another concern is mana cost for self-cast curses are too high - which is inappropriate in the days of massive Curse on Hit usage. It is ridiculous to cast like Elemental Weakness + Faster Casing + Increased Area of Effect for 100 mana, even so for a non-caster build.

PLZ add new physical spell gem rather than EK

Will there be a reassessment of different gem quality boni with the balancing changes likely to be included in the act 4 expansion?

The reason why i am asking this is that the quality of the quality boni (sic!) varies greatly from gem to gem. While some get a massive power up from quality, others only get a very generic +10% increased damage bonus. Here a couple examples to underline what i mean:

top tier:
Freezing Pulse (+60% projectile speed @ 20q)
The projectile speed bonus is massive and basically turns the skill from almost melee to mid range.

Firestorm (delay between fireballs from 0.1 - 0.08 @ 20q => 25% more hits/sec)
Another great bonus that basically increases the skills effective DpS by 25%.

Lightning Strike (+60% chanc to pierce @ 20q)
Basically saves an important support gem slot similar to Freezing Pulse/Faster Projectiles.


high tier:
Cyclone/Static Strike (+20%/+15% increrased AoE @ 20q)
Nice bonus that makes a difference for nearly every build and especially for a Duelist or melee Ranger since they have no access to AoE increases from passives.

Dual Strike (+80% critchance @ 20q)
80% is a lot and makes it very desireable to get for a crit build.

Flameblast (+30% chance to ignite @ 20q)
30% is a ton and allows for a very high chance to ignite without having to go crit.


decent boni:
Arc (+10% chance to shock @ 20q)
A useful bonus but 10% isn't a whole lot and i don't know why it is that much lower than the ignite bonus on Fireball or Flameblast. Still not that bad considering the decently high cast speed of Arc.

Ethereal Knives/Power Siphon (+15% projectile damage)
Again not a lot but i still consider this bonus to be decent since it offers generic projectile damage which isn't available in large quantities from passives and benefits any type of damage one can throw on those skills.


low tier:
Basically any skill that gets +10% physical or specific element damage increase. Having a total of 400% increased damage or 410% increased makes no noticeable difference whatsoever and it often feels just like a placeholder to be honest.


Having an interesting quality effect adds not only to the efficiency but also to the "soul" of a skill. It is also a great way to communicate some of the unique quirks or mechanics - things it can do besides just dealing damage of a certain element or ways to increase its effectiveness besides stacking damage.
Skills like Ball Lightning and Lightning Tendrils for example only get that minor damage increase from quality. Why not increased AoE, area/projectile damage, faster proc rate on Ball Lightning like Firestorm gets it, shock duration to compensate for the many small hits etc.?

I am not expecting an official response but simply want to direct some attention to this topic and maybe spark a discussion about what gems need some quality love (ఠ‿ఠ').

Of course it would be awesome to get a response like:
a) not happening, b) not any time soon, c) yea, it's coming soon ;)

A hypothesized new skill -


Incarnation

Intelligence Skill
Spell, Totem, Minion, Duration
Cast Time - 0.8 sec
Quality - 1% increased Cast Speed
Progression - 4+0.3*lvl seconds duration

Temporarily incarnate your minion or totem, swapping attributes between them two. When incarnate a totem, you gain the life, power and defense of you and the state of a totem(which is stationary), and the totem gain the state of you(which can roam) and the life, power and defense of it. The same rule applies when you incarnate your minion. When you die in your totem or minion incarnation, you are restored to the percentage of health in the place of your previous(currently is minion or totem) position. When your minion or totem vessel dies, you die.

When in incarnation, use it again to cancel the state.


For Example, before incarnation -

You - 3000 life, 10k dps with Fireball, free roaming, image of you
Your Arc totem - 1000 life, 1k dps, stationary, image of a totem

After incarnation-

You - 3000 life, 10k dps with Fireball, stationary, image of a totem
Your Arc totem - 1000 life, 1k dps, free roaming, image of you

When in incarnation, your totem and you encounter a group of 6 leaping frogs, each deals 800 damage -

1. 5 leap on you and 1 leap on your totem - your incarnation is destroyed, you are left with 600 life

2. 5 leap on your totem and 1 leap on you - you die

"

Heartsease wrote:

Another concern is mana cost for self-cast curses are too high - which is inappropriate in the days of massive Curse on Hit usage. It is ridiculous to cast like Elemental Weakness + Faster Casing + Increased Area of Effect for 100 mana, even so for a non-caster build.

I think curses ought to be fused with curse on hit gems (remove these), and adjust the mana cost.

Sacrificing 2 sockets to get a curse on your attacks is ridiculous,
and the idea of self casting it in such a fast action game, spam all day, even more so.

i think auras need more usable suport gems, something along this lines:

focus
200% mana cost
convert 30-40% of suported aura radius to increased aura effect on you


negative
150% mana cost
quality: 1% increased effect of auras
suported auras bonus become negative
aura affects enemy monsters instead of players/ally npcs
50% less effective vs bosses

Suggestion have totems break pots and crates etc when they have noting else to target. When using ancestral bond your stuck having to smash pots by hand and its not fun.

I have a quality of life suggestion.

I would like each of the sub-topics (one for each gem) to include a link to the gem in the first post. That would make it so much easier to browse and find out what new stuff has been added recently.

Need a green DEX/INT skill for sword, dagger, claw and bow users.
The skill deal damage and inflicts manaleak based on physical damage dealt over duration, enemy loses more mana if its moving.
(think as a puncture that bleeds mana from enemy instead of life)
Need a name for this skill though.
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EDIT: if enemy has no mana remaining then its slowed down by 40% move, attack and cast speeds