nobody has problem with only maybe 5 max out of the like 100 skill gems are usable?

how is it possible that theres like 100 skill gems to use but they all feel like horrible ass and require ten times the investment to work then the 2 or 3 skill gems that are actually usable per league?

i dont get it. why dont you just increase the damage of all the other 99 skill gems that are dog shit so that they are actually usable to play the game with without wanting to rip your eyes out?

i dont want to play one of the 2 skills that is not dog shit per league or else have to struggle through the game doing 1/5th of the damage of if i had just picked the one or two meta skills of the league.

how hard is it to just turn up the damage of these shit skills so that they can be played? why do you refuse to do do that? literally just double or triple the damage of these ass skills so that we can play with them. wtf is your problem?

About 20 different skills are each being used by 2%+ of the people above level 95.

Because "turning up the damage" as you put it doesn't solve the problem. It creates a new problem. The game has suffered from power-creep and we're at the stage now where we're paying the costs for it. Throwing more power at the problem just makes it worse.

We really need a sudden change. This gradual change is just pissing people off. It's like picking at a bandaid. Just rip the fucker off. Get it over with. Apocalypse Now.

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Shagsbeard wrote:

Because "turning up the damage" as you put it doesn't solve the problem. It creates a new problem. The game has suffered from power-creep and we're at the stage now where we're paying the costs for it. Throwing more power at the problem just makes it worse.

We really need a sudden change. This gradual change is just pissing people off. It's like picking at a bandaid. Just rip the fucker off. Get it over with. Apocalypse Now.

Like realease a new game? By changing things people like rn u never will be able to play again the way u liked it nor new people. Look at d2... Even today people (myself included) go back to experience the game the way it was. Imagine if they nerfed enigma, hammerdin, frozenorb whatever...

If by "usable" you mean "I can clear all content on 3 ex build", then I dont have a problem with that. In fact, we need less skills than 5 like that.

I'm all for a cull pass of skill gems at this point.

Probably half of the existing skill gems don't see play because they feel clunky no matter how much damage they deal. RSI-inducing amounts of juddering play and poor tactical design won't get any more adherents at 100m sdps than they will at 100k sdps.

Merge some skills' gimmicks with similar other skills. There's a glut of bad skills with potentially useful knock-on effects that are completely overshadowed by another skill that feels responsive and sustainable. Turn those skills into supports, sort of like Barrage Support that applies a knock-on effect of your choice for a persistent and scalable cost.

Channelling skills are in sore need of updating. CWC should be calibrated to stage and use patterns of the actual skills. Many channellers spend most or all their time at stage 6+: cyclone, kamehameha, etc. This works great with CWC because it's always-on matches the always-staged player behaviour. Other skills can't be used this way and a light foot on the gas pedal means they get much less utility out of what could be a great boost for underused channelling skills like Blade Flurry and Charged Dash.

A lot of gems still won't get used because deterministic crafting is all but gone. The oddball supports and weird paradoxes that make them usable or even outstanding are nerfed or gone or trapped behind RNG (Shako). Scuttle them or find ways to make them intrinsically relevant without having access to crafting.

every melee skill needs an aoe component. with the blood/sand stance mechanic, every melee skill could have TWO versions of its own aoe, or could swap between single target and aoe modes.

strike skills should have a built in 'strikes an additional target' at a certain gem level. hell, they should have 2 additional targets at gem level 21.

melee skills all need a performance pass. i shelved TWO skills this league before maps (chain hook and static strike), because the listed attack speed on the gem did not match the way the skill played. there was a HUGE delay on the first attack, and the second attack followed up incredibly fast. so, sure, they have the correct 'average' attack speed, but the skills were awful to play because of the first attack taking 4 days.

it is not just a problem of damage differences, some skills are also mechanically bad. if you can't clear fast and kill bosses you will farm considerably slower and if your skill requires heavy investment into damage multipliers then your progression will be next to non-existent compared to something like toxic rain which barely requires heavy gear investment to speedfarm red maps.

one solution would be introducing supports that improve clear or single target like blood and sand does for melee. or introducing other ways to mechanically change skills.

another solution would be reworking mechanically bad skills mechanics themselfes and their damage

I'de love to see some more of the underused skill gems get some love. But also I want to see new Vaal Gems released. You could even add new Jewels or gear that changes mechanics of underused skills so they become more interesting in this meta. Just my 2c pitch

More than 5 skills are perfectly fine and useable. A lot comes down to many people just following the same guides and streamers.

That said yes at least half of the skill gems perform poorly and need an overhaul, merge into existing gems or whatever.