Reward the Player - Gem Slots

The Suggestion: Allow players to slot any skill gem into any color socket, but reward the player with a small stat bonus if the color of gem and slot match.

Possibilities: For a Marauder, matching Red Skill Gems into Red Gem Slots would give the Marauder a passive strength bonus of +3. If a Marauder matched a Green Skill Gem into a Green Gem Slot, maybe he'd receive an Attack Speed bonus of 1-2%.

For a Ranger, matching Green Skill Gems into Green Gem Slots would give the Ranger a passive Dexterity bonus of +3. If a Ranger matched a Red Skill Gem into a Red Gem Slot, maybe he'd receive a life bonus of 1-2%.

Etc...

Let's say someone matches every Gem Slot with the correct Skill Gem in all of the gear on their character. They could receive a 50-100% bonus to the passive bonuses obtained by matching Skill Slots with Skill Gems.

Skill Gems that are socketed incorrectly may gain no experience. This would retain the importance of socketing Skill Gems correctly, but would alleviate some of the pressures of socketing already leveled Skill Gems into the correct sockets. That being said, in order for any gem to receive the benefit of Support Gems, both the Support Gem and Skill Gem would have to be socketed correctly.

Not only would this allow min-maxers to strive for something more than just perfect Passive Tree layout, but it would also provide small bonuses to casual players without making a game-breaking difference in character strength. It also opens up options for every player at the beginning of the game so they can experience any skill they want to.

Keep up the great work! Thanks GGG.

No.

explain your reasoning, please.

I see your problem here, gem slots are often very restrictive. You often dont really have a choice in what gear to use because of it.
However, I dont really like the bonuses idea for two reasons. Firstly, it makes all characters in endgame stronger, secondly the bonuses force the player more in one direction not to miss out on the bonus. In the example of the increased attack speed for green slots, spellcasters do not benefit from that at all.

Instead, a penalty seems more suitable. Perhaps an increase in mana cost for every non-color slot used?

alternativly, perhaps dual colored slots could spawn on items that allow gems of two colors but at the added cost of an extra mana cost multiplier (about 1,1 sounds right)?


Still lots of details to work out, but it has potential I think.

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Laimbrane wrote:

No.

Very mature....

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doemaarwat wrote:

Firstly, it makes all characters in endgame stronger, secondly the bonuses force the player more in one direction not to miss out on the bonus. In the example of the increased attack speed for green slots, spellcasters do not benefit from that at all.

That's why I tried to illustrate that classes would get unique bonuses for certain colored slots. The marauder got strength from red skill gems while the ranger would get life %. For casters, green skill gems could give them cast speed %.

As for characters being stronger in the endgame, it's not meant to make a drastic difference. It's a noticeable difference, but only marginally increases the strength of your character. Obviously, the bonuses can be balanced for end game and reworked. the life % could be .2% per correctly socketed gem and you could receive just 1 int, str, or dex for the respective correctly slotted gem.

Very interesting idea :-)

I dont like this idea too much (no offense ^^)

Its good to have hard choices over what to equipp and why. Being able to set any Gem to any slot would just take away that.
I could easily go for an option that doesnt give me the bones but still uses themost dps weapons and such. The slots would get a lot more irrelevant. I dont think that should be. It should be tricky.

Just my humble opinion :)

D.

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Scruff260 wrote:

explain your reasoning, please.

Because everything in the game is balanced around the gem system as it is; the colors of the gem mattering is one of the core mechanics.

You're basically suggesting:
1) making the game easier by increasing the strength of every single item in it,
2) reducing the character variety by bleeding gems across classes,
3) reducing item variety by removing one of the simplest ways of balancing and diversifying loot generation,
4) reducing the importance of trade by making orbs less valuable and loot less restrictive, and
5) reducing the challenge of finding and developing loot and characters.

Basically, what you're suggesting is fundamentally altering the entire game's economy and difficulty level because you don't like the having to make tough choices. Gems are colored that way for a reason, and the restrictions are built into the very fiber of the game.

That being said, I like your idea for class bonuses being attached to specific colors of gems, but gems should absolutely not fit into off-colored sockets.

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Laimbrane wrote:

Basically, what you're suggesting is fundamentally altering the entire game's economy and difficulty level because you don't like the having to make tough choices. Gems are colored that way for a reason, and the restrictions are built into the very fiber of the game.

Let's try not to jump to conclusions with why I posted this suggestion. This is not the reason at all I suggested this change. It's positive reinforcement for the player. It has nothing to do with wanting the game to be easier or fundamentally different.

That being said, I'm glad you expressed your concern with the suggestion. I'm not sure I agree that your first two points are relevant. Yes, items would be potentially stronger, but by such a small margin that most players wouldn't notice a considerable change. The idea isn't to make the game easier, but to give players something to gain. As the system stands, it only feels like a hindrance. I would argue, too, that build diversity would increase. Players would see more synergy between their build and their attributes, even if it is very minor.

Your post has made me consider one revision to my post, though, and I think this would alleviate most of your concerns. Originally I stated correctly socketed gems should gain 25% more experience. What if, instead of those gems gaining more experience, incorrectly socketed gems gained no experience.

Reasoning: The pressure to socket items correctly would still exist. If you leveled a gem to its max level, you would then gain a benefit of being able to socket it anywhere. It would still need to be socketed in the correct color for support gems to effect it. This would give players the choice to level certain skill gems while retaining the ability to use skills they've been leveling, but receiving no benefit of experience.

*edit* i'm going to edit my OP to reflect this change.

I think this has been suggested before...ie long before you joined. Not implemented. Therefore, not going to be implemented. So you can type all you want til your fingers bleed, get osteoporotic and arthritic.

People proposed this before when they realized they can't use some skills because of the wrong class, not enough attributes, etc. They mask their frustration when faced with this gameplay mechanic by a manipulative wall of text.

Solution: make your own game and implement it in there. :)