Is anyone actually using Vaal Gems?

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Wooser69 wrote:

I think souls should mirror flask charges gained, in that normal enemies give 1, magics give 3.5, rares 6 and uniques 11. I'd even argue that the souls should apply to all vaal gems, not just a randomly picked vaal skill. I think spawned enemies already do not grant souls.

Also, souls should persist between zones, but be lost on using a waypoint or portal. Much less restricting while still not being abusable.

Even if the above isn't enough, then some skills should have the soul requirement looked at. There's definitely a lot of vaal skills currently that just do not weigh up to a 64 soul cost.

I agree with your reccomendations

It also might be a good idea to allow them to charge up when they are equiped in your secondary weapon set. that way you can pull it out when its charged -- makes it less of a nuasance.

Vaal Burning Arrow feels about right, does a nice big hit when needed with 3 max charges. Some of the others I've played with take just a bit too long to earn their socket.

Now that I think about it, in every single video previewing SotV, Chris had to say something like this:

"Well, now I'm going to use a cheat to give me enough souls..."

...I mean, that's a sign of ill omen there. The devs, Chris included, should have played a lot more without the cheat, to get a more appropriate feel for the number of souls required.

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raziekeljr wrote:

I figured out the use when you are playing solo as I have been trying Vaal Spark.
You can carry the charge into a corrupted area you can unleash it there.
Or if you are unsure about a chest, come back to it later once you are charged.

In groups I don't know if only the killing blow gets credit, that would make it difficult to get charged up. I plan on experimenting with a couple, I think having just 3 on an unlinked piece would be nice on a caster to unleash all at once. But I'm nowhere close to the end, just hit docks normal.

Souls are gained by everyone in the party, no matter who makes the kill.

Vaal fishing gem doesn't require too many souls, everything else ridiculous.

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tmblake09 wrote:

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raziekeljr wrote:

I figured out the use when you are playing solo as I have been trying Vaal Spark.
You can carry the charge into a corrupted area you can unleash it there.
Or if you are unsure about a chest, come back to it later once you are charged.

In groups I don't know if only the killing blow gets credit, that would make it difficult to get charged up. I plan on experimenting with a couple, I think having just 3 on an unlinked piece would be nice on a caster to unleash all at once. But I'm nowhere close to the end, just hit docks normal.

Souls are gained by everyone in the party, no matter who makes the kill.

Oh well that's just stupid.

How it should work:
1. One monster kill = one soul. Period. Only one person can get it. Actually, only one gem can get it.
2. Souls are evenly distributed among non-Full Vaal gems in the party, regardless of who owns them. This would mean that, in a party with only one Vaal gem being used, that single Vaal gem would get all the souls.
3. In #2, I said "non-full." I meant it. If someone else's Vaal gem is full on souls, it's no longer counted in on soul distribution.
4. Only selected skills should count. If it's not on your toolbar, it doesn't collect souls. This will help slightly against trolls who try equipping 20+ Vaal gems simultaneously.
5. The cost design should be such that, assuming 6 relatively average Vaal gems are equipped throughout an entire party, each gets to be used once per map. (96 souls per use only makes sense if there's at least 500 monsters per map.)

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

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tmblake09 wrote:

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raziekeljr wrote:

I figured out the use when you are playing solo as I have been trying Vaal Spark.
You can carry the charge into a corrupted area you can unleash it there.
Or if you are unsure about a chest, come back to it later once you are charged.

In groups I don't know if only the killing blow gets credit, that would make it difficult to get charged up. I plan on experimenting with a couple, I think having just 3 on an unlinked piece would be nice on a caster to unleash all at once. But I'm nowhere close to the end, just hit docks normal.

Souls are gained by everyone in the party, no matter who makes the kill.

Oh well that's just stupid.

How it should work:
1. One monster kill = one soul. Period. Only one person can get it. Actually, only one gem can get it.
2. Souls are evenly distributed among non-Full Vaal gems in the party, regardless of who owns them. This would mean that, in a party with only one Vaal gem being used, that single Vaal gem would get all the souls.
3. In #2, I said "non-full." I meant it. If someone else's Vaal gem is full on souls, it's no longer counted in on soul distribution.
4. Only selected skills should count. If it's not on your toolbar, it doesn't collect souls. This will help slightly against trolls who try equipping 20+ Vaal gems simultaneously.
5. The cost design should be such that, assuming 6 relatively average Vaal gems are equipped throughout an entire party, each gets to be used once per map. (96 souls per use only makes sense if there's at least 500 monsters per map.)

Oh good God this has got to be the worst idea ever presented. People are having trouble filling up gems ON THEIR OWN and now you want to make it so kills are distributed one by one for everyone in your party. That would entirely discourage group play. They are NOT OP enough that only one person should be able to use one. With 6 people using normal skills, the Vaal gems would be superfluous anyways. By the time someone was able to use theirs, the rest of the party would have killed everything already.

This is pretty much the ONLY mechanic of vaal gems that should be kept the same.

Here is another idea. Souls gained are doubled if you use the non Vaal version of the same skill.

this would create synergy between Spetral throw and Vaal spectral throw and makes sense imo

Yeah I won't use them. In end game they'll be useless for many builds, because you can't sacrifice sockets. I already have to sacrifice nearly-necessary skills on many builds.

Im not going to use an entire item to link up a Vaal Spec Throw when I don't have the space. Spec Throw is actually usable as far as souls go, but on it's own it is useless, without supports.

Regardless of if they change the soul mechanics, I still won't use them. They aren't enough to replace my necessary gems.

Edit: for example, if I have extra slots I like to have manual enduring cry or decoy, on top of CWDT. Or I'll give my leap slam faster attacks, throw on another very useful curse, etc. I just don't see myself replacing stuff like that. If I really like one of the gems I might try it, but generally I don't think I will.

What would've been cool is if Vaal gems acted normally until they charged up. Then it would be like a new mechanic to the game, and everything would go from there. And you just a balance them from there. That would've been cool.