Is anyone actually using Vaal Gems?

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Muldeh wrote:

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Tuftronic wrote:

I feel it should work as the normal skill until it is time to unleash it.

+1

PS: Storing uses between zones wouldn't be good because then you could get to say, dominus, fill your gem slots with vaal skills, set up a portal, go to a1 norm to get all the skills fully charged, then go to dominus and unleash them all for an easy kill. The way it is at the moment, you can have one or two on you, run through sceptre of the god gaining charges, and then use those two once during the dominus fight to help out a little. Maybe a second time if you gain charges from the zombies during the fight, but then the fight must be taking a while if you can recharge them during, so i don't see that as a problem.

Then just limit it to not store them if you use a waypoint or portal.

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GeorgAnatoly wrote:

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RickyDMMontoya wrote:

They're exactly the noob trap a lot of us thought they would be prior to patch.

I'm inclined to agree though I'm not sure how it could be fixed.

Let the souls remain over area transitions at the very least. Charging faster for magic/rare/unique monsters would be a good help. Letting them charge like flasks would be another step.

"Oh no, someone could use one (or two or three) on Dominus after they spend X minutes charging up their skill(s)!"

How is that an issue when someone could kill Dominus in far less time using real skills and a better build?

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RickyDMMontoya wrote:

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GeorgAnatoly wrote:

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RickyDMMontoya wrote:

They're exactly the noob trap a lot of us thought they would be prior to patch.

I'm inclined to agree though I'm not sure how it could be fixed.

Let the souls remain over area transitions at the very least. Charging faster for magic/rare/unique monsters would be a good help. Letting them charge like flasks would be another step.

"Oh no, someone could use one (or two or three) on Dominus after they spend X minutes charging up their skill(s)!"

How is that an issue when someone could kill Dominus in far less time using real skills and a better build?

Yeah exactly what I thought as well.

In my opinion to improve Vaal gems and make them useful/desireable, this is what needs to happen:

- don't lose charges on zone change
- make the skill work like the normal skill it is based upon until charged up (cheers to whoever came up with this idea - I like it)

If they are then too powerful maybe tone down their result a little. This way we can still get the eyecandy and feel like we actually like using them but it won't be as OP as it may turn out to be.

With all that said, kudos to GGG for their neat ideas though!

I share the opinion of alot of others, i think the vaal versions of the gem should function exactly as the standard gems, except when you have enough souls to unleash them.

I think what gets me is that these things are supposed to be corrupted... Now, I'm not sure about anyone else's definition of the term, but I'd expect something that's corrupted to have an actual 'corruption' effect related to it, i.e. a negative side effect. For example, unleashing its power might corrupt a non-vaal gem (for better or worse, like an orb) that you have slotted/linked, or it might 'corrupt' the piece of equipment it's slotted into (again, for better or worse). You could have the gems become more 'fragile' as they level up or are used, which might increase the risk of it blowing up in your face the next time you use it.

I'd find something like that much more interesting than what currently seems to be a gimmicky twist on the current system.

- make the skill work like the normal skill it is based upon until charged up

+1

I'm using Vaal Cold Snap and it's really helpful defensive wise.

Vaal Fireball + GMP is also seriously strong and the area it covers is probably enough to recharge quite a lot of souls.

plus Vaal Burning Arrow + Weapon Elementa Damage + Lesser Multiple Projectile = PURE OWNAGE.

One shot can recharge skill fully (on normal its only 12 souls with group pulling you can use this practically as main skill) and it looks and feels just SO GOOD. I can oneshot uniques/rares with this. I dont have much supports yet but i have one socket free and i think what put to add even more PURE OWNAGE.

Vaal cyclone is badass (and good) and vaal spark wrecks, others i don't know, but vaal spectral throw sucks balls.

Only reason I don't think "acts like regular skill until charged" is that there would be no reason to NOT use a vaal gem instead of the regular version other than quality. Meanwhile, it'd just mean the same homogenous gameplay as before the update, using the same skill over and over. Except sometimes it'll have a big effect go off, which will likely be badly timed and wasted, because there'd be no specific trigger to using the vaal version instead of the base.

Vaal gems should be made better. But they shouldn't be made the same as what we already have.