[Feedback] Giga-Nerf Gem Levels on Gear in Patch 0.5

As a Necromancer main, ye, GEM levels are the END ALL BE ALL of stats. Nothing comes even reomotely close. However reducing Gem levels without care would leave my entire spec in shambles. Gem level can still be the BIS, however they need to make it less so. Scepters for example should max at 3, 2 being the average and 1 being entry level. Same with 2H weapons. 1H hands should max at 2, this will also push 1H a bit more, right now they are EXTREMELY relegated to the backburner because of 2H just being vastly better.
Helmets and gloves should give +1 max.
Defensive offhands should not give gem levels.
Buff all gems 1-20 to lessen the impact.

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daxtrovian#4477 wrote:

However reducing Gem levels without care

I trust GGG will not make changes to PoE2 as you phrased "without care."

I agree. As a pure minion player, +skill or +minion is still the number one stat for me too.

After that, it is stuff like spirit reservation efficiency, then +spirit, +ES, +resists, +minion damage, and so on. But first place is still +skill, and it is not even close.

Should it be that way? Honestly, I am not fully sure. Part of me thinks yes, because I do like having something obvious to min-max toward. Getting my main skill to level 40 felt like an actual long-term goal, which is not a bad thing in an ARPG.

Was it worth it? Probably not, if I am being honest. Way too many hours went into chasing a few very specific items. And with testing using PoB and enough patience, there is probably some smarter combination of gear that would get similar or better results. I just do not have the time to test every possible variation. I am still a casual player, just the kind of casual player who occasionally makes very questionable life choices with item chasing.

That said, I really do not think GGG should mess with the gear itself after it already dropped and is sitting in player inventories. That is how you create a museum of legacy items and a market full of nonsense prices.

If they want to change this, a much cleaner solution would be to keep the items but change what the bonus actually does. So for example, +level could simply give less power per level than it does now. That avoids creating impossible-to-obtain legacy gear that instantly becomes worth twenty lifetimes of currency.

To me, that seems a lot healthier than changing the actual affixes on existing items and turning the trade market into a collectors-only private club.

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daxtrovian#4477 wrote:

As a Necromancer main, ye, GEM levels are the END ALL BE ALL of stats. Nothing comes even reomotely close. However reducing Gem levels without care would leave my entire spec in shambles. Gem level can still be the BIS, however they need to make it less so. Scepters for example should max at 3, 2 being the average and 1 being entry level. Same with 2H weapons. 1H hands should max at 2, this will also push 1H a bit more, right now they are EXTREMELY relegated to the backburner because of 2H just being vastly better.
Helmets and gloves should give +1 max.
Defensive offhands should not give gem levels.
Buff all gems 1-20 to lessen the impact.

Then yes, I agree. I think both our proposals are solid.
I like mine because it gives an edge to double 1h that sadly has seen dust since inception. 2H just blatantly outscale them.

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Jyrlep#4788 wrote:

I agree. As a pure minion player, +skill or +minion is still the number one stat for me too.

Snip.

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daxtrovian#4477 wrote:

As a Necromancer main, ye, GEM levels are the END ALL BE ALL of stats. Nothing comes even reomotely close. However reducing Gem levels without care would leave my entire spec in shambles. Gem level can still be the BIS, however they need to make it less so. Scepters for example should max at 3, 2 being the average and 1 being entry level. Same with 2H weapons. 1H hands should max at 2, this will also push 1H a bit more, right now they are EXTREMELY relegated to the backburner because of 2H just being vastly better.
Helmets and gloves should give +1 max.
Defensive offhands should not give gem levels.
Buff all gems 1-20 to lessen the impact.

You do bring a very good point that if they were to tweak it by half, it would create 0.4 and below items as legendary stat sticks in Standard. Now I don't really care for standard and I think the majority does not, but I know there are some that definitely do.
the more simple solution is that they retroactively nerf all existing items. I think this CAN be done, even if in the past it has been a choice rather than forced.

I think the skill level modifier is too powerful compared to others. It's mandatory on every item, which effectively makes it useless—if something is mandatory, it doesn't really give you a choice, so I don't see the point.

Remember, reducing the power of this modifier relative to others can be healthy for the game because it gives you a choice. And whether it lowers or increases a character's power doesn't matter, because you can always change the number elsewhere.

It always annoyed me that I have to have this modifier on every item. It could just as easily be built into the item, like damage.

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latrynka#7337 wrote:

I think the skill level modifier is too powerful compared to others. It's mandatory on every item

Exactly, which is why +gem levels on gear needs to be giga-nerfed in 0.5. It makes itemization one-dimensional and boring.

Jonathan, I urge you to consider nerfing +gem levels to put this issue to bed.

Thanks for consideration!