Streamer Feedback Should Be Filtered — Example: Uncut Support Gems

I think GGG needs to be more selective when acting on streamer feedback. Streamers are good at pointing out friction, but their suggested solutions often push too hard toward convenience and risk removing meaningful decision-making from the game.

A recent example is a streamer claiming that uncut support gems are a big problem and should be much easier to obtain or swap. I don’t agree. Choosing when and how to cut an uncut support gem is part of character progression. It’s a decision that should have weight.

The streamer proposes three solutions:

1) Guaranteed uncut support gems when entering Atlas (mapping)
This is a big no for me.
It would flood stashes with uncut supports and completely remove their value. New players wouldn’t learn progression; it would turn into “here, take some, I have tons” instead of learning to make choices during the campaign.

“Here, take some uncut supports, I have tons”
instead of
“You can finish the campaign with what you have, make smart choices”

2) Add a way to re-cut or reforge support gems
This is the only option that makes sense to me.
It keeps decisions meaningful while still allowing players to adapt later, ideally at a cost. Flexibility without deleting consequences fits PoE’s design.

3) Buy uncut support gems from a vendor (like PoE 1)
Another no. This effectively removes uncut supports from the loot pool and turns progression into a gold check. When everything is purchasable, planning and decision-making disappear.

This is a streamer I used to respect a lot, but lately he complains constantly, not just about gems, but about league mechanics too.

A good example is the Vaal Temple this league. Early on, it had low loot because:

People didn’t know the optimal strategy. The “snake” pathing wasn’t discovered yet. Instead of letting the player base learn and optimize, loud complaints led to a loot buff. Combined with the now-known best strategy, the temple turned into a raw currency printing machine, which directly affected the economy.
This is exactly why streamer feedback needs filtering. Early frustration ≠ bad design.

Streamers should highlight issues, not define solutions. PoE is at its best when choices matter and progression has weight. I hope GGG keeps that philosophy intact.

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7A9Jf24vw

But the temple is designed badly from the start, it doesn’t give any explaination nor forgiveness in the early stage. Also what do you think meaningful decision means? Like what lesson do you think completely new to the game players will have when they pick the wrong skills that aint in a few meta skills and now they can’t switch soon cuz scarcity of gems in early campaign. You think they won’t have frustration and drop the game before the endgame? Is this the message that you think the game should give to them? Choose carefully and go look for info outside the game cuz if you choose wrong then you’re cooked? The game should be unforgiving and anti-testing in the campaign? Is this meaningful?

Streamers should NEVER be the benchmark for anything. Normal people don't play as much as they do. Balance should be built around people who can play for 4-5 hours at most, and most people don't play that much anyway.

i think your feedback should be filtered. uncut gem drops should be increased. also they should allow reforging uncut gems to a higher tier.

You need a way to get rid of gems you don't need at that point. How about using the reforging bench to combine? It doesn't have to be 100% guarantee but maybe each tier has a ratio of success rate that then removes gems from the economy?

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XxxPssySlayerxxX#5201 wrote:

Is this meaningful?

When I say “meaningful decision,” I don’t mean punishing new players or “get it wrong and you’re cooked.” I mean choices should matter, but still be recoverable.

That’s why I support a re-cut / reforge system. It allows players to adapt and experiment at a cost, without deleting progression weight.

Flooding players with guaranteed gems or turning them into vendor purchases removes the decision entirely. That’s not better onboarding — it’s just removing the system.

Scarcity alone isn’t meaningful, but neither is infinite convenience.

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Haplo#7878 wrote:

i think your feedback should be filtered. uncut gem drops should be increased. also they should allow reforging uncut gems to a higher tier.

Are we talking uncut skill gem or support gem now?? Or both?? Do you even watch the video.

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Mr2888#3516 wrote:

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XxxPssySlayerxxX#5201 wrote:

Is this meaningful?

When I say “meaningful decision,” I don’t mean punishing new players or “get it wrong and you’re cooked.” I mean choices should matter, but still be recoverable.

That’s why I support a re-cut / reforge system. It allows players to adapt and experiment at a cost, without deleting progression weight.

Flooding players with guaranteed gems or turning them into vendor purchases removes the decision entirely. That’s not better onboarding — it’s just removing the system.

Scarcity alone isn’t meaningful, but neither is infinite convenience.

Can you elaborate the term “progression weight”? How is it related to the fun on trying things in the campaign? Even if you flood players with gem they still have to spend time to play and try the skills combination, instead of spending time looking for a gem to switch they can spend that time to try and learn new skills interaction, is that not fun to you?

By “progression weight,” I mean that when you get access to things matters, not just what you get.

Trying skills is fun, but if everything is available immediately, progression becomes flat. Early limits create pacing: you make a choice, play with it for a while, and later you gain more freedom.

That’s why I prefer recoverable decisions (like re-cut / reforge) instead of flooding players with gems. It lets players experiment without turning the campaign into a sandbox with no sense of growth.

I’ve shared my view earlier in this thread. I’d genuinely like to hear your solution for handling uncut support gems and early experimentation, not just the criticism.

1 uncut support, 50% of the time, in the flask/arcane weapon vendor every time you level up, with a decent gold price, so you think about wether you use the money for gambling or purchasing new supports.

Also, please fix the huge swathe of skills that feel bad early, mid and lategame regardless of player input, half of the skills currently available feel like baldurs' gate I spells, while the other comes from PoE 1 high-cocaine gameplay.

Pick a lane.