Unsure if these +Level changes are good or not

Overall I am ok with the nerfs from this patch notes. But I do not understand why they took the following approach

While I am OK with point 1) because I never got +7 to all melee skills to begin with, I do not understand why they changed the second & third points
They have capped the +level to all Gems and the perfect essence, why?
WHY? I never received the maximum to being with, why lower my chances to have some great fun?

"

1) The plus to Level of all Melee Skills modifiers on Two Handed Attack Weapons now has a value of +5 at Tier 1 (previously +7), the lower tiers have also been adjusted.


2) The plus to level all Gems on Attack Weapons can now only roll above level 18.

3) The Perfect Essence of Battle now provides +3 to Level of all Attack Skills on Two Hand Melee Weapons or Crossbows (previously +5), and +2 to Level of all Attack Skills on One Handed Melee Weapons or Bows (previously +3).

The entire list of patch notes is here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3932540/page/1#itemchanges

I will nener understand their mentality.

Why not just remove + levels.

Even if they nerf it to +1 it will still be mandatory to have it, just a lot more unfun.

Why must every nerf be a gameplay nerf instead of just removing the issue to solve the problem.

Same with rarity, + levels and rarity must go because they are always mandatory no matter how much you nerf them.

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PayneK#3102 wrote:

I will nener understand their mentality.

Why not just remove + levels.

Even if they nerf it to +1 it will still be mandatory to have it, just a lot more unfun.

Why must every nerf be a gameplay nerf instead of just removing the issue to solve the problem.

Same with rarity, + levels and rarity must go because they are always mandatory no matter how much you nerf them.

if two handed weapons were nerfed to +1 max it would absolutely not be mandatory to have. it wouldnt even be mandatory on one handed.

a sweet spot does exist and bringing it down to +5 max is closer to the sweet spot than +1. i think the nerf to perfect essence being +3 basically solves the issue

+ level to skills is the worst modifier they could have added to weapons.

Having +1 - +2 to level of skills on amulets, and on certain Unique items would be OK; enough an of incentive to seek those items, but not broken enough to make them mandatory.

What we have now is: "if this item does not have +x to levels it's useless".

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corwingeorge#5632 wrote:

if two handed weapons were nerfed to +1 max it would absolutely not be mandatory to have. it wouldnt even be mandatory on one handed.

a sweet spot does exist and bringing it down to +5 max is closer to the sweet spot than +1. i think the nerf to perfect essence being +3 basically solves the issue

You think that the fact they lowered from +7 to +5 max, gives you a chance to get +3/+4 to melee skill more often?

I did not think of it like this , not until I read your comment.
If this would turn out to be true then it won't fee like a nerf anymore

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lupasvasile#5385 wrote:

+ level to skills is the worst modifier they could have added to weapons.

Having +1 - +2 to level of skills on amulets, and on certain Unique items would be OK; enough an of incentive to seek those items, but not broken enough to make them mandatory.

What we have now is: "if this item does not have +x to levels it's useless".

Not gonna lie, your take is an interesting one and I am not being ironic or anything like that :D

Plus levels to attack skills give like 4-8% more damage per level, depending of the skill gem. For example if you look at whirling assault its roughly 7.8% damage per skill level where as ice strike is only about 5%.

Weapons have few desirable damage suffixes. At max roll these are:
- 5% to critical hit chance
- 25% to critical damage bonus
- 28% attack speed
- 7 skill levels

Increase that levels give to whirling assault:
- 7 levels --> 1.078^7 = 1.6917 = 69.2% more damage
- 5 levels --> 1.078^5 = 1.4557 = 45.6% more damage
- 3 levels --> 1.078^3 = 1.2527 = 25.3% more damage


Before patch 0.5 if you were playing crit based build you always wanted +5% to crit hit chance and most of the time you wanted 28% attack speed aswell. Which means that the last suffix slot is either levels or to crit damage. When it was +7 levels it was way more damage than +25% to critical damage would give you. But now there is a choice, since +5 levels is closer to "+% to critical damage bonus" and also that crit isnt increasing your mana cost.

Definetly a good change overall to reduce player power in the high end.

personally I can't stand %increased spell damage and gained %damage being mandatory on my wands. Or needing increased spirit on any sceptre when I play minions. The worst is resistances though, needing resistances on all my gear is so boring