{
"post": {
"title": "What do you think of the new skill gem system, it's a fairly big change from Poe 1",
"selftext": "So for those who dont know based on what is known the system sort of works like this \n\n- get un-cut gem stones from quests or drops\n- turn gem stone into a new skill gem / support / give level to an existing skill \n\nSo if you have a lv4 gem and a lv1 skill you can turn it into a lv4 version. \n\nHowever support gems are now capped at lv1 so there is no scaling there side. \n\nBased on some interviews the idea is it's now a choice or wanting a new skill gem vs getting levels for your current skills. \n\nIt seems interesting but what do people think ? ",
"url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExile2/comments/1ggn6m6/what_do_you_think_of_the_new_skill_gem_system_its/"
},
"comments": [
{
"body": "Taking the skill system off of gear is a massively positive change. Also dropping uncut gems instead of random gems and letting players pick their gems instead of every class having a limited selection is nice as well. No more having to mule certain off class gems like what RF chieftain players do currently."
},
{
"body": "It's the best change"
},
{
"body": "It's perfect"
},
{
"body": "Its great."
},
{
"body": "One slight thing you’re missing, if you have a level 1 skill, you can use a level 20 uncut skill gem to level it all the way to 20.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "one big thing missed is the support gem limit based on attributes. you can find the explaination in the gamescom interview videos https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3570118/page/1#p25442062",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Another big support change is that you can only have 1 of each unique support gem equipped. I think it will end up not being as bad as it sounds, but it's a pretty drastic change compared to PoE 1."
}
]
},
{
"body": "My guess is that level 20 uncut gems will end up being pretty rare. You're probably not gonna have a full set of skills 20/20% so easily as you can have in PoE 1. But we'll see."
},
{
"body": "Which just means you're using an uncut skill gem to make a level 20 skill of a skill you already have.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Except the one you have may have 5 sockets and the new one would not",
"replies": [
{
"body": "For some reason I thought that high level skill gems would always be full sockets, but yeah, that's a good point if that's not the case.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "As far as we have been told all uncut gems drop with two sockets, and you’ll need different tiers of jewelers orbs to add more sockets.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Oh damn, that is new to me. I thought I was fully up to speed listening to so many hours of podcasts over the last year... Thanks for sharing. "
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "I really like that I can just find a new gear piece and not having to worry about sockets and links and colors. I can just... equip it."
},
{
"body": "Wish we got it for POE 1.\n\nHonestly the beginning of a league is mostly just getting Tabula Rasa/5L/6L for a lot of builds",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Best part of the league o.O"
}
]
},
{
"body": "I think you misunderstand the Uncut Gem Skill system (or maybe I am) but as far as I know, you'll find Level X Uncut Gems that can be used to Engrave a Gem of that specific level, or upgrade a Gem to that specific level. So you wouldn't use 20 Uncut Gems to get a Gem to level 20 but instead just use 1 Level 20 UG to get it to 20. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this pls",
"replies": [
{
"body": "The biggest thing that people are forgetting to mention is that it preserves sockets. So it's better to upgrade a 6-link lvl 15 gem into a 6-link lvl 20 gem than it is to create a new 3-link lvl 20 gem.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "I thought they are always 6-link anyway. Or did that change?",
"replies": [
{
"body": "You need to find the new versions of jeweler's orbs to upgrade the number of links. It's been that way for some time.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "ohhh! Thanks"
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "yep it is like that which will make lvl 20 uncut gems valuable, I wonder if we can still corrupt the gems to 21 tho"
},
{
"body": "At PAX west it was entirely possible to slot/\"cut\" an uncut gem into a skill that you had the level for but did not have the stats for. This annoyed me to no end. I really hope this is fixed in EA as I was unable to remove the skill and recut the gem into something I could use. \n\nUGs are leveless. Skill unlock was based on character level. \n\nLorewise in the system it makes sense that there's only one \"cut\" and now the skill is unlocked forever for your character (OPENCLASS!). And don't like a system where to \"recut\" a UG would say reduce the level of the skill you can slot it to. \n\nThere needs to be some easier way of seeing the skill requirements and maybe a prompt if you don't currently have the stats for a skill (in this case a lack of spirit for skeleton snipers on a level 7 Monk with a crossbow) to warn if you can actually use a skill. Also this combination of weapon/class was just awful.\n\n[screen shot of G panel for adding support gems to a newly acquired skill](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/486303037569105927/1280303772039381094/rn_image_picker_lib_temp_75248203-5931-4c1c-bd16-c842b34e6783.jpg?ex=6747a6ce&is=6746554e&hm=d2b8a96a8ca82110f1592969206433e28542c3109146bb4f3cc7ac7300912e76&)"
}
]
},
{
"body": "It was the one hard part trying to convince people to play path at Exile one because it was so hard to find the materials needed to craft your armor to be right for your build. then if you find a better piece of gear, you have to do it all over again made it very grindy and very hard to try new armor I felt like it made me play path of Exile one with worse gear because it had the right slots which would make me end up dying a lot and having to reconsider my gear and knowing how much of a pain it was to have to change everything to fit my build I wouldn't want to change it out just stick with the crappy gear until it became a problem which I'm so glad I'm not going to have to deal with in path of Exile 2"
},
{
"body": "I think these changes are good, if the game is balanced accordingly, which I hope is the case."
},
{
"body": "It's 1000x better than poe 1s jank system."
},
{
"body": "Personally I'm mostly negative on it. It's less intricate than the original system and for me that's rarely a plus. It's possible that level 20 skill gem drops will be exciting but I sorta expect they'll be too common to hold much value and will probably feel similar to finding things like divine vessels (like cool - but I can buy these for a few chaos and I only need 10 or so for any build).\n\nThis is with the assumption that there is nothing more to the system than what we know. If you add some of PoE's complex progression back to the system (corrupting gems, awakened gems) you could have something really cool. But as it is, it kinda feels like a version of the original games skill gem system watered down for convenience/simplicity.\n\nEDIT: I should probably clarify that this criticism is specifically for how skill/support gems are now aquired/progressed - the changes to sockets/links I am pretty stoked for.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "We will almost certainly be getting variations on skill gems - transmuted gems, vaal gems. And of course, there may also be other upgrades for skill gems as well. I'm sure those will extend the gem hunt.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "I do think these things will come at some point, but I suspect it will be in future league mechanics after 1.0. I could be wrong, but I think the bulk of the work during early access will be fleshing out \"core content\" for the game - crafting league mechanics, circle mechanics to appear in maps, etc.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "I don't really see any reason corrupting gems can't work with the new system basically exactly how it currently works",
"replies": [
{
"body": "We haven't seen any vaal skills yet, so maybe those will not be ready for EA, and that might be a big difference for vaaling skill gems (no chance for vaal versions). I don't recall seeing quality either, but that might be just bad memory of mine.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Yeah I can't recall seeing quality but we've also only seen very early game footage so I wouldn't really have expected to either."
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "The system is one of the greatest motivators for playing PoE2 over PoE1 imo."
},
{
"body": "We will see how losing scaling on support gems will work. \n\nI’ve been unimpressed so far with support gems overall, either they are near useless or don’t provide enough net power (too much downside for amount of upside built in). At this point we might end up where some skills are more optimal to run as a one link, as increasing mana cost for shitty supports is not worth it. Having some gems be where 1-2 link is the best choice is incredibly lame.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "I'm sure there will be enough ways to solve mana"
},
{
"body": "I think most likely you will have 2-4 skills used (unless you boss and have a combo). And one of these are auras and they use spirit, and you will use some as they do not take your mana away.\n\nAlso I think, and I might be completely wrong, you wanna have these 2-4 skills as 6 links",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Yeah we’ll see, they need to balance having enough power on the gems for the mana cost to be worth it.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "And/Or make them enough specialized to only use them in different cases (including the supports)"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "They already said that support gems will have damage multiplier again, because you're now limited to 1 gem of each.\n\nSo if you have added lightning linked to your spark, you can't have that linked to anything else."
}
]
},
{
"body": "They seem good to me but perhaps even more importantly Jonathan and especially Mark seem to \\*\\*really\\*\\* like what they've cooked for the new gem systems"
},
{
"body": "I think the new gem and socket system in general is one of the things I'm most excited about POE2."
},
{
"body": "NO MORE LEVELING UP F... GEMS AND SUPPORTS!!!!"
},
{
"body": "Much much better"
},
{
"body": "I love it because I always hated the roadblocks it caused to using gear with sockets, colors and such."
},
{
"body": "infinitely better.\n\nmoving that shit off gear makes things way less finnicky and annoying by itself let alone all the other changes. very much looking forward to playing with it."
},
{
"body": "A big change but it's most welcome.\n\nIt will allow for much more tinkering and experimenting as you level without being bound by the restrictions of the slots your gear has.\n\nOf course only being able to use support gems as a 1/1 is going to be interesting."
},
{
"body": "Tbh it seems like a great change for new players, it's a cool menu that seems easier to understand.\n\n However, I don't think it did that much for veterans. I guess it saves some clicking when leveling a lvl 1 gem with a high level character.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "New system allows for more skills because generally each piece was one skill unless it was an aura/curse/debuff/buff skill.\n\nIt locked most builds into 1-2 dps spells and everything supporting it which isn't bad BUT it was painful to play builds with 2 dps spells, and a lot of gear while playing was unusable due to simply bad slot rolls and no one having currency to fix it early on."
}
]
},
{
"body": "i like not leveling support gems alot. That part of the skill system always felt kind a pointless to me. Just extra numbers and small extra effort without any meaningful decisions"
},
{
"body": "The main motivation behind - divorcing skills from gear is rock solid. Especially in the early game will have more opportunities to upgrade an item right off the bat instead of - hey it's cool item but I can't afford/can't be bothered with redoing the links right now.\n\nThe uncut thing is not as fundamental - just another way of doing things and at the very least won't need to worry about clicking the level up buttons when running around."
},
{
"body": "I didn't know about level 4 uncut gems to level up a skill gem to level 4. Does that mean we need a level 20 uncut gem to get a level 20 skill gem or can we use multiple level 4 uncut gems to eventually get to a level 20 skill gem?"
},
{
"body": "Although I have yet to play it, I think it's a great change. \n\nMy only concern is the ability to test out the different skills/Support gems once you unlock the ability to purchase gems from Lili once you beat the campaign. \n\nUncut gems may be highly sought after in the trading Market to experiment with cutting different builds. Especially level 20 gems which one would think will definitely be rare. \n\n \nAnd I Like how they tied attributes to the number of gems you can use. For every 5 pts per attribute, you can use that skill. For example, if you have 50 pts in strength, you can use at least 10 strength-based active skills/supports. While if your character only has 10 int, you would be allowed to use 2 Intelligence-based active/support skills. I think that change alone is interesting too."
},
{
"body": "Frankly, it’s hard to tell. Time will show if it was a good call or not"
},
{
"body": "They need to make skill interactions be impactful, otherwise I’ll probably still stick to one main skill"
},
{
"body": "Massive improvement of the old system, and I still love the old system. So I'm very excited for it!"
},
{
"body": "I think the whole idea of skills being determined by gems is completely unintuitive and stupid. Lore wise it makes absolutely no sense, and kinda takes away from the identity of having classes.\n\n\nIt's one of the reasons I could never get into POE1, and it just seemed so bland that for any item to be usefull it needed 6 or so of the right sockets to fit all your ability gems.\n\n\nI just hope it makes more sense in POE2",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Well in poe 2 gear does not have any sockets. So it's just hey this gear has bigger numbers I'll use that. \n\nAnd then your skill gems themselves roll with a number of sockets.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "I sincerely hope the game has more depth than that, so we don't get an \"item level\" based economy like in D4 where you don't even have to think twice about anything. Oh higher stats? I'll equip and throw away the other one.\n\nSo bland!",
"replies": [
{
"body": "no worry the number of affixe and family of affix in poe is very very high and some can say overcomplicated but that's what we love in poe :) \n\nif will never be like : current is +1 and new item is +2 yeah got my upgrade. \n\nlook at craftifexile.com just to give you an idea of the amount of things that exists to craft item ( mutually exclusive influence, synthesized item, dominated implicit, veiled mod, fossil unique mod, essence crafting, etc ... )"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "it is ok to have your own opinion and to disagree with game design that you don't like . \nbut you can't say it makes no sense lore wise when you haven't played the game. when in fact the skill being gained via gem is the base of the lore of the aztiri civilization and how they created them with thaumaturgy etc. \n\n\nand it has never been required to need 6 sockets to have a skill usefully it is just an axis of progression like you always have multiple of in any RPG make it lvl or stat or rune or whatever. \n\nthe only pain in this socket system is that finding a new item even if it have better stat can feel bad if you can't use you skill with it due to the color system. \n\nif you watch dev interview they acknowledge that and explain why they moved out the gem from equipment in poe2, while in poe1 they added more way to easily convert color of item but that was just burying the problems. \n\nbut anyway when you get knowledgeable about poe this problem that can turn away player like you is non existent, you will never see an experienced player struggle with the socket system during any phase of the game be it leveling or endgame. \n\npoe has a heavy and hard learning curve they are other arpg with easier GamePlay out there that can be as fun as poe in different way.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "It was never really about the learning curve, I just didn't find it interesting and very off-putting that I had to fill my stash with gems for abilities. And I never felt like exploring new abilities because of that system honestly.\n\nAnd sure I guess poe has it's own lore where it makes sense that skills are on gems, but when I'm saying it doesn't make sense \"lore\" wise I just mean in a more general way. Next thing you know it's the socks or underwear that lets your barbarian able to do all of his skills, and not the fact that, yeah, he is a barbarian. Just always seemed so strange to me, and while I get that it has enabled the huge depth which is also one of poe's strenghts, I think I can easily be achieved in more intuitive and simpler ways."
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "Frankly, I think it's genius when combined with the idea that you can only use any particular support once. PoE1 suffers heavily from two problems when it comes to supports: \n\n1. you can really only have 2 6Ls at max and most will only have 1\n\n2. (which feeds into 1 as well) you're incentivized to just get as much damage as you can on your main link. Even if you have 2 6Ls, it's typically just a area skill with as much damage as possible and a single target skill with as much damage as possible.\n\n 2a. A sub-problem of this is that if you have a ST and clear skill, they often share most of their links, being whatever the best damage support is.\n\nThe PoE2 system encourages having supports that are mechanical in nature rather than just damage increases, because you can't just put the same damage support on every skill. You're encouraged to have skills with different use cases/utilities and that means you have a lot more actual choice when deciding what links to use. I think systemically this is *much* more attractive."
},
{
"body": "it depends on how it will feel like.\n\nI am completely fine not needing to level up my gems 100x again when i flip them or switch builds, etc.\n\nbut on how it feels especially during the story completely depends on how commonly they drop. For now I think I prefer to simply buy gems i need/want to experiment with from the vendor instead of needing to drop them like in Ruthless.\n\nBut then again I will simply wait until it releases and see how it plays"
},
{
"body": "reminds me of the whiplash i got from going from phantasy star universe to pso2.\n\nit was fun leveling up skills to make them better. its nice having \"gather xp, get bigger number\" ya know? poe2? a level 19 gem is bad as its not a level 20 gem. level 19s will be 1/10th of the price and everything will be worthless.\n\nideally, imo, it would be a hybrid system, where you can cut a gem to change its max level but you still need to level it up by fighting monsters."
}
]
}