Introducing, Jewels!

[Fibus]

When we introduced the Upgrade system nearly a year and a half ago, our goal was to give players an additional way to improve and customize their character. We are very happy that it is a feature that players love. Over time, we introduced more gems to expand upon the system, but we can only stretch the system so far. To really give players more, we needed to improve how upgrades worked at their core. And so, Jewels were born! The Jewels system will be introduced in the upcoming Rage of the Ren'gol expansion.

Designing Jewels
When we started designing the Jewels feature, we had a few goals in mind:

1. Expand on gems to give players more options
2. Reduce the pain points of the system (like not having access to your weapon for an extended period of time as you tried for a "Grand" gem).
3. Provide an aspirational goal that players can strive for

These goals led to a few interesting discussions and discoveries. Our first tasks were to figure out how to handle current gems. We didn't want to restrict where players can use them. Since players earned or purchased those gems, they should be able to use them as they see fit. Nerfing existing gems, or any items for that matter, is something to avoid at all cost, so we wanted to avoid that. Making more Paracellus-level gems to "even the playing field" for players that do not have them would simply worsen game balance. In the end, we felt the best course of action was to let existing gems eventually work themselves out of the game. Since they are not removeable from gear and there is only a set amount of them, they would, over time, cease to exist.

With our questions about the current gems system answered, we were now able to design the new Jewels system. After even more discussions, we eventually landed on the system that we now have to present to you all. I truly feel that it takes the best of the gems system and adds even more to it. And I hope you will agree.

Current Gems
Before jumping into Jewels, I want to assure you all that your current gems will remain untouched, as I alluded to above. Any gems you have created are still yours to keep. In no way will their functionality be changed. You can continue to socket them into any current gear you have or future gear you earn. However, you will not be able to craft new Gems after the Jewels system launches.

Jewels Overview
Moving onto Jewels, they have several similar qualities to Gems. Jewels are crafted, tradeable, and can be used to upgrade gear with additional stats.

The Jewels system also has many differences from Gems though.

• Jewels have levels, 8 in total, represented by prefixes such as "Weak", "Fortified", or "Excellent". These levels determine how much of a stat they give. You can increase a Jewel's level via crafting by combining it with 2 other Jewels of the same level and type, along with some gold. For example, if you craft together three Standard Mind Jewels, you'll get one Fortified Mind Jewel.
• Essences will no longer drop from mobs. Instead, Cracked Jewels will now drop from mobs. These are immediately available to use for upgrading gear. Not all types of Jewels drop in all locations though. You'll have to explore to find which Jewels drop where. Any essences you currently have can be used to craft these Cracked Jewels as well.
• Jewels can not "crit". You no longer have to upgrade your gear over and over hoping for a "Grand" version. Jewels will always give the same amount of a stat.
• Jewels have item level requirements. In order to upgrade a piece of gear with a Jewel, the gear must have at least a certain required level. For example, Excellent Jewels can only upgrade gear that requires character level 20 and higher.
• Many more stats are now available with Jewels! There will be 8 types of Jewels available when the feature launches. In addition to the STR, DEX, and INT stats you are all used to, you can now also upgrade your gear with Jewels which grant Armor, Crit, Damage, HP, or Mana.
• Jewels can be removed from gear for a gold cost. This will allow you to use that removed Jewel as part of a craft to create a better Jewel.

To give you an idea of some of the Jewels you can expect to see, here are some screenshots (art is not final, stats subject to change):


The Jewels feature will launch with the Rage of the Ren'gol expansion, which you can look forward to in the near future.