Originally Posted by
Morholt
Oh, I look at eyes as a whole nother socketable & issue/debate within the game. They'll scale, but it isn't like people will be able to socket 3x into all their items. If they stay at +3 int/dex/str, then only the crit will be an impact/advantage. For warriors, +27 str is likely far more appealing than +9 all. Is +3.75 or so worth 18 str to warriors? Especially at the price? Mages of course would best enjoy them, but they're also the least played class. Will rogues really need that much more crit? After all the dex they have, the crit on their gear, passive crit, a pet, and firing 1 aimed shot...they'll be pretty close to 100% crit before any eyes. So then they have the choice of more damage, or more life & mana...at a very high price for life & mana.
Anywho, yes, jewels are a bit more labor intensive (currently), but you also guarantee what you get. The gems do get slightly better over time, but if you look at the market, the price of jewels do appear to dictate the price of gems, so gems can't really go up in price due to time related power increase.
At 46: a normal gem is a standard jewel. If you check the market, the gems are currently worth less gold, but not by too much. A little surprising, considering the upside chance of getting a grand gem. If your goal is for all grand gems, you're essentially looking at superb jewels. If you say your odds are 1/30 at a grand, the cost of 30 gems (if you buy them all at a now price) is around the same as the superb jewel (note: the current demand for rogue items makes high finesse jewels slightly higher at this time). And if you trying to grand gem your gear...if you go 1/30...that is 240 hours a slot. Meanwhile, you could've spent roughly the same gold for a superb and wasted only 8 hours.
Why are gems slightly cheaper than the standards? Two reasons. (1) you can remove them and later upgrade. As a result, you can get a 'return' from your 'investment.' They still have future value of you use them. (2) the gems are only competitive at these end game levels. A superb (+7) is level 25. A grand gem at 25 adds...5, if I recall correctly? With how booming the twink market is, it is understandable that the gem options are actually cheaper thanks to demand being for jewels.
"But what about next expansion? The grand gems might be +9, like the new highest jewel tier. How will the market play out? Won't the gems auto go up in price due to upgrade bonuses?"
Good questions. Short answer: not likely. As we see, the gem prices are dictated by jewel prices. And yes, the 56 gems will likely be +5 for a normal, thus bumping it up to the power of a fortified. But again, that's only at the 56 cap. No other level, and that gem can't be transferred from an old item and into a new one like the jewels can be. The price of fortified gems will be dropping soon. Again, due to recent changes in farming them plus the ease of farming those maps at 56.
But there are more reasons than that alone for the price of jewels to go down. (big marching tip about to come up!) There will be something of a niche market. There already is, but it'll be bigger next expansion: buying up outdated, bad, and/or unwanted items that already have jewels in them. You can occasionally see 10-20k worth of jewels in items being sold for 2-5k in auction. Remove the jewels and they're back in circulation. All the old jewels are going to be yanked out of old items and upgraded into higher ones.
Why did you guys think they were releasing the next tier of jewels? To not be outdone by jewels? Nope. If they didn't, then noble jewels would become the stagnant 'joy' that was the upgraded mythic set. What do I mean? Once a player has all noble jewels in their gear...they'll always have noble jewels in their gear, at worst. All they have to do is transfer them over into the latest and newest item. It is that simple. Gems, though? You can't do that. Their supply is limited and they can only be used one time. Jewels, though, are continuously having the supply increased and can be continuously recycled.
With the vastly increased drops next season and recycling, all of the super rich will be rocking full max jewels in their gear. And this also effects the price of jewels. Once the highest demanders & spenders have theirs, the next level of buyers won't be willing to pay as much, as it is with pretty much every item.
For all of these reasons, the standard & fortified jewels will drop in price, thus dropping the price of gems. The gems may raise slightly compared to their current price (similar to a standard), but not to the price of a current fortified, as the price of fortified jewels will be declining all next season. How much will they decline? That's to play out in the market. Maybe 20% decline...maybe 67% (which would mean the fortified would be the value of a current standard).
In conclusion, the regular gems aren't an issue for the jewels. Reinforced gems barely exist. Tarlok gems are the wild card, though. Just how many are still out there? And just how much will they add at 56? Although most warriors will elect to use pure strength sockets over rage gems. Wind and wisdom gems have solid benefits for rogues and mages. Maybe enough for them to both want half grand Tarlok & half high jewels. But...good luck affording and finding the number of Tarlok gems needed for half your gear being grand Tarlok. And, even if the Tarlok gems end up being a better over all choice over jewels, they'll still be only be one time uses. Many will elect for the slightly less effective high jewels, so that they won't have to blow another 30 million on grand gems at the 61 cap.
Also, it would be helpful for the economy if gems scaled up. People will be more likely to list them in auction (due to demand/interest) and those high listing fees help drain out extra gold in the system. The poorer everyone else becomes, the richer you become. :D I'm always for preventing inflation. I don't want to see 150 mil items again.
