The Gem Disparity

[Niixed]

I'm a latecomer to this thread, but it's such an important issue it's still worth throwing my 2 cents in.

As many have already said the essential problem is scarcity, that since the gems were only available during events the supply dries up and the few left become astronomically expensive and largely unavailable to new players. Less wealthy new players come to resent the wealthier old players' access to better items and (rightfully) cry "unfair!" Arcane Legends' feels less inviting to new players because it's practically impossible to obtain the power level of the older players. This is NOT a good situation considering the income growth of an MMO usually comes from the NEW players. Perhaps STS sees this as an incentive to play longer or a reward for staying 'with' AL, but it's actually a disincentive and it makes older players a target for negative backlash.

Cutting off players' ability to farm more of the Awesome New Event Item results in economic and social turmoil, but there is a better way.

Proposal for STS: During an event, keep things the same but AFTER the event merely make the item more difficult to obtain. AND, for the Love of Pete do this RETROACTIVELY! YES, that means make all the past event gems and pets available NOW (asap).

It's kinda ridiculous not to use the content that you (STS) spent so much capital in creating. Nearly every player wants a 'job' to do to make money in game, why not give us the farming jobs we want especially when it would cost so little on your part? We're sick of farming Locked. EVERYONE would be happier (more like overjoyed), old players and new players alike. You'd make money on the stuff we're gonna need to farm, so it's a win-win-win situation.

There. 2 cents officially thrown in.

[JohnnyHardcore]

If part of being a veteran is having an edge, then nobody should complain about having SNS remain discontinued, correct? It should be logical for both situatuons.

Yes, the solution will benefit me. I am not denying this. However, not implementing the solution still benefits me as well in the sense that anyone else will not be able to keep up. So, is there a difference? I think not. If I'm offering 5-6m per para gem, who else will the remaining para gem sellers sell to besides me? I've already had a few people contact me due to this thread and we've negotiated deals. Will anybody else be able to? No, so not implementing me benefits only me. Implementing benefits me, you, and others as well. Make sense? Either way, I'm winning in either situation.

The difference between the last set and the current set is that when they announced upgradeable mythics, supply was already existing. Anyone could buy stockpiles of material and craft for profit. This is vastly different than gear that is not even released yet.

Lastly, the mythic set being untradeable will not stop people from stacking para gems. It will only delay the onset. As I mentioned before, players will just stack enough gems to gem the set come Halloween and the next set after that set in preparation that the sets will again be untradeable. It is not a solution, just slowing down the inevitable.

Again, I repeat myself, nobody besides developers can stop other players from chasing OP stats the way that the current gem system is. My solution is just proposing an equal opportunity for everyone to chase the OP stats.

Lmao. All I can think when I read this is...

Boom. Zeus just threw a thunderbolt.

Then, in a nutshell, it reads off as "I'm ALREADY Zeus, peasant!. Don't pretend I want to be MORE Zeus. Zeus serves the people."

[Ardbeg]

Lmao. All I can think when I read this is...

Boom. Zeus just threw a thunderbolt.

Then, in a nutshell, it reads off as "I'm ALREADY Zeus, peasant!. Don't pretend I want to be MORE Zeus. Zeus serves the people."

it s not that easy. para gems and eye gems were made stackable under the premisse, that the tradeoff is too much for a big number of them to be desirable. however with high profile items like arcane ring or last-gen arcane pets that s not the case. try not to discuss the player zeus, but the consequences for current and following player generations.

my personal view is this: introducing para gems was an error, exactly because they stack better then expected. ravagers suggestion to let them die by limiting them to level 41- is good. it hurts some hoarders, but it is still good damage control, as twink items already are discontinued, and simply releasing some items with better stats on low levels could clear this.

if they should come back, i am voting to add them to arena master chests and lockeds as a very rare loot, since their effect on gameplay is way too high, to not let them be available to all players (and lockeds need a new loot table anyway).

[Kriticality]

it s not that easy. para gems and eye gems were made stackable under the premisse, that the tradeoff is too much for a big number of them to be desirable. however with high profile items like arcane ring or last-gen arcane pets that s not the case. try not to discuss the player zeus, but the consequences for current and following player generations.

my personal view is this: introducing para gems was an error, exactly because they stack better then expected. ravagers suggestion to let them die by limiting them to level 41- is good. it hurts some hoarders, but it is still good damage control, as twink items already are discontinued, and simply releasing some items with better stats on low levels could clear this.

if they should come back, i am voting to add them to arena master chests and lockeds as a very rare loot, since their effect on gameplay is way too high, to not let them be available to all players (and lockeds need a new loot table anyway).

Legit response. Have a thanks sir.

[Farminer's]

it s not that easy. para gems and eye gems were made stackable under the premisse, that the tradeoff is too much for a big number of them to be desirable. however with high profile items like arcane ring or last-gen arcane pets that s not the case. try not to discuss the player zeus, but the consequences for current and following player generations.

my personal view is this: introducing para gems was an error, exactly because they stack better then expected. ravagers suggestion to let them die by limiting them to level 41- is good. it hurts some hoarders, but it is still good damage control, as twink items already are discontinued, and simply releasing some items with better stats on low levels could clear this.

if they should come back, i am voting to add them to arena master chests and lockeds as a very rare loot, since their effect on gameplay is way too high, to not let them be available to all players (and lockeds need a new loot table anyway).

I agree with this post right here.

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

[Arpluvial]

Hey guys,

Let's make sure to keep our posts constructive. There is some great feedback and discussion on this thread so far.

[Niixed]

it s not that easy. para gems and eye gems were made stackable under the premisse, that the tradeoff is too much for a big number of them to be desirable. however with high profile items like arcane ring or last-gen arcane pets that s not the case. try not to discuss the player zeus, but the consequences for current and following player generations.

my personal view is this: introducing para gems was an error, exactly because they stack better then expected. ravagers suggestion to let them die by limiting them to level 41- is good. it hurts some hoarders, but it is still good damage control, as twink items already are discontinued, and simply releasing some items with better stats on low levels could clear this.

if they should come back, i am voting to add them to arena master chests and lockeds as a very rare loot, since their effect on gameplay is way too high, to not let them be available to all players (and lockeds need a new loot table anyway).

Para gems are such a contentious issue because the supply is severely limited, both by the tradability limit and by the lack of availability. If they were widely available for a reasonable price, it would enable most players to stay competitive. If 'everyone' has one (or three or whatever), it ceases to be an issue.

The para gem stacking mechanics should be reviewed by developers and altered, if necessary. For example reducing the stackable damage from 2.0 to 1.0 and increasing the one time bonus from 5.0 to 6.0 may better balance para gems in relation to other gems.

The problem started with placing an artificial limitation on para gems, I just don't think it'll be solved with more artificial limitations.

[Zynzyn]

Having read all the feedback till now, I have a middle ground solution to suggest. --

Event gems should remain as event loot, as promised
1. I do not think event gems were an error on STS's part. I support their decision and they did make it available to all running the events. Everybody had a fair chance to loot it. Paracelsus gems and Eye gems are already out, have been traded around, invested in, so lets let them stay as they are. The supply of these event gems will eventually decline as time passes. But if twinks feel that they need para gems, I see loads of para gem and eye gemmed twink items for sale in auction. Chance to loot these gems are gone but para gem items are around for purchase. So why not save up gold and buy? I dont see the problem here unless the real problem in the game is "we do not like to wait, so how to make gold quickly?". And the next Halloween and Winter events can again release these event gems again as event rewards, if sts chooses.

And,

New Gem idea for new level-cap Gear
2. Lvl 42 upwards new gear should be such that they cannot be gemmed with para and eye. BUT a new elite gem can be released, a single one of which is somewhat better than paracelsus and eye together. Maybe it could be a combination of para and eye, idk. Open to suggestions. So this NEW GEM can be made available in the loot table for farmers - be it in arena or new elites. There farmers get a bone! But since this gem will be very powerful it should be forged ONLY on lvl 42 and up equipment. This move will avoid a lvl 46 from farming lots of this new very powerful gem to stack them on his twink gear. But they should be made available for trading to be forged on endgame gear so that farmers can benefit. I for one would certainly love to go farming for this.

[RIP]

Hello STG & Community,

As I think many of the AL population already knows, the gem disparity in AL is becoming quite a problematic issue.


Here are the current gems that we have:
- Fire/Glacial/Blood
- Tarlok Wind/Wisdom/Rage
- Enchanted Eyes*
- Elondrian Life Shards
- Cursed Necropolis Skull
- Paracelsus*
- Reinforced Fire/Glacial/Blood**

Now, as you can see, there is actually quite a wide variety of gems available to the general population. However, what has happened is that there are three rarity of gems: epic, legendary, mythic. While these may seem like plain old rarities, the gems itself have overlapping purposes.

Let us take a look at enchanted eye gems. These gems are quite powerful, giving us a balanced amount of stats from each type of stat as well as a nice amount of critical. Fair enough, seems like a nice compromise when comparing to primary gems, Tarlok gems, etc.

However, if a player stacks enough of these, then that player no longer has any need for gems like elondrian life shards or cursed necropolis skull. Fine, that's bearable.

Now, take a look at Paracelsus gems. These gems offer a lot of damage but do not offer anything else. Naturally, stacking all of these into gear seems like a bad idea. The stat loss would be huge! However, when enchanted eye gems were brought into existence, this problem no longer existed. Everything that the Paracelsus gem lacks, enchanted eye gems make up for. This leads to crazy ratios of 3 para gems: 1 enchanted eye. Overall, this will give a player much higher damage than relying on the gems commonly found while also providing similar HP and critical percent.

Does anyone see the issue? Aside from reinforced blood gems for tanks, there is no real use for other gems with the current paracelsus & enchanted eye gem set up.

So, what does this lead to? Very OP players like myself with damage, critical, and HP that nobody else can hope to achieve.

The way Paracelsus gems are designed, only those with a stockpile of them can benefit. The same thing goes for enchanted eye gems. This current model is very detrimental towards attracting any new players and retaining player base of anyone other than the top 1% of players. After all, a player can max his/her toon but still be required to spend an additional 20-40M on gems to get the ideal set up. How is this fair to anyone, really?

So, does anyone have any suggestions to fix the current impasse? This is a serious issue that will only prove to be more serious as time goes on. On top of all the other disparities that already exist, gems should not be yet another one.


Thoughts, suggestions? Please comment!

* = discontinued and very powerful.
** = obtainable, but of very small quantity.

Thank you for the great post , however gears are hard enough to obtain, personally i think gems should be easily obtained , or at least it should be permanently available, i know this would effect the gem market and piss off a couple of hoarders, but hey you can't make everyone happy.

[Iinorex]

it s not that easy. para gems and eye gems were made stackable under the premisse, that the tradeoff is too much for a big number of them to be desirable. however with high profile items like arcane ring or last-gen arcane pets that s not the case. try not to discuss the player zeus, but the consequences for current and following player generations.

my personal view is this: introducing para gems was an error, exactly because they stack better then expected. ravagers suggestion to let them die by limiting them to level 41- is good. it hurts some hoarders, but it is still good damage control, as twink items already are discontinued, and simply releasing some items with better stats on low levels could clear this.

if they should come back, i am voting to add them to arena master chests and lockeds as a very rare loot, since their effect on gameplay is way too high, to not let them be available to all players (and lockeds need a new loot table anyway).

nice man nice

[epicrrr]

Para gems

Stacking and +%dmg bonus was IMO neglected, I love para gem at first mainly for the mythic circle effect but as the game progress they turn out to be OP beyond OP esp for rog of which the very thing STS been trying to avoid has happened "rog killing machine". Wish I had advocated more on 1 para gem mandatory rule for everyone.

[Wutzgood]

From the way this topic is going I have to say sts will make a fortune during Halloween if para gems are limited to that event. You can't make plat tier just farming energy so a lot of platinum will be bought for energy.

With only one per character there's gonna be a lot of Alts running around then.

[Niixed]

Since the para mistake is well ingrained into the system now, I'm liking rav's suggestion, to make these gems non-gemmable from 42 up. Of course, this would be shooting the hoarders in the foot but then again this gem was never meant to be traded and the way it is being done now is a workaround.

Or simply reintroduce it next Halloween. But for the love of everything on heaven and earth do NOT make it an LB prize or there will be mobs in the street baying for blood.

Using an artificial limit (no para on 42+ gear) to fix a problem that was created with an artificial limit (para untradable) is the wrong approach. STS should make the para and all event gems available post-event and make the para tradable. The problem isn't the gem itself, it's the lack of supply.

[davidvilla]

Would like to drop few words here:
- para gems to be introduced at coming Halloween but as non tradable/transferable limited to level 42+ gears only.
- upon reaching 46 let every player get para gem as a cap reward. (Halloween period only)
- release the gears with better stat from crates to match the para gemmed gear stat.
- let Halloween and other event leaderboard grant mythic set rather than those vanities.

[Bellaelda]

Sorry don't think these are solutions are practical...

Posted reasons for this in bold

Would like to drop few words here:
- para gems to be introduced at coming Halloween but as non tradable/transferable limited to level 42+ gears only.

this doesn't help the issue with older twinks having unfair advantage

- upon reaching 46 let every player get para gem as a cap reward. (Halloween period only)

so people would have to wait to cap their toons during Halloween event if they want a para gem? That doesn't make sense to me at all

- release the gears with better stat from crates to match the para gemmed gear stat.

this would just completely undermine the whole season and would create a ptw scenario

- let Halloween and other event leaderboard grant mythic set rather than those vanities.

so we'd have to run a lb competing with whole community to get mythic set?... That's just gonna be another ptw scenario

[Vediovis]

Just wanted to say that I love the idea of having Para Gems locked to levels 41 and below.

And sts please be careful in the future when making event gems. Seeing as the Paracelsus + Syrillax Eye combo cause significant imbalance to the game.

[davidvilla]

Sorry don't think these are solutions are practical...

Posted reasons for this in bold

Nice try. But u got everything wrong on all of those.
- limiting to level 42 use will encourage people to utilize them at high level rather than at twinks.
- having new gears with solid stats (with damage) will balance the current gear with para gems. Of course limiting to level 42+ gear will completely stop para twinking.
- para reward for those who caps at Halloween period not for everybody. I haven't said u have to wait till Halloween to cap and claim. Let para be loot able from platinum tier as primary drop and to those who reach level 46 at Halloween period as secondary drop.
- people will already have new mythic sets by few months, I don't know what u r complaining about. Giving 3 different class of mythic set as reward is not bad at all. I didn't said mythic set for lb winners ONLY. Did I?

[killarrow]

Removal of para gem with a recipe seems the worst possible suggestion by far. Buy dozens of twink gear with para that sell for less than 1m and rip the gems= off with recipe?

Who knows, STS might be happy to bend over backwards to such requests than fix lag/ dc issues.

[Oursizes]

Nice try. But u got everything wrong on all of those.
- limiting to level 42 use will encourage people to utilize them at high level rather than at twinks.
- having new gears with solid stats (with damage) will balance the current gear with para gems. Of course limiting to level 42+ gear will completely stop para twinking.
- para reward for those who caps at Halloween period not for everybody. I haven't said u have to wait till Halloween to cap and claim. Let para be loot able from platinum tier as primary drop and to those who reach level 46 at Halloween period as secondary drop.
- people will already have new mythic sets by few months, I don't know what u r complaining about. Giving 3 different class of mythic set as reward is not bad at all. I didn't said mythic set for lb winners ONLY. Did I?

Actually, Bella is right on that reply.
1) Limiting to lv42+ will destroy endgame, because only para users will run with each other, no more skill will be required, just like now..
2) People will still use para in twinking, have you seen those lvl 14 and 15 rogues with around 200 damage?
3) The new gear still won't balance out the para gems, because people will just add para to that. Para twinking will still continue
4) if para gems will be lootable, it should be from arena chests only. And they should be tradable as well, so farmers can make gold. The reason they shouldnt be in lockeds is because some guy can just drop $800 a day and loot many. Having them in Arena will actually get people to play the game rather than stand in camp all day showing their arcane ring and para gems. Let's see how pro many of them are in Arena, then.
5) Mythic set in few months? No lifers will have them in the first or second day.

[davidvilla]

Actually, Bella is right on that reply.
1) Limiting to lv42+ will destroy endgame, because only para users will run with each other, no more skill will be required, just like now..
2) People will still use para in twinking, have you seen those lvl 14 and 15 rogues with around 200 damage?
3) The new gear still won't balance out the para gems, because people will just add para to that. Para twinking will still continue
4) if para gems will be lootable, it should be from arena chests only. And they should be tradable as well, so farmers can make gold. The reason they shouldnt be in lockeds is because some guy can just drop $800 a day and loot many. Having them in Arena will actually get people to play the game rather than stand in camp all day showing their arcane ring and para gems. Let's see how pro many of them are in Arena, then.
5) Mythic set in few months? No lifers will have them in the first or second day.

Dude u guys still didn't get it. If para gems r limited for high level only means they to be gemmed for level 42+ gears only. Even if new gears being released for twinks doesn't make sense cuz they will be low level. Clearly no minimum requirement (I.e level 42+ gears) will meet.

Mainly vanities were the event reward does it hits that hard if the 3 different class of mythic set being a lb reward? I don't think so mate.

Para gems should never be tradable. Enough damage is done when it comes to twinking and even endgame. Restricting usage and gemming to high level gears will completely stop para twinking.

And one more thing, u talking about para gem destroying endgame at first point and at bottom u want to put at arena chest and make it tradable? Lmao dude. Too much confusion