Feedback and Suggestions (Path of Exile 1) - The new gem art just looks messy - Forum

I haven't bothered to read the entire thread, so forgive me if these things have already been mentioned. The new art is fine for some gems, but others are extremely messy with far too much gold nonsense around them. It becomes hard to differentiate between Support Gems and Skill Gems because of the way the gold parts alter their shape. Also, Spell Totem looks like a penis bong.	Posted by facehead#4009 on Feb 13, 2013, 5:09:43 PM Quote this Post
" Vhlad wrote: I do like the OP's design idea more than current implementation. Current gem art looks too busy. Original gem art (at time of open beta releaase) gave us the capability to: 1. distinguish between str, dex, int gems 2. distinguish between support gems and skill gems The new art art made 1. and 2. somewhat slower (all the gold is distracting and sometimes makes it hard to tell if a gem is circular or oval). However, it gave us the capability to 3. locate identical gems at a glance, without hovering the mouse over them The OP's idea can do 3 while keeping 1 and 2 as fast/fluid as it was previously. The only further improvement I'd want to make would be to distinguish between damage type, curse, trap/totem/remote, melee/ranged/spell/attack/aoe. Rather than designing art for each gem specifically, it would make more sense to design art for various categories of gems (i.e. using the key words at the top of the gem - attack, aoe, melee, etc), and attach that art to gems flagged for that category. Then gems would have unique art simply as a consequence of the sum of all categorical art flagged to them. For example, if all curse gems had a gold pentagram and all fire-based gems had a tiny flame in the top corner (not in the gem itself but in the square), then flammability would have a gold pentagram and a fire icon. Why can't you distinguish between supports and skill gems? Skill gems are all the same shape, and support gems are a variety of shapes. Anything that's not a skill gem is a support gem. And what's so hard about telling the attributes apart? They're still all the color of their attribute requirements. Last edited by Strill#1101 on Feb 13, 2013, 5:12:29 PM	Posted by Strill#1101 on Feb 13, 2013, 5:09:49 PM Quote this Post
The new GGG gems are far superior to the old design and OP's design (no offense meant of course). The active skill gems are all the same diamond-ish shape with an overlaid design and the support gems all have a rounded theme. They're easy to distinguish and it makes finding a particular gem in your inventory much easier. It's only cluttered in the visual sense that everything is no-longer uniform, but in a practical sense it is much more organized.	Posted by splitsticks#2368 on Feb 13, 2013, 5:14:30 PM Quote this Post
I like the new design but they could do with a slight outline around the gold, as a lot of the gold is very detailed and doesn't pop out of the image very well, which is necessary for a recognisable icon. A soft white rim would help a lot and be fairly easy to do, IGN: Asser, AssDelver, Assphobic, AnointedAss, BetrayedByMyAss, CrackedAss, FracturedAss, FulcrumedUpMyAss, ImpaledAss, IncursionOfTheAss, WarForTheAss, UnleashTheAss, ScreamingAsshole, SwampAssKing, Yui	Posted by Wooser69#4318 on Feb 13, 2013, 6:01:49 PM Quote this Post
" BrecMadak wrote: Seems like 'some people' will never get it. Problem starts in the first place where something starts to being gorgeous or eye candy. When they are added into a graphic design, jobs fail, and this is the case here. Since point of view in this design is literally wrong for the fact that they are not pictogram anymore, where it supposed to be, instead they are all paintings. Thus disturbs perception of a human-being. Simple as that. At least, i expect from graphic designers to understand my expressions, if not for everybody. Very true. First impression is very good because they look so gorgeous. But they are gorgeous like baubles on a Christmas tree and it's not good in long term.	Posted by Dinsdale#6645 on Feb 13, 2013, 7:30:29 PM Quote this Post
The gem art is a nice improvement for the game, and it makes identifying gems much easier if you have multiples. You will get used to the new icons soon enough. I think they are quite nice and makes things a whole lot easier.	Posted by qRaZoRp#4708 on Feb 13, 2013, 7:37:04 PM Quote this Post
The new gems have way too much visual clutter, especially when you have a page full of gems (like I do) As said before, the need to actually individuality distinguish the gem is not that high, gems provide skills which you don't change that often, and when you do, you are pretty much going to mouse over all of your gems to figure what you want to change anyways I currently have little idea as to what is a support gem and what isn't. Basically put, the gems now have way too much visual noise. It would have been better to add tells to each gem (support/skill and aoe/projectile/melee etc etc) than just making every single one over the top unique	Posted by deteego#6606 on Feb 13, 2013, 7:40:51 PM Quote this Post
in what universe is having all gems look EXACTLY same better then each and every one of em individually hand-drawn? i just dont get this	Posted by species258#5234 on Feb 13, 2013, 7:43:29 PM Quote this Post
" deteego wrote: I currently have little idea as to what is a support gem and what isn't. I could deconstruct everything you said, but I'll focus on this since it's still not even 9 AM. Skill Gems look like they always have, they have the same shape as before. It's just that now there's enough detail to tell them apart at a glance without having to mouseover. Support gems are a variety of shapes. Examples: Skill Gems: Support Gems: You'll notice that some support gems have distinct shapes (such as those that modify projectiles, or totems), though most are very round. You'll also notice easily that all skill gems are *the same shape. In other words, if it doesn't look like a skill gem, it's a support gem. You might also notice that skills of a certain type are similar. Cleave is similar to Ground Slam. Minion Life is similar to Minion Speed. Ranged Totem is similar to Spell Totem. Abilities that modify projectiles like chain and GMP have very distinct shapes, making them easy to interpret. Once you've gotten over your own pretentiousness (no offense) you'll realize that not only can you easily ID a skill, you can ID a skill's type by the new shape as well. But, if it helps to break it down, 90% of support gems appear to be ROUND*. Last edited by teacherpeter#1699 on Feb 13, 2013, 8:08:41 PM	Posted by teacherpeter#1699 on Feb 13, 2013, 7:58:13 PM Quote this Post
" dashgalaxy86 wrote: " deteego wrote: I currently have little idea as to what is a support gem and what isn't. I could deconstruct everything you said, but I'll focus on this since it's still not even 9 AM. Skill Gems look like they always have, they have the same shape as before. It's just that now there's enough detail to tell them apart at a glance without having to mouseover. Support gems are a variety of shapes. Examples: Skill Gems: Support Gems: You'll notice that some support gems have distinct shapes (such as those that modify projectiles, or totems), though most are very round. You'll also notice easily that all skill gems are *the same shape*. In other words, if it doesn't look like a skill gem, it's a support gem. Things such as cold snap, fork, item quantity and chain pretty much break that whole pattern	Posted by deteego#6606 on Feb 13, 2013, 8:04:34 PM Quote this Post