+Gem level on gear should be removed or gem scaling should be reworked

I love the game but the one aspect I hate about gearing is the +gem level on gear, it's a cool idea but in practice it makes it so any gear that can hold +gem level that doesn't is effectively trash. It might be one thing if it felt like the game was balanced on the assumption that not everyone would have them but if you ever try leveling a non-meta build even with +gem level they can feel like they do no damage so without it it would be brutal.

Here's an example of how much damage +gem level gives with essence drain, the numbers on the right are effectively how many levels will double the dps:


A player that gains +2 to spell level(wand/focus/amulet/etc) right off the bat is dealing twice as much damage as someone that isn't and it's not like the spell damage rolls at the start of the game on item level <10 gear can get up to 100%+ to compete with that

I'd suggest either removing the gem levels on gear entirely or making the jumps in gem level not nearly as drastic. People are always going to try to get the most dps that they can out of stuff but there's a big difference between a few % more crit chance/damage or spell damage that can roll on a wide range compared to something that gives you skills that are as powerful as the baseline ones you'll have in 10-20 levels.

edit: Dreamcore put together a pretty good video covering this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOp3jcsEBHU

Completely agree. At least the mods on gear that raises gem levels should be removed.
It would've been different if gems were still socketed in gear and the +X modifier would only apply to those in particular, but since it applies to every gem you're using, it's the best modifier by far and way too op.
I had the luck to find a +3 crossbow for my grenade Tactician early on and that made the campaign a walk in the park because I could obliterate most bosses in seconds.

Maybe if +X levels that come from corrupting a gem didn't stack with +X levels on equipment. It would be a viable way to stop needing the + levels on gears. Once you manage to craft your + level Gem, you can start skipping those mods.

Another thing, Maybe the mana cost increases should be much worse after 20, so that for most people a Crit bonus would be a more effective way to increase damage.

bump, I think everyone (with poe 1 background at least) is thinking this way. It's just kind of boring to stack +levels for damage, no creativity involved. The most fun I had with build are those that don't benefit from +levels (like impending doom and such).

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cyberzoneoff#1665 wrote:

bump, I think everyone (with poe 1 background at least) is thinking this way. It's just kind of boring to stack +levels for damage, no creativity involved. The most fun I had with build are those that don't benefit from +levels (like impending doom and such).

This is why GGG has slowly removed gem level stacking from POE 1 and apparently put it all in POE 2.


In POE 1, aside from bows, your weapon can only have a maximum of +1 skills, or +1 xyz skill, +1 all skills.

And a +1/+1 is quite expensive, typically more expensive than the average player will afford in a league.

in POE 2 you can get a +4 item in act 3, that level of power is unprecedented.

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C4Guy#0918 wrote:

Completely agree. At least the mods on gear that raises gem levels should be removed.
It would've been different if gems were still socketed in gear and the +X modifier would only apply to those in particular, but since it applies to every gem you're using, it's the best modifier by far and way too op.
I had the luck to find a +3 crossbow for my grenade Tactician early on and that made the campaign a walk in the park because I could obliterate most bosses in seconds.

Yea with weapons at least once you get a decent roll you're pretty much set until act 4+ when the higher tiered versions start showing up, if you're a caster trying to use something like bone blast with a level locked to the weapon you basically have to replace the thing every 5-10 levels or the loss in damage and enemy hp scaling will turn it into a wet noodle.

I started playing through during the initial launch with bone blast and once it got going it was a lot of fun but a weapon with all the stats I needed that I got at the start of A3 couldn't even get me to cruel because the armor scaling went nuts after the waterway, probably not as much of an issue with the rank V support that has a chance to ignore armor now but I still feel like damage skills that can't be upgraded/scaled on wands/staves/etc just aren't viable for use prior to maps because of how often you'd have to replace them.

+Gem levels is the type of power level you'd expect to come from specific uniques that also contain specific downsides tbh

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DreamAgain#4820 wrote:

+Gem levels is the type of power level you'd expect to come from specific uniques that also contain specific downsides tbh

It would definitely make the uniques feel more worthwhile, they kinda need a bit of love as well, sure it's nice that the unique is op in one super specific build that costs 2-5 div to achieve but there should be some sort of excitement about seeing them drop at low levels instead of "guess I'll just toss this in the unique tab for now and see if it's of use later". The only weapon I think I've actually used was the stun hammer while doing early skullcrusher.

Same.
I think they should just just remove it entirely and maybe just keep +1/+2 as a correpted enchant on some pieces.

They also mentioned that the game is balanced around gaining a certain number of +skill levels over time, though I don't think they ever said the actual numbers.
This just makes the stat even worse, because now it's not just mandatory due to the damage buff, but the game is literally designed around having them.