No more turning a Skill Gem into the Vaal Version with a Vaal Orb?

Just wanted to try to get a quick confirm.

In the Patch notes it stated:

Vaal Skill Balance

Vaal Skill Gems can now only be obtained from a set of specific methods such as Vaal Side Areas, Divination Cards (that specifically grant Vaal Skill Gems) and the Lapidary Lens in the Temple of Atzoatl.


So I cannot turn a normal Skill Gem (e.g. Righteous Fire) into the Vaal version with a Vaal Orb anymore, correct?

pretty sure that is correct

Would be nice to know what was removed.

Sounds like Strongboxes wont drop them anymore, nor will corrupted monsters. But I'm just guessing.

"

Novynn wrote:

Check the bottom of the patch notes for updates.

"

Community_Team wrote:

Vaal Skill Gems can now only be obtained from a set of specific methods such as Corrupting Gems, Vaal Side Areas, Divination Cards (that specifically grant Vaal Skill Gems) and the Lapidary Lens in the Temple of Atzoatl.

Thank you.

"

Shagsbeard wrote:

Would be nice to know what was removed.

Sounds like Strongboxes wont drop them anymore, nor will corrupted monsters. But I'm just guessing.

I would expect that if you vaal a box, its contents are considered a mini vaal area and act like one.

Or if you run a corrupted map and the usual rules apply to the boss, the boss is considered corrupted and meets the criteria. If however you run an uncorrupted map that Zana swears up and down has corrupted monsters in it she wants you to kill, they may just be LARPers or in a play...not actually corrupted.

Or if you're in the temple gem room popping thaumaturgical containers and well, you're in a Vaal temple that's had gems sitting around next to the corruptimizer for centuries.

Or a legion encounter that has a high-ranking Vaal officer or Vaal general involved and that entity can drop gems.

What I think they meant (and hope they actuated) was you can no longer get Vaal gems out of blight pods, heist chests, uncorrupted deli maps, sim reward pools, and ritual showcases. Like, if you corrupt a blight map maybe it can drop taint grease or corrupted non-Vaal skill gems, 21/23s even, but they won't have the vaal component of the skill.

Now if it turns out to be a lot more restrictive, I think I can respect that because there's no valid reason not to do vaal side areas anymore, or air out a temple, or brick your gem quality.