Limiting support gems to only one skill nearly forces one button gameplay

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Prismwind#2789 wrote:

Seriously, certain skills benefit extremely well from specific gems, but I'm forced to use those gems on only one of those skills. This pressures me into one button gameplay instead of switching skills based on the situation. Take the 25% attack speed gem... this is essentially +25% DPS for a lot of skills, so any skill that doesn't have it is automatically less viable to use no matter the situation.

I've been trying to play Mercenary and simply put some skills just aren't worth bothering with. The Armor Piercing Bolts have a lot less DPS than the regular attack, and would benefit a great deal from that extra attack speed... but I end up doing FAR more damage just normal attacking rather than even attempting to use the skill, because the normal attack also benefits from that and benefits more.

Want to switch between the shotgun skill that freezes enemies and the shotgun skill that consumes freeze to deal a lot more damage? You get to pick which one you give the gem that gives an extra shot per reload to, which massively improves the DPS of the skill... again, discouraging comboing them into each other.

This system encourages just loading all the best gems on one, maybe two skills and never touching other skills. Skills with a good combo together often want the same gems, making them awkward and a lot worse than they should be. And when players do find good combos it looks like they'd rather nerf those than showcase them... see gas clouds and fire walls. That's the sort of thing that should be allowed, not punished.

Overall I think the limiting of support gems to one skill, even if you have more than one of that gem, is bad for the game and gameplay. It limits viability of skills and pressures people into one or two button gameplay, with two button only viable if you have a second skill that doesn't benefit much from the same gems as the first skill.

There are definitely other issues... dodge roll being blocked by enemies, every movement skill having fixed attack speed added to force them to be as slow as just moving normally, the slow movement in general... but this one specifically bugs me.

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Gorwarth#3476 wrote:

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Prismwind#2789 wrote:

Seriously, certain skills benefit extremely well from specific gems, but I'm forced to use those gems on only one of those skills. This pressures me into one button gameplay instead of switching skills based on the situation. Take the 25% attack speed gem... this is essentially +25% DPS for a lot of skills, so any skill that doesn't have it is automatically less viable to use no matter the situation.

I've been trying to play Mercenary and simply put some skills just aren't worth bothering with. The Armor Piercing Bolts have a lot less DPS than the regular attack, and would benefit a great deal from that extra attack speed... but I end up doing FAR more damage just normal attacking rather than even attempting to use the skill, because the normal attack also benefits from that and benefits more.

Want to switch between the shotgun skill that freezes enemies and the shotgun skill that consumes freeze to deal a lot more damage? You get to pick which one you give the gem that gives an extra shot per reload to, which massively improves the DPS of the skill... again, discouraging comboing them into each other.

This system encourages just loading all the best gems on one, maybe two skills and never touching other skills. Skills with a good combo together often want the same gems, making them awkward and a lot worse than they should be. And when players do find good combos it looks like they'd rather nerf those than showcase them... see gas clouds and fire walls. That's the sort of thing that should be allowed, not punished.

Overall I think the limiting of support gems to one skill, even if you have more than one of that gem, is bad for the game and gameplay. It limits viability of skills and pressures people into one or two button gameplay, with two button only viable if you have a second skill that doesn't benefit much from the same gems as the first skill.

There are definitely other issues... dodge roll being blocked by enemies, every movement skill having fixed attack speed added to force them to be as slow as just moving normally, the slow movement in general... but this one specifically bugs me.

They are trying to move away from POE1 where you just use whatever gives the most DPS throughput to your one button skill. By limiting support gems to one copy, it makes you think beyond the throughput of one skill. Think about the whole toolkit... also its part of the reason the game is so hard/punishing... if you one shot everything/nothing is threatening you only start caring about that one skills dps throughput... like POE1.

I think we need more defensive and utility skills in the game.

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Prismwind#2789 wrote:

Seriously, certain skills benefit extremely well from specific gems, but I'm forced to use those gems on only one of those skills.

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rifraf-_-#9478 wrote:

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Prismwind#2789 wrote:

Seriously, certain skills benefit extremely well from specific gems, but I'm forced to use those gems on only one of those skills.

I think it's extremely dumb to be able to use the SAME support gem indefinitely amongst skills. Probably the single worst design decision from the original game. Be thankful you have the option to use it there.

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MrPedez#4934 wrote:

Well u guys seem to forget that this is still EA/Beta a lot of things havent even been released yet including gems and supports, besides a lot is going to change during EA before the full release. I mean its ok to bring up some obvious issues and discussions but damn, sometimes people really overreact and start flaming like there is no tomorrow.