Vaal Gems

I love them, and especially the concept behind them.
it's somewhat similar to the "charge bars" characters in TL2 have - but I think Path Of Exile actually implemented it better.

I do wish they needed a bit less sacrifices to charge-up, so they'd be useful in tough areas with few-but-strong monsters too.

They are a great concept, but there's just something...off.. about them. Something conflicting about their purpose, implementation, sustainability, and usability. Sacrifice 10,000,000 souls; cannot use them because you walked fifteen feet down a flight of stairs. If these were the only gems the Vaal had access to, well no wonder they went extinct :)

I'll not presume to know what best to do, but I do believe something more can be done to encourage greater accessibility between zones. I've more often than not, lacked the souls required when I would have needed to used a gem, and have no use for it when it actually is charged, because I had to check my souls at the door.

Look at you, posting positive feedback for a change, and here I am being critical :)

I'd lower the TTU (time to use) to 30 seconds from the current 90 seconds. If necessary weaken them, but make sure they're competitive with their opportunity cost (which is usually one support gem). Balance them around not having support gems of their own but if they are supported the soul cost should commensurately rise according to the mana multiplier.

That's what I think would be optimal for combat, none of that addresses usability which is a function of how souls are acquired and what causes them to reset - both of which are as important to rework as the TTU and balance.

"

Veta321 wrote:

I'd lower the TTU (time to use) to 30 seconds from the current 90 seconds. If necessary weaken them, but make sure they're competitive with their opportunity cost (which is usually one support gem). Balance them around not having support gems of their own but if they are supported the soul cost should commensurately rise according to the mana multiplier.

And along that vein, I'd remove mana cost entirely, if mcm affected soul cost.

"

CanHasPants wrote:

"

Veta321 wrote:

I'd lower the TTU (time to use) to 30 seconds from the current 90 seconds. If necessary weaken them, but make sure they're competitive with their opportunity cost (which is usually one support gem). Balance them around not having support gems of their own but if they are supported the soul cost should commensurately rise according to the mana multiplier.

And along that vein, I'd remove mana cost entirely, if mcm affected soul cost.

Agreed.

"

Veta321 wrote:

"

CanHasPants wrote:

"

Veta321 wrote:

I'd lower the TTU (time to use) to 30 seconds from the current 90 seconds. If necessary weaken them, but make sure they're competitive with their opportunity cost (which is usually one support gem). Balance them around not having support gems of their own but if they are supported the soul cost should commensurately rise according to the mana multiplier.

And along that vein, I'd remove mana cost entirely, if mcm affected soul cost.

Agreed.

Seconded.
Love the idea and implementation, but a lot of tweaks still need to be done.