Mega Topic: Gem System Discussion (Multiple Merges)

[CrzyHopper]

My opinion...if you could pick your own gem in the lockbox then guilds would suffer. No one would be raiding for valor they would simply grind dungeons. So I'm against picking the gem you want in a lockbox.

I would like to see a way for us to break down old gems into shards to craft new ones or use for the lockbox so they aren't completely useless. Or like someone else posted to be able to sell back for valor even if at a loss.

[DreamingDæmon]

A few points raised here, firstly, finishing 10th in GK gold gives 250 (roughly) captains valour, spending 50e. So 10 raids is 2500cv, 1 t5 gem. 500e
Each dungeon gives on average 4 shards at 20e each, so 100 shards/4 per drop is 25. 25 x 20 = 500e, about the same.
So if you can choose your own for 500e spent in a raid, why not on a lockbox? It's the same either way.

Whoever said they get 100 gem shards per day... To do that, you'd be playing most of the day UNLESS you have maxed out your energy regen with a recipe, have an elixer of stamina you're burning pots, or using GS, and that's a fact. With STANDARD regen and assuming you have 40e to start, on average it would take you 20 Hours and 48 minutes to complete it.

Cletus, I DEFINITELY agree with your last 2 points. GS take either time or money, both are valuable commodities, so recipes would make sense to be shared if GS bought. And gear sales take the pee, loads of raids for t12 gear and getting back 15k silver... Very silly.

Not after an argument with venan or anyone else, but this game is about balance... Toon balancing, PvP and PvE balancing (even though they aren't, you ruined the JC in PvP and PvE but that's another thread), so why not balance gems?

Dungeon drops avg 5 shards a throw (3-7), with average further increasing for anyone who (sensibly) has some Luck enchants running, bringing that 500e average for shards-based gem farming down to below 400.
If we see a Karnak-type boss that double-drops in the next mini-expansions, that will come down even further.
So, depending on Luck enchants, shards take roughly 20% less e than Valour farming - assuming the CV calc you quoted holds true. Note that CV is based on RPP rather than position - if you spend 50e in a raid and come 5th, you'll get the same as spending 50e and coming 10th in the same raid run in the same duration. The only positions that matter are top 3.

In addition, dungeons are much more accessible. You're not limited by other raiders' availability, guild schedules, open merc slots, cooldown times, etc. Any time you have 20e and a few minutes, you can run a dungeon for shards.

Regards 100 shards a day average, perfectly possible to do without sitting in the game all day, with a little planning. Take 1:40 to regen 40e which is 2 dungeon runs = avg 10 shards. Repeat x10 for 100 shards.
First run at 0630, you'll be done by 2130 within 15hrs, without GS, elixirs or regen enchants, and without spending more than 10 mins a go in game - less than 2hrs in the day actually playing. Try getting a t5 from raiding that easily!

TLDR: Shard farming is cheaper, faster and easier than CV farming for gems (t5). Hence gamble for what you get.

[Lionic]

I was thinking of something that could be a good idea and quite helpful in the game. The idea is that you can break gems down into a set amount of shards if you no longer want that gem, it could be very handy if say you grind a dungeon then trade in the shards and get say a melee gem with your War Mage. So naturally you would just sell the gem because its not much use to you, but what if you could break it down to say 50 or 25 sharda of that colour and tier meaning you wouldn't have to wait as long to try rhe lockbox again for a new gem which might be more helpful.

Anyone agree??

[EricM]

I was thinking of something that could be a good idea and quite helpful in the game. The idea is that you can break gems down into a set amount of shards if you no longer want that gem, it could be very handy if say you grind a dungeon then trade in the shards and get say a melee gem with your War Mage. So naturally you would just sell the gem because its not much use to you, but what if you could break it down to say 50 or 25 sharda of that colour and tier meaning you wouldn't have to wait as long to try rhe lockbox again for a new gem which might be more helpful.

Anyone agree??

This would be really nice, and it's been suggested dozens of times, but the current rationale is that the lockbox is sort of like a game of chance. If you want to guarantee the gem of your choice, raiding for valor is the way to go. It's significantly cheaper to get some early gems through dungeoneering, and thereby, to even out the cost, it's balanced to be a random gem. Or atleast that's how I always took it.