Like the game, hate the skill gem level system

[Montiblanc]

I decided that i wanted fire trap on my duelist, so i made a shadow to level it, tried all day, its no fun, really spoiled my mood =/

I wish skill gems autoleveled to my character ~_~
very much dislike this meta gaming stuff =_=

awesome game tho

[Psyringe]

Why would you create a new character to level a skill gem? That seems backwards to me - the new character will get barely any xp for a long time, so the FIre Trap gem will level up much slower than when you put it on your higher level character in the first place.

Leveling a skill gem to about level 15 takes practically no time on a high level character. When I take a new gem into high level maps, the first few levels of that gem will just fly by.

[Montiblanc]

but if i level on my duelist toon, it will stay an underleveled useless skill, this is why i dislike the gem leveling thing, its very lame & boring

[Joey2Slice]

could also buy one in about 3 seconds

[Montiblanc]

tried that...

[Psyringe]

Originally posted by Montiblanc:

but if i level on my duelist toon, it will stay an underleveled useless skill, this is why i dislike the gem leveling thing, its very lame & boring

I'm sorry, but that makes no sense.

You could slot that Fire Trap gem into a secondary weapon and level it up quickly, without disturbing your current build. Instead you are committing to a boring grind with a low level character, which pretty much ensures that the leveling up of that skill gem takes as long as possible.

Also, due to the way gem and character levels are structured, skill gems automatically 'catch up' to your character. Let's say you have a lvl 40 duelist and give him a lvl 1 fire trap in a spare secondary slot. The duelist needs 2.2m experience to get to level 41. During that process, the gem will gain 220,000 xp (or even more if the duelist died sometimes). This brings the gem to level 8 already. And it will continue to catch up.

With your freshly started shadow, you would need to get that Shadow to level 26(!) to earn 2.2m xp for the character and thus 220,000 xp for the gem to get it to level 8.

Now, again: Why would you prefer grinding a Shadow all the way from level 1 to level 26 instead of simply leveling your duelist fro 40 to 41 for exactly the same effect (only much much quicker)? It really seems like you're doing the worst possible way to level up a skill gem.

(Side note: Please be aware that skill gems levels and character levels are independent. Many builds work better with certain lower level skill gems for various reasons, e.g. mana balance, so leveling up skill gems may sometimes be unnecessary or even detrimental. Depending on your build, skill gems may often be _more_ useful if you keep their level low. Fire Trap will benefit from leveling, though.)

[Montiblanc]

An auto catch up system that will bring gems to character's level? can any1 confirm that?

Thank you for your post, now i am curious & confused

[Psyringe]

It's not a specific 'system', there is no need for such a system. The gems 'catch up' automatically simply because:

a) Higher level areas give much more experience than lower level areas.
b) A skill gem always gains experience at a rate of 10% of the xp that your character earns.
c) The xp requirements for a level-up, for characters as well as for skill gems, raise exponentially rather than linear.

Hence, the best way to level a skill gem is to take it to a high level area. Whereas going through low level areas is actually the worst way, since those give very little XP to your character, hence the gem will also gain XP very slowly.

You can easily verify the numbers that I gave in my previous post - just compare them to values you see in the official Wiki:
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Experience
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Fire_Trap

It might also be a good idea to read the 'Gem Experience' section here, to clear up any misconceptions:
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Skills#Gem_Experience

Also, I recommend that you really let go of the idea of "bringing gems to a character's level". It just makes no sense since gem levels are capped at 20, whereas your character can level up to 100 (theoretically). Apart from the very beginning of the game, your gem levels and character levels will _never_ be the same.

[ENFORCER]

I personally think that leveling gems is a mechanic that could be taken out of the game entirely. I very much dislike it. but that is just my opinion.

[old Charlie]

Normally you´ll outlevel your skillgems easily. Starting a new character to level up a skill is the most pointless thing you could do. Just equip whatever you need and don´t think about it. Psyringe already told you everything in detail and you really shouldn´t have any problem with this anymore. If you do, then stop playing now, because this is not even a problem - its absolutely irrelevant. And if THIS is already to hard to grasp, then stop playing now. The game won´t become easier to play or understand from this point on. It WILL become difficult - the problem you are having doesn´t even exist.

And the level-up system for the gems is great. The higher you level it up, the higher the requirements and therefore not every build will be proficient with every skill - at every level.
To me, its an integral part of the game and I would enjoy it less if I didn´t have the choice what skill to use at what level.

[AkashManob(Darkgod)]

dude just use that skill gem on ur duelist,u dont need to create another hero to lvl ur skill gem.Assume u r lvl 50 & u get a cool gem but lvl 1.Just use it on ur duelist the gem will lvl very first at high lvl area.If ur skill gem is useless in that lvl then just socket it as an idle gem & kill some ugly dude ,ur gem will hit ur lvl in no time

[TRiG]

op is stupid. and why take the lvlg out? its such a little bonus over the time and you get the feeling that you are improving your char and the skills....yea, progress and reward for the grinding...

[Drake]

Gem autoleveling to character ? yeah sureeeee. Then let's talk about autoleveling cast when damage taken (the gem it's tied to) or clarity, where you need them to be of a certain gem level depending on your build.
Then, just for fun, how about we talk about those 3 gems, you know enlighten, empower and enhance, let's autolevel them and see what happens to the meta and the economy...

I like when people throw ideas about balancing but don't actually propose a concrete solution with details (or don't even consider how it's gonna affect the gameplay) so that it doesn't break some part of the game. Designing a game isn't simple as that, there are a thousand things you need to think about when you want to change a feature. Talking about it without at least understanding what you're asking for is just nonsense.

[Montiblanc]

So does the skill fully catch up to character level? & if so, how quickly?

again, thank you for your explanations =)

[Drake]

There are only 20 gem levels, so they will always catch up, the early ones will catch up early obviously. I remember at lv 70 I upped a gem lv1 and in maybe 2 char lvls I was up to the others and nearly max. So it's really fast. Plus don't forget that some gems will need to be lv 2 times to 20 (once to get them to 20 then again because you're going to transform them into lv1 20%q with the recipe).
So at high level, gem leveling is not an issue.

[old Charlie]

@op: Psyringe explained your imaginative problem in his first post. In his second post he explained everything indepth. His third post even had all necessary sources, in case you didn´t believe him personally. But that wasn´t enough and you asked others to confirm it. We did. How can you, after all this, still ask:

Originally posted by Montiblanc:

So does the skill fully catch up to character level? & if so, how quickly?

You make it impossible not agree with TRiG.