Sockets, Gems, and YOU; Round Pegs, Square Holes

Admin Number of posts : 178 Registration date : 2008-06-27

Bolshka:

Socketable equipment encourages you to color-coordinate into the three basic colors: red, yellow, and blue. You can also blend your colors to suit your needs, (use one or the other in the slot, or one of the "blended" colors) nabbing orange (red/yellow), purple (red/blue), or green(yellow/blue) gemstones.

Match the color requirements of the socketing scheme and you get an underwhelming bonus to a stat, kinda like a set bonus only less crunchy in milk.

In many cases it is better to ignore socketing schemes to better suit your needs. For example, when a Warrior hits 490 Defense it is perfectly viable to socket Solid Stars of Elune across your tanking gear to get the maximum amount of stamina… who needs that +4 Spirit anyway, right?

Many Warlocks do the same thing with Solid Stars of Elune just for burning health into mana.

Now let's look at meta gems, shall we? By the time you hit 70 you should have at least one piece of equipment that has a slot for a meta gem. Instead of your piece of equipment dictating the color scheme, the meta gem does.

An example would be the Insightful Earthstorm Diamond, which has the following requirements:

Quote :: Requires at least 2 Red gems
Requires at least 2 Yellow gems
Requires at least 2 Blue gems

One might assume the gemstone required those sockets in a single piece of equipment. If this were the case, not even epic drops from Black Temple would make the requirements. The maximum number of sockets available on any single item is three.

The meta gem is referring to the count of gemstones currently socketed in all of your equipped items.

I tested on Twelve's healing helm with a Mystical Skyfire Diamond, which requires more blue gems than yellow gems. The results were spectacular in action!

Search the AH for a good meta gem, they usually range from 100-200g. The price is steep, but for an equivalent enchant you'd likely be paying four times that much in materials.

In closing, it bears to mention that if your socketable gear will be used for any length of time you should avoid el cheapo gemstones and go for the rare ones. They range from 40 to 60g in price but, ultimately, it is worth the quality.

Also, if you happen to stumble upon the raw materials to make any particular gemstone I know folk that can hook you up on the free-frizzle on Horde. (Twelvespears and others.)

Admin Number of posts : 178 Registration date : 2008-06-27

Bolshka:

It also bears mentioning that epic-quality gemstones drop regularly off heroic-level bosses.

The going theory is that you'll get either one epic gem or one epic item from the set of instance bosses. You also get a guaranteed Primal Nether from the final boss, perfect for crafting professions.

After 10 consecutive completions of heroic Steam Vaults, this has proven true. Too bad they were all caster gems. Crying or Very sad

» Those Un'Goro "Gems"