Tree of Savior Forum

Gem levels and customizability

I don’t know if there are really other types out there in the later levels, but four colors of Gems doesn’t really cut it for customizability. The fact that you have to shell out quite a bit of silver to test the effects of gems out (and also lose gem levels extracting) on a weapon discourages players from trying things out. I personally (and it seems like many others too) opted for green gems on my main weapon and yellow ones for boots since it was the most “safest option”.

Purple, Orange, White, and Black Gems would be nice additions.

Gems don’t scale well. Level 1 to Level 2 makes sense, but after that the return on investment diminishes to the point that stuffing the equivalent of 100 Gems to get a level 5 Gem isn’t better than just making two level 3 Gems. No one is going to go for high level gems, other than for pure achievement.

I personally really did not like the fact you lost a level when extracting a Gem. As I said before, this discourages trying things out since you have to be dead sure you want “x” gem on “x” weapon, lest you waste a level 5 gem on a small sword.

Losing gems upon death is an “ehh” topic for me. It’s great for deterring players from risking high level gems in dungeons, but it has no effect on mitigating death in fields and can rather be prevented by sticking gems in storage or in empty slots of old weapons. I could talk about other kinds of penalties that could happen on death, but that’s a different topic.

3 Likes

I like the idea of more colors and a better scale, but I like the others mechanics.

I do agree a larger Gem customization isn’t a bad addition to the game, more colors, wider array of effects and better scaling. But Tree of Savior in its core revolves around dedication with a hint of satisfaction for achievement and not just a die fifteen times and keep trying kind of degree. I feel the death penalties etc, plus the extraction isn’t so much a deterrent but an addition to the games difficulty, everyone may not agree with this opinion but it adds a level of difficulty to the game. Making me play a safer role making sure i don’t die or play carelessly into dungeons, field bosses, and mobs much higher than my level. That added degree makes me work on a better enjoyment as i actually care and focus on not dying. The Gem extraction level reduction is up for debate, but again it seems more of a something that could be adjusted maybe add a percentile of chance and with items you could reduce the chance of it degrading or even not degrading at all. But full removal of it not still too convinced of that notion.

Question: Once you use/put the gems on the equipment, can you remove the gem so that you can upgrade it again?

Yes you can. However, the gem you remove will lose one level when you do so.

Basically, if you had a level 5 gem in a sword you’re done using and want to move the gem over to a better sword, you will have to pull out the gem (pay money), after which you will have to level the gem from level 4 to level 5 again, and then pay money to put it in the new weapon.

While I don’t disagree that Tree of Savior shines in that it’s an old-fashioned, if-you-want-something-you’ll-have-to-work-very-hard-for-it kind of game. I will caution that this kind of game-design can totally backfire if the work is too tedious and isn’t rewarding. People will slam it as “bad game-design” and the only ones defending the design decision would be the (few) people who manage to achieve things. I really don’t want this game to lose fans/players because it designed itself into a really small niche.

IIRC, going from level 4 to level 5 wasn’t even a great achievement. It was what, like +8-9 more damage from the other? Many would find it practical to simply ‘max’ at level 4’ and make more level 4 gems, since removing gems drops level.

If gems did not lose level upon removal, I’d actually find the scaling OK, since over time one would be able to build up a gem.

I’ve personally a number of good (level 3+) gems during the beta due to lag out and bad Internet. This is really the only reason why I question the lose-gems-upon-death idea, since at this point it’s not about avoiding death-> players with things to lose will find themselves avoiding dungeons for fear of not themselves, but their internet connection.

I agree the gem penalties are a bit pointless, but nothing too bad.

As for color variety, I assume you mean more gems with varied effects.

Currently, I think it’s fine, adding more would mean many many more for each different combination of stats, but currently the combinations are quite balanced, each with meaningful pro’s and con’s.

You’ll find that magic amulets are what give more varied effects to gear instead of gems, and don’t require leveling up.

Gem’s are just a nice way to boost your gear further, and something they want you to invest time with (they’ve removed every cheesy way of leveling it up)