I’d like to have a chat about the way we have been obtaining sockets since the last 2 tiers and how I personally feel like the system is not very user friendly.
The way that it currently works is that you have to unlock at least 3 slots of any kind in the great vault, and then not choose anything from any of your unlocked slots to be able to obtain a single-use socket for 1 item.
This makes it so that sockets are really just something you get and store until you have a piece of gear you don’t think you will ever upgrade anymore. For this character specifically, you can check the armory and see that despite playing very high level end game content I still havn’t unlocked every socket possibility going into Season 2. I understand that this might be by design, however I personally feel like that once someone has put the kind of hours and effort into a character that I have, its okay for them to be done gearing week 16-20 into the season.
That’s not all though. If for example I also wished to min max another set of gear for an alternate purpose (ie PvP) I would need ANOTHER 6 sockets (and thus weeks of useless vaults) to be able to upgrade that to the max just once.
Personally, I feel like the system itself isn’t necessarily a problem. But I do feel like the repetativeness of it is a problem. What I would like to see changed is the following;
When you buy a socket unlock, it is now an unlock per slot, rather than per item.
This would mean that every following socket of the same slot would now be free of charge, or easily obtainable through mundane curriency like Primal Chaos or something.
This way, you only need to get 6 unlocks in total to be able to be free of the socket grind.
Thats not all it would do though. It would also mean that putting a socket in an earlier in the season obtained item doesn’t feel like a massive waste. You could just apply a new one to your upgrade. Unlike currently, where people that are getting sockets earlier in the season just put them in their bags until they get an item they don’t think they will upgrade anymore. With a system like the one proposed they could use it immediately without feeling punished for doing so.
Let me know what you think people. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Why?
Eh, sockets are a “nice to have” so that your vault doesn’t seem like a complete washout when there isn’t an upgrade.
Now in true wow fashion you’re trying to min-max it to the nth degree.
Most people only go for sockets when they have no other possible upgrades anyway so for the vast majority its never an “early season” thing anyway. If you do end up in a situation where you get one early-ish in the season you can equip it and gain around 100 stats, it makes the next upgrade in that slot a higher bar to achieve, thats not “punishment”.
So basically you’ve killed raza but you’re feeling ‘punished’ because you don’t have ultra mega bis for not sure your mainspec but all offspec’s and alternative purposes.
I see what you’re trying to do, but in reality I think you’re only opening up another simmed up point on a decision tree, because at some stage the answer will be “unlock sockets” instead of get gear depending on your timeframe.
Or they can just give this back to Black Smiths who used to make the items to be able to socket gems. Since this system was introduced Jewel Crafting has not really been doing that great in the gems department. You practically have to rely on RNG to get an item with a socket or sacrifice a piece of loot over a couple of weeks.
I hadn’t even considered that but you bring up a good point. With people not having any sockets to socket any gems in, it makes sense that gem sales aren’t that hot.
They did a decent job at making all professions relevant in a lot of ways with Dragonflight. But gems used to be a big part of JC. And where other professions have retained old markets, JC has definitely been pulling on the shorter end with gems lately.
Hello I just though ide chime in to say it’s a little better next season. Crafted gear goes up to great vault I level reducing the burden on your vault so sockets are slightly freer
Also sockets are usually a 2-300 DPS Increase I find it very difficult to believe every week you have had a 2-300 DPS increase from your great vault. If that is the case then your luck is insane and I greatly envy you as I have has 14 vaults that have contained no upgrades this season
Finally just on the point of other gear sets at least that is sudo fixed via crafted gear as you can just change the stats in a socketed crafted item
If anything I got shafted because there was always something to upgrade.
There is also the matter of wanting to play all kinds of endgame with different gearsets each. Raid and M+ gear is pretty interchangable, but PvP gear is definitely not.
I think that the current idea with the sockets is just that you can get something out of the vault even if it offers you nothing. Which does have previously stated drawbacks that there are less gems going around for JC which is kind of an undue punishment imo.
But forgiven all that, I just don’t think the present way of making you farm for each and every socket per item is fair to the players effort. An unlock per slot would definitely go a long way in making that feel like a better investment more akin to (but not quite) a vault item upgrade.
You have hit on something there that resonates with me actually.
Gearing for different game modes
It echoes a lot of criticism I remember hearing around covenants and how they would sudo lock you out of game modes
You are absolutely right that gearing for different game modes right now is quite difficult and I wonder if the system is designed through the lense of one type of player o ly using it to gear for one type of game modes
Perhaps the underlying issue is that the great vault shouldn’t be all encompassing