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Reception of gemstones after they've been out for a while now?

Quepha··1 votes·1,013 views

I guess Hextech Crafting has been out for about 10 months now with a fairly recent reset on chest availability and I was wondering what the perception on gemstones is now.

What is a gemstone?

  • Rare drops from opening hextech chests, estimated to be around 1 in 25 chests
  • Can be used to craft various rewards depending on the number of gemstones: 1 gem is a chest+key combo, 5 gemstones is the hextech ward, 10 gemstones earns either the Hextech Annie or Soulstealer Vayne skin
  • Were also available as a bonus reward from the limited release cache bundles during the project event

How do players feel about gemstones? What do they use them for and why? Do they appear to be a valuable space for future content?

I've decided to save up my gemstones for Hextech Annie and so far I only have 3, and that's counting one from one of the cache bundles. Talking to the people I play with, it seems most of them have totally given up on the possibility of finding 10 of them and just turn them into extra chests right away. I've very rarely seen Hextech Annie and I don't think I've yet seen a single Soulstealer Vayne.

Personally, I'm not happy with this system. It feels like artificial price gouging on a skin I want and the best way for me to get around it would be to buy an account with Hextech Annie already unlocked (some of the first results on google when looking up Soulstealer Vayne are accounts for sale with that skin unlock as the primary selling point). The goal is too far off, the price to get what I want is too high, and Riot once said they wanted to add skins to use gemstone currency on a couple times per year when it currently looks like gemstones are already spread way too thin over only 2 skins. I hoped Riot would do something during events to ease the burden but what they did with the Project event (in relation to gemstones) was severely underwhelming.

It was funny watching Anniebot blow hundreds of dollars getting the skin, but that was a laughing "at" him thing, not laughing "with."

8 Comments

Sarutobi1 votes

Im not sure how much ive spent on Hextech but i do own Hextech Annie as well as 4 Gemstones. When i would buy the Bundle of Hextech boxes i would get maybe 1 gemstone, and probably gotten 2 in a set like once. I understand its suppose to be rare, but when the content ask for 10 and it takes close to a year just to even come close to getting it, i think something is wrong. it shouldnt be too easy to get, but it also shouldnt be that rare to find!

Quepha2 votes

{quoted}

Im not sure how much ive spent on Hextech but i do own Hextech Annie as well as 4 Gemstones. When i would buy the Bundle of Hextech boxes i would get maybe 1 gemstone, and probably gotten 2 in a set like once. I understand its suppose to be rare, but when the content ask for 10 and it takes close to a year just to even come close to getting it, i think something is wrong. it shouldnt be too easy to get, but it also shouldnt be that rare to find!

I'm not convinced there is any value tied to the rarity of these skins. To me its only value is in the quality and theme of the visuals.

EndlessSorcerer1 votes

I'm just happy I don't particularly want any of the skins.

Seems like a pain if you are specifically trying to get them (and you pretty much have to be with how rare they are).

WngNut1 votes

Since it's been out I've only found one (although I did get the annie skinshard from a box that I was super happy with) while putting zero money in for boxes, however, my friend has managed to pull 10 with only putting in a minimal amount (less than $50 I believe) so I guess he was just luckier. I only really wanted the annie skin since I don't play vayne so I just accept that it's a free box+key. Maybe it's because I got what I wanted but I like the system. It feels good owning such a rare skin, especially when I didn't pay for it. I like rare things, so having the system make it easier to get gems would feel a little bad to me, but again, maybe it's just because i have my skin, who knows.

CallMeIG1 votes

I agree, but at this point to just make them available in the store it would be unfair to players who've saved up the gemstones to forge into Hextech Annie or Soulstealer Vayne, and by just removing the option of forging them would just boost the cost of the accounts with the skin. A possible solution would be allowing 3 gemstones to be crafted into a random skin or random champion, but people would be better off opening three chests. We're honestly stuck between a rock and a hard place, but the system we works fine. I would be pretty disappointed to find out they were removed, because getting a gemstone is actually exciting for me. If anyone have suggestions for a fix though, I'd love to hear it.

[slayer-jinx-wink]

Quepha1 votes

{quoted}

I agree, but at this point to just make them available in the store it would be unfair to players who've saved up the gemstones to forge into Hextech Annie or Soulstealer Vayne, and by just removing the option of forging them would just boost the cost of the accounts with the skin. A possible solution would be allowing 3 gemstones to be crafted into a random skin or random champion, but people would be better off opening three chests. We're honestly stuck between a rock and a hard place, but the system we works fine. I would be pretty disappointed to find out they were removed, because getting a gemstone is actually exciting for me. If anyone have suggestions for a fix though, I'd love to hear it.

[slayer-jinx-wink]

I can think of slow and fast solutions with various pros and cons but right now I'm more interested in seeing the opinions of players and/or Rioters who think the gemstones are a success or failure and, if the latter, what the problem is.

VvVVvV1 votes

I currently have 8 gemstones....but tbh i dont really have a plan for them If i ever do get 10. I have all champs but i dont even play annie or vayne which are the only 2 i know of right now that you can craft a skin for right?

I am glad i can finally get chests again tho. I got chests with 18 different champs last season.

Quepha1 votes

{quoted}

I currently have 8 gemstones....but tbh i dont really have a plan for them If i ever do get 10. I have all champs but i dont even play annie or vayne which are the only 2 i know of right now that you can craft a skin for right?

I am glad i can finally get chests again tho. I got chests with 18 different champs last season.

I feel like you'd be best off saving 10 of them in case a future skin is something you want

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