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Gem
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==Twinking Gems==
Gems do not have a Clvl requirement to use, and they are intended to be very useful as twinked items. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/<ref name="blue-info-on-level-14-gems24 august 2010" /]>
<blue>They don’t have a level requirement so we do intend to see them used as a way to twink new characters, or allow people to buy into gemming up a bit earlier on if they have the gold.</blue>
==Upgrading Gems==
Gems upgrade in D3 just as the did in D2. Three of one level will combine into one of the next level.<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-interview-tweakers.net/Interview @ Tweakers.Net - Gamescom 2010] This is accomplished by taking the gems to the [[Jeweler]], rather than simply doing it yourself with a Horadric Cube, but the function is the same. </ref>
This is accomplished by taking the gems to the [[Jeweler]], rather than simply doing it yourself with a Horadric Cube, but the function is the same. One improvement over Diablo 2 is that gems of like type/level will stack up to 10 high[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/<ref name="blue-info-on-level-14-gems24 august 2010" /] > in a single inventory space. Players will thus not sacrifice so much space for gem storage.
Gems can be found at levels 1-5, and with a maximum level of 14, the process of upgrading a gem all the way to the top should be a '''very''' long term project. If the current 3>1 upgrading ratio remains unchanged, then it would require 1,594,323 level 1 gems to make a single level 14 gem (3^(14 - 1)). To give you an idea how long this would take, just upgrading the gems that many times would take 664 hours of nonstop clicking, assuming you could complete one upgrade per second.
The math isn't quite as daunting if you assume you'll be upgrading level 5 gems; it '''''only''''' requires 19,683 level 5 gems to make one level 14 gem. Happily, Jay Wilson has said that they're open to tweaking the formulae if it's taking too long; instead of 3>1 they might turn it down to 2>1 at higher levels, as was done with higher level Runes in Diablo II. It would only require 512 L5 gems to upgrade to a L14, if the requirement was 2>1 all the way up.
In August 2010 [[Bashiok]] spoke on the design theory behind high level gems taking so long to create.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/<ref name="blue-info-on-level-14-gems24 august 2010" /]>
<blue>The gem-to-gem upgrade intent is not to have these huge gaps where you feel like you’re lame unless you have level 14 gems in every slot, but as a long term goal for the hardcore min/maxers and PvPers who are going to be playing for a long time and be able to work toward those goals. It’s something you can put a little time into just by upgrading the gems you pick up during normal play, so you’re constantly able to keep working toward the goal of crating a level 14 gem.<br>
It also sounds as if the Jeweler will have a way to create gems, judging from his description in the [[Caravan FAQ]].
::The jeweler Jeweler crafts gems, amulets, and rings. The jeweler can also remove gems from socketed items and can combine gems to improve their quality.
What, "crafts gems" means isn't yet known, but if [[materials]] can be spent to create new gems, that could radically change the time table for crafting up top level gems.
Bashiok alluded to other gem purposes as well, in a forum post in August May 2011.<ref name="blue 24 august 2010. ">[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blue-info-on-level-14-gems/Blizzard Post - 24 August 2010]</ref>
<blue>They have a good chance of being used in other ways aside from simply being socketed, something that would siphon them out of the economy. Maybe crafting. We like them remaining as something you have to visit the Jeweler artisan to combine. We don’t want it to be annoying or take a lot of time though. We also don’t anticipate someone visiting one with 19,000 gems looking to upgrade all the way to level 14.</blue>
===Unsocketing Gem===
One key fact to consider is that in Diablo III, gems (and other socketables) can be removed from sockets, by the [[Jeweler]], <u>without losing the gem or the item</u>. (Though this may grow quite expensive <refname="blue 25 august 2010">[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/more-blue-info-on-crafting-gems/ Blue Blizzard Post - Blues: IncGamers25 August 2010]</ref> with higher level gems.) This was not the case in Diablo II, where runes, gems, and jewels were in an item forever, or were destroyed by the unsocket recipe. This change fundamentally alters the upgrading project, since instead of gems sitting useless in your stash until they are all the way to the top level (as they did in Diablo 2), characters in Diablo III will be using their highest level gems all the time, and gaining considerable benefits from the gem.
If a character's goal is to gain a huge bonus from a L14 gem in their shield, they'll be using that type of gem at L9, L10, L11, and so on, as they slowly upgrade it towards L14. This should make the upgrading process seem a little less lengthy, especially as it will take weeks or months for each additional level of improvement with a high level gem.
==Known Gem Bonuses==
The only officially confirmed gem stats were seen on a normal (level 3) [[Emerald]], in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNP8QiNbFmU Artisan Video from Gamescom 2010] <ref name="artisan video" />. That gem granted:
* Weapon: +4% Casting Speed.
* Helms: Attackers take 7 damage.
As you can see, a Chipped (level 1) [[Ruby]] grants +2 [[Strength]], while a level 3 [[Emerald]] (as seen in the Youtube video <refname="artisan video">[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNP8QiNbFmU Artisan Video - Gamescom 2010]</ref>) grants +7 [[Dexterity]].
It is possible that it is always the bonus granted from the gem a level below it + the level of the current gem that decides how much bonus a given gem gives to an attribute. So a Emerald would give 4 (the bonus to an attribute granted from a Flawed Emerald) + 3 (the level, 3 out of 14, of the Emerald) = 7.
