Changes

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 L1 gems to upgrade to a L14, if the requirement was 2>1 all the way up.

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.

==Gem Bonuses==