Making the most of socketed items
by Mike Schramm 
Feb 3rd 2007 at 4:34PM
Is it just me, or are socketed pieces a ripoff? Most players were excited when Blizzard announced that in the Burning Crusade, we'd be able to socket various pieces of armor with extra stats-- I have fond memories of pimping out my armor in Diablo II with extra gems, and couldn't wait to do the same in Outland.But now that I've gotten a few socketed pieces, they, well, suck. At 62, I got this awesome vest for my Shaman from a quest reward-- +44 spell damage and healing, 6mps, 21 stam, and 15 int. Then, at 64, when I took down Mennu the Betrayer in the Slave Pens, I got this baby-- the Vest of Living Lightning, complete with red, yellow, and blue sockets.
And after hunting around for gems a little bit, I am unimpressed. At the gem merchant in Thrallmart (yes, Thrallmart, for all your Outland needs), the best I could find was a little +9 healing and a little int and spirit-- even with those bonuses, the socketed vest doesn't match up to the quest reward. And even at my Aldor vendor, I couldn't find any gems that came close to making me switch away to the new vest. In the end, I vendored the socketed item. Likewise, the pictured item sucks even with three yellow gems in it when compared to what I'm wearing, the Scaled Legs of Rumination.
Now, I'm still in the low levels of socketing, so it's very likely that both the socketed gear and the gems will get better (I didn't check the AH at all for gems, which I probably should have). I've already seen the Tier 4 pieces, and those have amazing stats and sockets, which definitely makes them amazing. But for standard, mid-60s socketed pieces, it just doesn't seem worth it to run around looking for gems, when other non-socketed items are so much better.
Update: Apparently I should have checked the AH-- there are lots of great gems in the game if you're willing to hunt, mix, and match. I'm still not sure it's worth the time to make a lowbie socketed item better (I'll probably wait for the higher stuff), but if you want tips, check the comments.
Filed under: Shaman, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Expansions, The Burning Crusade
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Druid dude Feb 3rd 2007 5:08PM
Vendor gems are not all that hot because they are... vendor gems! Kind of like vendor armor.
http://www.thottbot.com/?gem=All
Hybrys Feb 3rd 2007 5:12PM
If you get a good Jewelcutter to cut you some, we can make some pretty cool stuff. Like a red/blue with +7 healing, AND 1mp5. Or a red with +13 healing. And, of course, lots more.
Drakar24 Feb 5th 2007 8:55AM
I agree 100%. I'm wearing Darkstorm Tunic on my rogue. And I got Vest of Vengence in Blood Furnace. I checked the AH and it just doesn't seem like it's worth it to fill this thing out when I'm probably going to replace it in a few levels (lvl 65).
Will probably work on getting gems for some of the lvl 70 pieces, but not for this one.
Alarius Feb 3rd 2007 5:30PM
http://www.wowwiki.com/Jewel
That is my guide and I use it to shop for gems.
The white gems can be purchased from your typical jewelcrafting vendor and the greens are usually crafted and can be found on the AH. While the majority of the blue gems are craftable, there are some that are PVP rewards such as those found on the quartermaster in Honor Hold. Lastly, the epic gems are PVP rewards bought using your honor points from your ususal Stormwind/Ogrimmar quartermaster.
shandar1969 Feb 3rd 2007 11:59PM
I agree, these low level socketed items are really just decent "Greens" that you can dump a bunch of gold or rep into to make into decent "Blues". Now maybe once I've leveled to 70 and have some gear that will last awhile I'll worry about gem's but for now when I'm getting quest rewards that will replace them I'll just save the gold for a flying mount. I think the main people that would disagree are the one's making gold off of the gems.
Chaosdragon Feb 3rd 2007 6:44PM
Umm I looked at the thottbot gems page and all the gems sucked... so gems from recipes, drops AND vendors all suck :)Kinda lame...
Dave Feb 3rd 2007 6:56PM
I hope this doesn't mirror the intelligence level of the majority of people in the game, but I fear it does.
There's a profession called "jewelcrafting" they introduced in the expansion. In this profession, people make these things called Gems, that go into sockets on armor and such. When you mine ore, kill mobs, prospect stacks of ore and all sorts of other things, you get uncut gems. Jewelcrafters then take those gems, cut them and make much better gems.
The crap vendors sell are for suckers who somehow have missed the Auction House, or don't know anyone else at all in the entire game. This is a Universal Concept that one who is past 60 should have picked up I'd figure, but who knows what people miss in this game right?
Oddly enough there are some fantastic gems out there
http://www.wowhead.com/?items&filter=cr=81;crs=5;crv=0
that will turn your "crappy" socketed loot into something much better than what you're getting unsocketed. I don't think this is astounding and revelatory knowledge, especially for someone blogging about the game... but the things you're saying reek of ignorance about jewelcrafting and gems in general.
Non socketed items are generally horrible. They're deceptively good, if you're uncreative and don't even want to attempt any math or using this "web" thing to find out about things.
Seriously.
Sylythn Feb 3rd 2007 7:02PM
The other thing with sockets, is individually they may appear to suck, and even their combined color bonus might not be so hot - but keep in mind that almost all the socketed items I've come across have had 3 sockets in them. You can put gems in there that do far more than a single enchant could - and still enchant it too. While your socketed chest piece might not be a direct upgrade from your unsocketed - if you take into account the effects of all your sockets, gems, bonuses and enchants - it could very well offer you better stats or abilities.
cheesebanana Feb 3rd 2007 7:14PM
You can mix and match what you put in.
Lets say you get a helm with 3 sockets. A blue a red and a yellow.
Lets say the bonus for getting the right sockets is 6 attack power or something.
If you're a dagger rogue and you're lacking in crit, you can ignore the bonus and get 3 yellow gems (the gems with the most crit). You'll lose the bonus but you'll be able to make up a really nice amount of crit for your build which needs it.
Later on you've got the same headpiece but you've respecced to swords. Time to swap those 3 yellow crit gems for some blue +hit gems.
Its being creative that lets jewelcrafting shine...not having idiots go "amg thar vendar gems iz crap lol i not use gems now"
cheesebanana Feb 3rd 2007 7:54PM
Oh and by the way. Last time i checked "Gypped" was a bit of a racial slur....just a thought...
Mike Schramm Feb 3rd 2007 8:36PM
Thanks for the tips guys. I've updated the post with a hint to check out your insights. I've also updated the title, cheesebanana. Although I'm not aware of that being a racist term, I'm not here to offend anyone.
cheesebanana Feb 3rd 2007 10:23PM
yeh its a back formation from the word gypsy because they were seen as thieves.
Learn something new everyday.
(i'm not a gypsy or offended, just thought i'd point it out :P)
oshin Feb 4th 2007 7:47AM
Cmon please do more research than that, most socketed items are pretty awesome (there are some stinkers). I like the vendor system, as you can buy those poor gems for non 70 items you replace and get a nice stat boost (in fact vest of vengeance + crappy gems + gem bonus still whoops any chest within that level range), and you can get some really nice expensive ones made up when you get something shiny and epic.
mike Feb 4th 2007 10:50AM
Just a reminder, guys, that this post is about socketed items, not racist terms. I've deleted a few offtopic posts, thanks for staying on topic.
Romulox Feb 4th 2007 2:02PM
I felt the same way when i looked at gems for the first time. I don't know anyone my level with jewlcrafting. Also, when you are leveling in outlands it's kind of annoying to go check for gems on the AH when you will be replacing the gear in a couple days/levels anyways. I just bought some PVP gems and some white gems because it was convenient, and better then leaving the slots empty. I don't think I am going to worry about finding the best gems until i know I will be wearing the gear for longer then 2 levels.
Tolrye Feb 4th 2007 3:31PM
I tend to agree with most of the posters above, I wasn't about to enchant my level 52 gear when the cap was 60, so I am probably not going to fill my 62 gear with purchased gems(or enchants)until I get to 70.
That being said I do have a high level jewel crafter I hang with and do have some gems socketed because it was that or he was going to vendor them. The JC's name on Zulu is Darkethereal btw. I can see a value at higher levels, I suppose if you were going to twink your level 59 maybe, if you just have tons of cash to toss around, or a friend that's a JC.
Poddo Feb 4th 2007 5:43PM
ZOMG Thrallmart! Did you get that from me? I've never seen anyone aside from my guild and people on Malorne who got it from us use that.
klink-o Feb 4th 2007 6:41PM
Part of the problem is there's no "jems" section anywhere in the auction house. They're all just dumped into trade goods. Unless you know the name of the gem you want, good luck finding it.
Thoralf Feb 5th 2007 6:00AM
The worst problem atm:
you cannot search in the ah for gems properly (at least I didn't figure out how). Under the jewelcrafting section I find raw gems among the usable ones. Without knowing all the names of useful gems it's kinda pointless to search like this.
Zuuler Feb 5th 2007 7:24AM
This past weekend I picked up my first socketed item, a robe (blue) that dropped off the last boss of Underbog. By itself it was not quite as good, but almost, as what I was already wearing (green). I used the web page #3 mentioned to look for gems, and in the end came up with a much better robe. Lost 4 int when I switched, but gained 4 stam, which as a warlock makes up for the lost mana. But I gained a lot in spell damage, spell crit (23.87% chance to crit with spells, combine that with ruin and I have a 1 in 4 shot at really hurting someone) and spell penetration. Just have to be patient and spend some time at the AH.
I did have one question though. Once you socket an item, can you change whats in the socket?