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Hey, so over the weekend I went through some meta gem soul searching. My meta gem of choice requires me to have more blue than red gems. Most of my gem slots are currently red! So I went with almost entirely purple which gets the slot bonus but keeps the playing field of red vs blue even and then I tipped the balance by one for blue. Then because I used purples with reforge-able stats I adjusted a little bit with reforging.
This was done in the context of having a jewel crafter and purchasing patterns useful for others.
Primary vs Non-Primary Colors and Stats
Non-primary colors (orange, purple, green colors) give you a +20/+20 in the rare quality. Primary colors (blue, red, yellow colors) give you a +40. The difference between the two is that it's usually +20 primary-stat / +20 secondary-stat vs +40 primary (or secondary) stat.
Primary Color/Stat Gems
If you're using a primary color, you want a primary stat on that primary color. That's the advantage of using a primary stat color. Otherwise don't bother with a primary color. Primary stats on primary color gems can't be reforged-to (or reforged away).
Non-Primary Color/Stat Gems
Unless you're a tank don't take stamina as a second stat without a really good reason. e.g.- Take +agil +hit. If you're over the +hit cap, just reforge some away on your gear into a more useful stat. This can get you the meta requirements you need MUCH more easily.
Primary vs Non-Primary Stats and Reforging
Item stats are either Primary or Non-Primary. Reforging can shift 40% of a non-primary stat on an item into a new non-primary stat which is not already on the item.
Primary Stats that You Can Not Reforge:
- Attack Power
- Agility
- Intellect
- Stamina
- Strength
- Resilience
- Critical Strike Rating
- Dodge Rating
- Expertise Rating
- Haste Rating
- Hit Rating
- Mastery Rating
- Parry Rating
- Spirit
If your meta gem has ugly requirements and you don't want to lose out on gem slot bonuses, consider using reforging and some non-primary gem stats to get the slot bonuses and meta you want. If all you want to stack is one primary stat, this wont work, but most of us have many primary and non-primary stats we need to balance now.
These comments are general purpose, but are specific to the current meta gem of choice. Back a while ago, we were told that the old gem was flipping back to a requirement of "more red than blue" instead of the current "more blue than red". But that was mostly about the old gem and a month ago. They should switch it, but until they do you still really want your critical strikes increased by 3%. That is... until you have tons of gems.
