Gems for classes

[Willowbear]

I have recently reached 450 in jewelcrafting and was wondering what the epic gems for each class are.  Grinding for gem tokens means I need to prioritize what recipes I learn first.  If I could get a good feel for what a class/spec's gem preferences are it would make that easier.  If folks could respond to this thread with their class/spec and gem preferences that would help out tremendously.

As you know I'm a feral druid so I have a pretty good handle on that.  Having a limited amount of time I can't play the other classes enough to learn what is preferred.  So I thought I would toss this out here and see if you folks could help.  Thanks.

[Lainia]

watch out gnomes its a trap   he is trying to lure you in so he can gnaw on your bones   hugs to you willow

[Erstyx]

DPS casters generally prefer the following:

Red: Runed Cardinal Ruby
Blue: Purified Dreadstone
Yellow: Veiled Ametrine, Reckless Ametrine, Potent Ametrine
Meta: Chaotic Skyflare

Casters with mana issues may additionally gem for +hit, or with survivability issues, +stam, but that's much less common. And this isn't even counting PvPers, who may want something else.

The tradeoffs between veiled, reckless, and potent depend a lot on one's current gear level, class, and spec -- anything like "mages prefer haste to crit" would be an overbroad generalization. The next patch may make haste more attractive to dot classes, as well.

[Willowbear]

Trap?  What trap?  It's not like I invited just gnomes over for tea and gnumpets.

Nothing to see here...nothing at all...

[Eziekiel]

bold and fractured cardinal rubies are useful for warrior dps. sometimes ones for hit/expertise as well, but not as often.

[Taleos]

For the average warrior tank:

blue sockets get solid (+stam)
red sockets get solid (+stam)
yellow sockets get solid (+stam)

Yeah, we're not into variety.

For warrior tanks wanting a little more variety and an avoidance slant to their gear:
blue sockets get solid (+stam)
red sockets get either subtle (+dodge), or a purple regal (+stam/+dodge)
yellow sockets get either thick (+def) or a green enduring (+stam/+def)

For warrior tanks wanting a little more variety with a slant towards threat:
blue sockets get solid (+stam)
until the expertise cap: red sockets get precise (+expertise) or a purple guardian's (+stam/+expertise)
after the expertise cap: red sockets get bold (+str) or a purple sovreign (+stam/+str)
yellow sockets get rigid (+hit) or a green vivid (+hit/+stam) or (occasionally, and only before the expertise cap) an orange accurate (+hit/+expertise)

Any warrior gemming for parry in any way should be laughed at and then shot. The point at which parry is better than dodge is VERY high and unlikely for the average tank to hit. Ok, maybe not laughed at. But they shouldn't be gemming for parry.
Some warriors advocate gemming for agility in some cases, but that is extremely rare.

Outside of rare special cases, virtually all warrior tanks should be using the austere earthseige as their meta gem.

Caell

[Ortega]

I have recently reached 450 in jewelcrafting and was wondering what the epic gems for each class are.  Grinding for gem tokens means I need to prioritize what recipes I learn first.

Tip: don't learn any recipes. Just stack up your badges. Wait for someone to ask you for a specific cut, and buy it at that point in time. Lazy evaluation is the best kind of evaluation!

Unless, of course, you're aiming at making some of the most popular cuts and selling them at the auction house... In which case I'd suggest going for the pure stats gems (+Stam, +Spell power, +Agility, +Strength, +Attack Power), as these are the most likely to fetch outrageous prices from avid min-maxers.

[bleunienn]

Meta: Chaotic Skyflare

This is the preferred meta for most physical DPS as well.

Hunters are mostly going to be gemming pure AGI or pure AP, adding in +hit if they're under cap (though by the time you're halfway into Ulduar, you're going to be so far over cap it's not even funny), and mixing in the occasional purple to keep aforementioned meta turned on (stupid stupid STUPID 2 blue gem requirement).  Of the purples, Deadly and Wicked are the two I prefer.

[jsoh]

Meta: Chaotic Skyflare

This is the preferred meta for most physical DPS as well.

Well. I'd argue that Relentless Earthsiege is the preferred meta for physical DPS, if only because the requirements can be met by a single Nightmare's Tear. The 2xblue requirement kinda blows for the CSD, since there's no real useful blue/purple gems for physical DPS.

The functional difference between +21 agi and +21 crit is minimal, based on the figures I've seen.

Also, the Deadly and Wicked cuts are orange gems, not purple

[bleunienn]

Also, the Deadly and Wicked cuts are orange gems, not purple

Gah, I knew I was going to get that wrong.  This is what I get for posting at work where I can't double-check these things.  There is at least one purple gem cut that is pretty good for Marks hunters, and now I can't remember what it is.

Tear + 1 purple is not a terribly hard requirement to make for the Chaotic Skyflare, however.  The hard part is finding people who can cut the purple gems.

[jsoh]

Tear + 1 purple is not a terribly hard requirement to make for the Chaotic Skyflare, however.  The hard part is finding people who can cut the purple gems.

Its not that its a hard requirement to meet, its just that (to take an example completely at random), Tear + Bold Cardinal Ruby > Tear + Sovereign Dreadstone.

[bleunienn]

Greater by how much, though?  Is this like the time I was using Relentless Earthsiege as a meta and someone informed me -- in all seriousness -- that I could be doing 0.01% more damage if I just changed to the Chaotic Skyflare?

Because, you know, there's optimising damage and min-maxing, and then there's being silly.  I am never quite sure where the line is but my current spec depends as much on being able to deliver the big nuke as it does on anything, so Chaotic Skyflare is a good choice.

Plus I had Chaotic Skyflares on hand because someone gave me some in trade for May doing a bunch of transmutes for them.   

[jsoh]

For retadins, the difference between the dreadstone and the ruby is 10 str * 1.15 (divine str) * 1.1 (kings) ~= 13 str = 26 ap. For pure AP gemming, you're looking at a 10 ap diff. AGI gemming is a 11 agi difference (including kings) which is I guess 11 ap - dont know what AGI -> AP modifiers would apply.

Whether a 26 AP difference is sufficient to trigger the 'Apert, you're just being a silly min/maxer now' statement remains to be seen. There is also the convenience of just slapping a Bold Cardinal Ruby in every damn socket (save one) and never worrying about where I should jam a purple.

Both the CSD and the RED are excellent options for phys dps, and if you dont give a mulched murloc for stupid-level min/maxing then you cant go wrong with picking either of them.

[bleunienn]

Whether a 26 AP difference is sufficient to trigger the 'Apert, you're just being a silly min/maxer now' statement remains to be seen. There is also the convenience of just slapping a Bold Cardinal Ruby in every damn socket (save one) and never worrying about where I should jam a purple.

Yeah, I would call 26 AP enough to be worthwhile.  On the occasion I was advised to pick CSD over RED (and given the gear I had at the time), the difference was a single-digit increase to raw AP and a net dps increase of 0.01%.  I ran both gems through the hunter dps spreadsheet to be sure.

Both the CSD and the RED are excellent options for phys dps, and if you dont give a mulched murloc for stupid-level min/maxing then you cant go wrong with picking either of them.

I can agree with that.  And if you do give a mulched murloc, a spreadsheet may be useful in deciding which is really the better choice for any given individual.

[Willowbear]

Thanks for the input folks.  I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.