As anyone who plays Diablo 3 will know, sockets are a pivotal part of any weapon and piece of gear (except for rings and amulets, where they matter a lot less) because of the bonuses provided by high quality gems. Weapons, for instance, can have their damage boosted through the use of Emeralds for Critical Hit Damage or Rubies for a raw damage increase.
Speaking in an interview with Shacknews, Blizzard’s Production Director John Hight revealed that the studio has plans to deepen the socketing system with the possible introduction of Legendary Gems. The concept is not so different from what Runic Games’ Torchlight 2 has to offer.
“We don't have any short term plans at the moment, but we all agree that the socketing game is not super deep and we’ve said so before,” revealed Hight. “We are talking seriously about some legendary gem ideas that will offer new tactical options to players. Stay tuned as we do hope that this design gathers steam.”
Well, let’s hope they don’t take too long in going about implementing it.
In the same interview, Hight also talked about adding new gameplay systems into the fold, as well as the possibility of implementing controller support to the PC version of the game.