[Valerius]

Following up on one of Amorphous' points, the proposed gem cost changes to the various brands have the net effect of helping SCs and harming thugs. A few more gems investment in an SC is not a big deal but thugs need to be equipped cheaply. I also don't think frost/fire brands need to have their damage nerfed. Though they are commonly seen weapons they aren't unbalancing. And again, SCs will benefit nicely since thugs will pose less of a threat to them while their own generally high strength will enable them to still do plenty of damage if they use these weapons. Of course, I doubt they'd choose a frost/fire brand since they'd have an AOE and AN (!) weapon available in the form of the boosted shadow brand. Everyone has their own opinion of balance but I prefer not to do anything to make SCs stronger and I think that's what these changes amount to.