Any good use for gems in Classic?

[Noite Escura]

Apart from socketing I mean. More often than not socketed items will be inferior to good rare/uniques(save for exceptional cases like socketing shields with resists to use in PvP). I have a stash full of Perfect Gems I don't know what to do. All upgrade formulas I have searched for seem to be made for expansion only. :-/

[Taft12]

Since pgems are a useful currency in LoD, I keep all of mine and convert them on a mule to expansion. Last ladder season I got tired of classic and wanted to try some new builds - I had 40+ pgems on an expansion mule and could quickly equip my new chars with good gear thanks to trades made on these forums.

Also, perfect skulls are of some value in classic - hold on to those. Rubies, sapphires and topaz are all nice to put in 3-socket helms (and diamonds in shields as well) but you only need a few of these.

[stanzaman]

Apart from socketing I mean. More often than not socketed items will be inferior to good rare/uniques(save for exceptional cases like socketing shields with resists to use in PvP). I have a stash full of Perfect Gems I don't know what to do. All upgrade formulas I have searched for seem to be made for expansion only. :-/

They have some use. 3 Diamond sheilds are pretty common, as well as ruby and saphire helms. People will also use other gems in sheilds, mostly to fine tune the resistances on a character for dueling. Topaz helms are good for magic find. Poison weapons can be used if you have nothing else. Using the SOJ recipe to socket rares takes skulls. Skulls are good in weapons too. Probably about the most useless gem in classic is amethyst. Not used much in weapons, useless in sheilds, and only slightly useful in helmets/armor.

Another thing I like to do with skulls is when I find a high level rare (like from Diablo or the council), I'll reroll it once with a high level (88 or higher) character with the 6 skull recipe. If I understand the formula right, the first reroll still has a good chance for the high level mods. Haven't found anything good from it yet though.

[magnet]

most of the people iknow that roll skulls have had the best luck with armors, so they tell me.

i tend to stick to gold for my gambling fix...

[Chow Yun Thin]

Though this might not be the best use for them, I use chipped gems to make rejuvs and standard gems to make full rejuvs.

[stanzaman]

Though this might not be the best use for them, I use chipped gems to make rejuvs and standard gems to make full rejuvs.

I do that a lot too, it's a great way to get a character stocked with potions. Most people don't pick up anything less than flawless anyway (except newbies in normal games).