Gem shards have been added!
Background: Moving forward I’d like to add a lot of new uses for gold – mostly upgrades that last for single game. However, I don’t want players to have to choose between upgrading their gems and buying fun toys.
The Solution: Gem shards are now awarded to all players after each boss round. Based on how well the team has played over the past 10 waves, players will get a score and receive shards relative to that score (1 shard per 50 points).
Gems now upgrade solely with gem shards (you can no longer use gold). Once you have enough shards for the upgrade, they will be upgraded automatically, and a message will appear in chat. Shards have also been added to the bot response to !gold or !gem.
The cost for gems has also been reduced significantly to compensate. Overall this will result in players earning the first ~5 gems levels much faster and the final ~15 levels a bit slower.
To compensate for players who spent more time earning their first few gem ranks, players whose gem was rank 11 or less have been given an automatic increase in gem rank.