Earth2's announcement about Jewels is the latest mystery everyone is talking about. The discussion started since the time Shane (in his now trademarked cryptic style) first mentioned about 'Jewels' in an earlier announcement.
Adding some clarity, a few hours ago, Earth-2 made an announcement that Phase-2 would be initiated by introducing 'Jewels OR Essence' either June or latest in July. Other features would follow gradually.
But again, what are these Jewels?
"Jewels are collectible items which will have a chance to randomly appear on properties each day depending on the property size. They will hold various attributes for improving resource yields and other features on Earth 2 in the future. At a later date you will be able to selectively craft Jewels to potentially discover enhanced results."
It will be interesting to see if the introduction of 'Jewels' pushes the premium for larger properties, and especially if Jewels will make a significant difference to the rate of resource generation. We can already see the marketplace place a premium on 750 tile properties and that will only increase maybe in future if Jewels spawn disproportionately on larger properties.
Maybe then till such a time, it would be wise to hold on to the larger properties in one's portfolio, as more clarity emerges as to the advantages wrt :-
What impact/ benefits do Jewels offer
How is the spawn rate of Jewels correlated with property sizes
(Disclaimer : not a financial advice xD)
Still some clarity is needed on how these Jewels can be obtained - do they credit automatically in the respective accounts where they appear randomly on a particular property, or the user has to manually claim them. Do they remain there till claimed or they disappear after a while? Will there be a notification once a Jewel appears on your property? How will accounts having hundreds (some have thousands) properties search for Jewels on each of their properties? So many questions - we can only hope that all these be answered in good time.
One thing is clear, Phase-2 is nearer than ever ... and it appears shinier! We can't wait!