kwikster wrote:
I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) they drop more often than current skillers.
This isn't exactly accurate. Everytime you defeat a boss in Hell, that boss will not drop a soulstone. I believe they will drop a soulstone roughly 2 out of every 5 times you defeat them, although I don't think anyone has really bothered farming soulstones, so I don't think people really know for sure.
Getting all the way to a Hell Act boss is no small feat, so I don't see people doing it as quickly as say clearing out cows or running tundra.
While skillers actually dropping is rather rare, sitting in town and tossing gems in to your cube to reroll them is not - and that can get you a decent set of skillers pretty quickly.
I expect soulstones to be a bit rarer than the current run of skill grand charms which is why they have been empowered accordingly.
It is also worth mentioning that there are several item based changes to compensate the loss of skillers including:
Templar's might now has +3 to all skills
Ormus & Wyrmscale have both been bumped to +2 skills
Souldrain are now end game caster gloves with +2 skills
Griffon's now gives +3 to all skills
Characters can craft elemental armor that gives them +1-2 skills (varies) as well as increased spell dmg.
Characters can craft caster helms & boots that give them +1 to skills.
I encourage people to run through the suggested changes in detail as there is a lot there and it covers a lot of the stuff folks are concerned about.