So is there a reason why all of the item art on our character is blocked by socketed gems? Diablo II does not do this. It only shows whether an item has sockets or gems when you mouse over it.
It’s pretty ugly looking at one’s inventory and seeing nothing but a bunch of giant gems where 75% of the gear is. And there really is no reason to have these displayed all the time. Hide them by default, or at the very least add an option to hide them.