Full respec

I see in the FAQ that there are no plans to implement a full point respec. On the whole, I think this is a good idea -- at least not making it too easy.

However, I'd like to argue for one or two full respecs per character -- and perhaps more that are difficult to come by. One of the things about playing with new character builds is I'm never quite sure which skills are going to be more important later in the game. More evasion, or more damage? (On my mind because right now I'm trying to make a viable character based on evasion/Acrobatics capstone.) In this game, these decisions have to be made quite early because once you go down one line of the tree, going back to go down another bears substantial cost.

I know in the early days of D2, when skills were fixed, I used to get so frustrated with making poor choices in experimental builds that then required completely re-making the character to try another option that I just gave up and stopped trying -- and just used cookie-cutter builds. Once they implemented a (probably too easy to obtain) respec system, I started playing around a lot more and being more "experimental" in my choices.

Not trying to speak for everyone -- and I'm definitely opening myself to flaming here -- but it was my experience in playing a similar game and thought it would be useful to you.

A lot of people actually overestimate the price of a full respec. Full respecs can be done, and if you do not want to do them every week, you should be able to afford them.
You could get about ~60 Orbs of Regret for about 2 Exalted Orbs when trading, and coupled with your free respec points from quests this should be enough for a 'full' respec for most characters.

I do think a full respect should be possible, but not terribly easy to acquire. If it were a breeze to reset a character, people wouldn't eventually be proud of their creation. I rather like enjoy experimenting with options, but I'd hate to constantly have to build up four or five of the same character class in order to determine if a certain few combinations work together without risking completely compromising my main.

As stated already, full respecs are possible. They are fairly costly, but that cost is more than fair. That cost is necessary to maintain the opportunity cost of creating a character, making decisions while leveling, and competing in future PVP.

Ah yeah, I see the Orbs of Regret and such. Yeah, I dig that. Forget about having the full respec at a random time in the game, etc. Orbs of Regret at cost for trade and such are the way to go.

I think we need some sort of early game, low-cost or free respec capability to allow characters to switch gears by pointing their passive skill "branch" into a new direction. Maybe one full respec at level 15, and a final respec option at level 30, just enough so that players can get a feel for what they like to do based on the gems they've picked up, and then have a few chances to try new things before committing more permanently.

As it is now, after a few early levels it becomes too difficult to go down a different path towards a different weapon or spell specialiation, especially since many of the skills aren't available early on. Players shouldn't have to finalize skill/weapon type/playstyle/build choices so early, IMO.

Whether Orbs of Regret work well will depend on the economy. If only serious farmers can respec it will be a problem for casual players.

Respecing is compounded by the introduction of new game mechanics later in the game. A casual player who doesn't read the boards much will be caught by surprise.

Once release is mature hopefully their will be some viable cookie cutter builds posted for people who don't really care about having an unique character.

Do it once and do it right!

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Mr_Bill wrote:

Whether Orbs of Regret work well will depend on the economy. If only serious farmers can respec it will be a problem for casual players.

Respecing is compounded by the introduction of new game mechanics later in the game. A casual player who doesn't read the boards much will be caught by surprise.

Once release is mature hopefully their will be some viable cookie cutter builds posted for people who don't really care about having an unique character.

I think you're overestimating the demand of respeccing. If a casual player thinks he needs to respec, it's likely he's realizing this by level 30, or 40, or 50 (as these are general "plateaus" in the game's difficulty right now). Even for a casual player, reaching the halfway point doesn't take much of a time investment.

If you don't realize your build isn't working by level 70, then how are you even getting to level 70 in the first place? Casuals will give up before then. They're not going to try and make a shitty build work for them.

Thus, casuals won't need orbs of regret. They'll just need to reroll.

Casuals needing to respec has nothing to do with the availablility of respecs, but the failure to communicate to players that their choices matter and that the skills they are picking will not help them in the long run. The failure is purely on a communication level then, and not a mechanics one.

No one has to undo a mistake if they never make it in the first place. Putting a few random skill points every so often is fine; it takes a massive commitment to an ineffective build to screw up a character.

One feature the devs could add could be a optional (as in, it can be turned off), tips window. When you're at the passive tree, you could highlight a node and maybe it could bring up specific statistics about how effective it is to take that node, or what that node works best with. To suggest some basic builds to try and what to plan for in the future.

I agree that full respecs can be "overpowered", yet that's considered without moderation in mind.
I propose giving everyone just one full respec decision at level 35 which disappears if refused.
It's a reasonable level to force the decision on whether their build is satisfactory.

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anubite wrote:

casual

Don't use that childish label here,
you'll only look ignorant and stereotypical.