Full Respec

Hi guys!

First of all a lot of thanks for PoE. This game is awesome!

Is there plans to create a way for passive skill tree full respec? Something like a token bought through microtransactions, for example.

Regards,

Leo

The only time the developers offers full respecs is when the passive tree has changed significantly enough that your passive tree loses necessary connections, or when the passive tree is given a complete overhaul.

Respecs will never be offered as a microtransaction (can further explain GGG's reasoning if you'd like).

Unfortunately, the only options for respeccing you have are the 16 free respec points you get from questing and Orbs of Regret. Otherwise, GGG implicitly encourages you to just re-roll a new character.

Happy hunting!

But there's any oficcial GGG's position about that question?

For me a full respec is an excellent opportunity to GGG earn more money (they deserve it for this excellent game) and this doesn't affect nothing about be or not to be a p2w game.
Just an opinion!

Regards,

Leo

The statements I have made represent my understanding of GGG's official position, and I have read much about GGG's official positions. (In other words, what I have said above basically IS GGG's official position).

Passive Refund points serve as pay-to-win in a couple of ways.

Firstly, they enable players to more easily switch between "leveling" and "endgame" builds. There could use a build that is very effective at leveling from 1 to 60, and then switch to a build that would have had much more trouble leveling up on its own, but is very very strong at level 60. This saves a substantial amount of time and effort in adding to a character's power, and a character's power is very much considered part of "winning" at an RPG.

Secondly, they enable players to completely change the way one endgame character is played rather than leveling up another character. A free player would have no such option. In this way, a paid full respec option becomes equivalent to leveling up an entire other free character to the same level. For example, 1 respecced level 80 character compared to two free level 80 characters; the respeccer has essentially "bought" 80 levels worth of effort.

The second point is more of a concern because of GGG's design philosophy. GGG have stated that they are devoted to the integrity of a character's identity, and easy full respecs undermine that integrity. For example, you would never need any more than 7 characters, who are Blob1, Blob2, Blob3, etc. In the current system, you can have as many characters as you have build ideas. There's the Righteous Fire Etheral Knives scion; here's the 2-hand sword Blood Magic duelist; over there is my crit frenzy bow ranger.

As you can see, full respecs at any point not mentioned in my above post would undermine the gameplay experience that GGG wants to create in one way or another (p2w, character identity, etc.)

Minor correction: you get 18 respec points by completing all the appropriate quests.

But, yeah, buying respecs with money would be against the GGG philosophy of not allowing people to buy character advantages.

...

I 100% agree - the lack of a respec just bummed me out to the point that I honestly have lost all enthusiasm for this game...

And this pay-to-win excuse isn't enough for me - there is no reason Orbs of Regret couldn't simply be a full respec (in other words, who ever said that the only way to obtain respec's would be microtransactions?)

Well, there is one reason I can think of: the more time you spend rerolling new characters the less need there is for a large amount of end game content...which is practical I suppose.

I know this probably all sounds like sour grapes, and that many in the community probably like this barricade, but its just bogus to me in every way - one of my favorite parts of playing any game is build experimentation (and I have a feeling I am not alone in that regard), so I guess sadly this game is just not for me.

Maybe I'll come back and try again when my wounds heal and I know what's up from the get-go...

Having cheap access to full respecs (e.g. one orb of regret = full respec) would cheapen the game significantly by allowing players to tailor their build completely to each challenge provided by the game, rather than encouraging versatile builds.

Then make them more a little more difficult to obtain...

Look, its just a preference - but what drew me to this game was the massive passive tree and the versatility of the classes. However, if I can't experiment with that passive tree and play around with the class versatility it simply becomes a burden more than a boon.

The weapon-specific passives are a great example of how this hamstrings you: get a sweet new sword drop? Well, you can't use that b/c you chose a mace spec, etc.

It just feels like a cheap way to pigeon-hole people into re-rolling over and over instead of developing meaningful end-game content. I am not saying that this is the devs intent, as they seem to really try to keep pay-to-win, etc. out of the game, and therefore seem to approach it from a point of maintaining player balance/integrity - but that's still how it feels to me as an end user.

Obviously they have no intention of changing this - I just wish I had realized it sooner. I tend to avoid game wikis/guide's when I start playing because they are just like spoilers to me - and, as I said, my enjoyment comes from feeling out builds on my own, learning the game by playing it, not reading about some pro-gamer playing it.

The game really gave no indication that these choices would be so set-in-stone, given that most games allow you to respec for a nominal fee.

So the smartest thing for me to do would be to find a great build online and follow the point allocations and gear recommendations, right? That kind of mindless sheep-building sounds a lot worse than people tailoring their builds for content to me...

To each his own.

"

thelost1 wrote:

This has ruined it for me I got an amulet drop that was based around minions so I went all out in that thinking I could respec now I know I cant.It has made me want to just play other games. I want to try different things out and find what works without having to read threads and threads of builds and specs. I dont want to spend another 30 hours leveling again. I got into PoE because I thought it had a diverse spec tree only to find out its really not. I guess ill go play some other game ... what a disappointment

Alternatively don't look up "builds/specs" and instead just play the game... however this time don't try to switch builds without first acquiring the required resources to do so (If you ever desire to change your build, that is).

That's pretty much what I do and the game has (repeatedly) been pretty fun all the way to end-game content. Arguably Normal difficulty is pretty boring so I can understand why you don't look forward to leveling a new character to level 30~.

Edit: I did occasionally research gameplay mechanics, but no research was done in to any builds that other players have come up with.