Statistical customisation invites tinkering, and the passive tree does not allow it

"

Wittgenstein wrote:

As far as respecs.. lets flog the dead horse some more.

What made people play D2 for a decade without respecs? IT WAS A FUN GAME.

That's all that matters, if you aren't willing to play the game again, then you aren't having fun. period.

Even if you got the easy respec, that will only keep you around awhile before you move on to something else.

I guess we can say that.
I had a glimpse at the end game by playing this game not too far, and I may agree with you at this point, this game isn't for me and I will go play something else (when it's released).

I still hope GGG will succeed, because it's always hard for a new company to launch a new game, especially when there will be big challengers on the market when they'll launch their game.

The good thing is a lot of people whine about the latest choice Blizzard made about their runes, so maybe PoE will get some players from them.

I just hope they will be able to keep them long enough and it works with their business model.

As a potential compromise to OP's issue with the passive skill tree:
How about being able to freely respec up until level 15 or so?

That would let newer players/new builds get a better feel for some of the more significant points on the skill tree and understand firsthand how that carries over onto their stats. Keystones would still be out of reach and require careful consideration.


As an example, this would have been useful with my Ranger if I wanted to look at gameplay with Deadly Draw versus Heart Pierce while keeping everything else constant. (Assuming I only have the skill points to choose one or a combination of the steps between them.)

Deadly Draw: 40% increased crit strike damage multiplier with bows (+10% and +10% to get to it)
Heart Pierce: 60% additional crit strike chance with bows (+15% and +15% to get to it)

I could simply do the math and go with whichever gives me the highest average damage output, but that's not necessarily indicative of which would be most useful when it comes to how I play, what my build is, what equipment I have, etc.

I wish they allowed us to simply respec for closed beta. It would probably lead to more bugs being found and characters will be wiped come open beta anyway.

There is already a game comming that has "dont think, just try" as a basis.
And even there, ppl will look up perferct builds. Or call it FORM.

Ppl are lazy, they don't want to think about it.

Why should GGG follow this lazyness and punish those player that like to play?

Yes there are still player that play the game, funny isn't it?

At Release tis game will have a function to create ur own league with ur own rules for money, i think u will see enough Leagues after Release which will have free respecs. Maybe GGG make their own "Casual" League.

I really don´t want free respecs...

Laz, all I can say is AMEN.

If you could wipe your passive tree at will and start over, this game would be INFINITELY more fun.

That is all.

"

Rowsol wrote:

If you could wipe your passive tree at will and start over, this game would be INFINITELY more fun.

That is all.

You can find this feature not in Poe, but in World of Diablocraft.

I wouldn't mind a "casual" league with free respecs as a parent to the default league, but easy respecs have a far-reaching implications for how the game is played so I'd be careful with implementing it in default. :)

I'd be in favour of free respecs up to level 10 or so, but not thereafter.

I think having respecs too easily available at levels higher than that (c.10) will quickly cause a "loss of mystery" (I've no idea why I put that in quotation marks) around builds. For this game to last the 10+ years of D2, for example, I think you need to have this mystery sustained.

If respecs were too easily available, I think given the passive skill tree, we'd have min/max builds within a week or so of open beta commencement. You'll have this of course in D3 (for given situations/environments) given the RMAH.

Petrov.