Golden Hand Quest

I forget what exactly this quest is actually called, but I know you go thru the church to gather a hand and return it to a NPC in Act 2.
The reward is two buy back points.

Can we get 2 Orb of Scouring instead? I think I have 2 or 3 point just sitting there that I am not going to use. Plus it will give people trade fodder and the two buyback points for reward if people want/need them

Nope, because rushing characters to this quest to farm the orbs would take very little time if done properly, hence making the orbs worthless.

Now that I know the respec sucks in this game and I have to plan my build before playing, I don't do this quest anymore, I don't need to do it.

I'm just telling this so the devs know about this.
respec is a pb for newcomers, it's not for veterans.
1/6 of the game is avoidable like this (the swamp map for example).

Making this quest reward tradable would completely missed the point, exactly as if you would get an "Orb of Skill" instead of the passive point rewards...

As it is now, its your free decision to skip the quest (as you're free the same way to do the Cave in Old Fields or Dread Thicket) and return to it later if you have a use for the respecs - or to do it when you hit the area and spare the respecs for later use.

Same way, as if you are to choose a gem as a reward but find nothing matching your (actual) needs: take one that may be useful later or on another of your chars...

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kodr wrote:

I'm just telling this so the devs know about this.
respec is a pb for newcomers, it's not for veterans.
1/6 of the game is avoidable like this (the swamp map for example).

I'm quite sure the dev's know about it and it's their intention that these things are optional. Optional means you can do it or you can skip it, your choice. Pretty much every game has optional content as something extra for people who enjoy such things. And just because more experienced players might not get much use out of free respec points it doesn't mean the quest is useless or that the reward should be changed. Again, it's optional. You never know, one day you may accidentally pick the wrong passive or have a change of heart about your build. That's what the quest is designed for, those 'just in case' moments.

I'm quite sure that Blizzard knew that most of the side caves in D2 were optional and few quests as well. It certainly didn't stop them and it didn't make the game less enoyable or successful.

even for a veteran, access to some respec pts could ease the leveling progress : i'm thinking of : "mana gain on killing blow" btw. they are other one like that i'm sure.

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__Z__ wrote:

even for a veteran, access to some respec pts could ease the leveling progress : i'm thinking of : "mana gain on killing blow" btw. they are other one like that i'm sure.

That's a very good point. Often times 'veteran' players will spend points in passives for the early game and then switch them out later once their build is sustained. I've done this a few times myself just to get access to a few passives earlier than usual.

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FaceLicker wrote:

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__Z__ wrote:

even for a veteran, access to some respec pts could ease the leveling progress : i'm thinking of : "mana gain on killing blow" btw. they are other one like that i'm sure.

That's a very good point. Often times 'veteran' players will spend points in passives for the early game and then switch them out later once their build is sustained. I've done this a few times myself just to get access to a few passives earlier than usual.

I have done this a couple times. Also, without a confirm skill choice button, it covers up for those ocasional miss clicks.

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__Z__ wrote:

even for a veteran, access to some respec pts could ease the leveling progress : i'm thinking of : "mana gain on killing blow" btw. they are other one like that i'm sure.

This.

The respec points aren't useless at all. You can greatly speed up your leveling experience with a few of these passives in early/mid game, while they become useless end-game. This quest conveniently allows you to remove the training wheels.