Orb of Regret Change

Hi there,

I would like to touch on something that was discussed numerous times in the past and mostly to the same conclusion. Passive skill tree resets, passive reset points and Orbs of Regret in particular.

TLDR: Add deterministic Passive Reset Points farming to a league mechanic.


Before I go into my perspective, I will list some things that are frequently said on this topic:
- PoE incentivizes a multiple character system.
- If you want a different build restart a character, not reset an existing character
- The more experience in the game you have, you level faster and spend less time to start a character from scratch
- Using Orbs of Regret is for fixing an existing build.
- You can trade other currencies for Orbs of Regret
- Full Reset should be difficult to do
- Easy Full Reset can affect balance for races, events and ladders.


Most of these points listed above I agree with. From a balance and semi-competitive angle, the reset system should be difficult enough that it won’t be abused. More specifically until around level 75, a full reset should be prohibitive.

Another thing that comes out clearly is that a veteran player does not actually need reset points. They play the game efficiently, know the ins and outs of the trade system and do not make big mistakes with their passive tree.

There lies the dilemma with PoE’s reset system. The people that need the reset system the most, new players, can’t use it. Recheck the list I gave above. Each point listed above is either something that does not apply to new players and / or is exceedingly frustrating for them.


The main reason, as I see it, is that reset points are gated behind a currency system.

Orbs of Regret is a random drop currency that has no reliable way to farm them and thus difficult to get your hands on. This actively discourages a new player from learning the game by themselves. If a player wants to full reset for example, they must farm an exalt’s worth of currency then trade to get the Orbs of Regret. For a veteran, doable, for a new player, a very hard nut to crack.


I propose the following: Add a way to gain Passive Reset Points through a league mechanic that players can opt out from. This idea stems from the design philosophy 3.17 has introduced with the redesigned Atlas. GGG made it possible for player to deterministically play the content they want to play. This allows players to chase for certain rewards and mechanics they want to engage in.

If done like this players that want to reset a large portion of their passive tree, they can farm the specific content to achieve this. This means that resetting passive skills will now be deterministic instead of random. The rate and ease players can gain these points can be balanced by GGG to not negatively impact races, etc.

I also suggest perhaps removing the Orb of Regret entirely, which will increase the currency drops players actually want.


What the league mechanic specifically is, GGG can look into. To stop excessive Reset Point farming, I suggest that a player’s Reset Points is capped at 200.

This suggestion does not completely solve the issue for new players. It is still hard to fully reset a character, but it is far clearer to understand and not as nebulous as random currency drops. It is a goal that can be chased.

Thank you for Reading


Edit: The main suggestion is that farming reset points through a league mechanic should be considered. It seems people hate the Labyrinth more than I thought so I removed that part.

Oh great, more Lab runs.

Just don't....

Easy solution would be granting respec points as you level up, for example, 1 respec per level. The problem is that the orb of regret is somewhat redundant as people never need 10000 respec points, several hundreds of respec points would be more than enough if you are just tweaking things.

I suggest to introduce a new, rare currency that allows you to fully reset skill tree which facilitates testing new builds as you dont need to mannualy reset your 100+ skill points.

I used to feel similarly, back in 2016 or so. Since then currency is easier and easier to obtain, so as the game stands I don't feel orbs of regret are too rare.

Honestly, I think regret orbs should be far rarer than they are currently. I finish most leagues with thousands of them, because they really don't do anything other than fix mistakes.

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kaijyuu2 wrote:

I used to feel similarly, back in 2016 or so. Since then currency is easier and easier to obtain, so as the game stands I don't feel orbs of regret are too rare.

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ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate wrote:

Honestly, I think regret orbs should be far rarer than they are currently. I finish most leagues with thousands of them, because they really don't do anything other than fix mistakes.

These two points illustrates that Orbs of Regret is perhaps a mechanic that is outdated. As said, regret orbs are not that valuable for the average player. A different way to earn reset points that is deterministic, not through currency, I think needs to investigated.

Thank you all for your feedback.