Then you basically have free respecs though.
I do think the system of skills powering up the more you use them could be a great system. As long as it completely discourages quick and frequent respecs back and forth between the same builds.
I am just trying to infer some time amount based on a comment in Blizzard’s blog post where they stated that at end game there would be a significant cost to respec that appropriately matched the time to reach end game. I assumed 40 hours to reach end game and 10 hours as a significant cost.
Pre=patch 1.13 in Diablo 2, you could not respec at all. Patch 1.13 introduced the respec mechanic.
Seems quite unlikely that Blizzard will make it take 40 hours to reach endgame.
As for respec cost. If there is a cost (and not something like the skill power boosting or a cooldown) then there shouldn’t be one price for all respecs. It should scale.
Some respecs should be essentially free (infrequent respecs), others should bd extremely expensive (frequent respecs).
Do you think it will be more or less?
My sense is that Blizzard would consider a character that completes guardian in the seasonal journey in D3 to be end game. I suspect they are envisioning a similar amount of time in D4.
Imo, It kind of depends on how much importance Blizzard places in the journey and destination aspect of Character building as well as Season activity.
If season activity is important or encouraged by Blizzard, then the question becomes how long does Blizzard intend to have seasons last. If seasons are of a short duration (less than 4 months on average), then yes I imagine that Blizzard would have it so that players could reach endgame relatively quickly.
On the other hand, if seasons are of a longer duration (5.5 months or more), then I can imagine that Blizzard could have the journey aspect of Diablo 4 last longer, which in turn would mean it’d take players somewhat more time in order to reach endgame.
Of course this is all under the assumption that endgame content requires players to be at cap level in order to participate (Personally I rather it doesn’t, but it is what it is).
Nah. Just a bunch of people all playing the same META build mandated by some website.
/yawn
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It’s too early to know to say for sure but my gut feeling says I’d play it the most if I can partially re-spec (semi-willingly) when get stuck but not completely have to “abandon ship” at the second or third sign of trouble
Having a limited full re-spec amount (like 3) and able to earn tiny/partials would probably be the best option to me. No partials feels like I need to invest a new campfire to change one piece of wood in it, and having full re-specs even with an increasing cost with timed cost reset sounds like doesn’t matter how long you build your campfire when you can buy a new one just around a several days/grinds instead
It depends not on respec, but on itemization. In D3 realities nothing would change, unless they reworked itemization and drop rate completely.
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Quite a bit less.
Maybe 10 hours. That would be a good amount. But since it is Blizzard, I guess it will be 30-60 minutes 
Then after a while, with powercreep, 30-60 seconds.
Really hoping they go for longer seasons. The short seasons is part of the problem with Diablo 3 imo. Supporting the whole speed-run mentality that infects most of the current game design.
The end-game should have time to breath, with a slowed down gearing process that allows us to feel the sense of progression. As well as giving time time to create multiple characters.
6+ months would be nice imo.
It should not slow down the content speed though. Could just have a patch at season start, and a mid-season patch for example.
Or by Diablo YouTubers or Streamers 
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I’m talking about the last 5 years playing D2.
I still play D2 each season.
It’s good that you know how to effectively google patch dates.
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Since I played the original diablo when it was released and bought the collector’s edition of D2 at its release, I am well-versed in the history of the diablo franchise. One of the things that I most disliked about D2 was how Blizzard handled respecs for the initial period of time after release.
This is what happens in game development after initial release…
They fix bugs and add QoL patches.
Having played games since before there were laptops in the world, I am very well versed on how things work.
I also know that noone remember all the patch dates and what was in patches in any game.
Again, google is our friend.
To be perfectly honest what you may have done is dislike the time playing before there were respects and loved you time playing after it was relatively easy to respect.
Do you hate your little brother when he was still in the crib that he couldn’t play chess with you or raid your sisters panty drawer?
Or are your memories with your older version brother, playing chess in the chess club in school and in chess clubs around the city having so much fun with great memories?
It takes 20 minutes to level from 1 to 70.
If there was a significant cost to respeccing, then people will make separate Group Speed Farming and Solo GR Pushing characters, where the first character is used to funnel gear to the second character.
People will also buy multiple accounts, as you would need 6-12 characters per class, for different builds, endgame activities, and solo vs group play, repeated every season if you want to keep old builds.
To play optimally, a person could well be forced to buy 8 accounts and play 100 characters per year.
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No, longer seasons mean the meta being stale for longer.
Seasons have averaged 4 months historically, which is long enough, but they’ve recently gone on for as long as 6 months, which is too long.
Drop rates also need to be tuned so that people can make a near BiS character within, say, 50% of the length of a season.
This ridiculous idea people have that a legendary should drop every 2 hours would mean it takes 3 times longer than a season to make a near BiS character. The build you’re making will out-of-meta before you’re even half way to making it!
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With seasons lasting 6 months. Sure. Maybe even less.
Well, I’d hope the concept of near-BiS means something somewhat different from D3, and more like having good items supporting your build. Rather than a specific set of named items.
Not sure why the meta would grow stale if you patch the game mid-season either. Besides, part of the reason behind the shallow meta in D3 comes from its shallow end-game. No need to repeat that either.
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You mean respec as in the current system of the game except there is a cost when you want to change spells? Because that sounds horrible. With the way the game works with there being no levels put into spells to increase their power and things like speed farming vs pushing and sometimes wanting to try out something it would be so bad.
I often play regular rifts for an hour before going to speed GR’s because the slight change keeps me interested and every now and then I feel like trying a handful of pushing rifts if I got some new item or just want to gauge my progress vs previous pushes. Considering there is often a difference between your T16 build and speed GR one (not only with the gold parts) this would suck for me personally.
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There shouldn’t be a meta. It’s a sign of a piss poor design. Modern games should be flexible enough to reward many play styles not force players into specific optimized roles. That’s what is stale.
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No meta means one unchanging optimal build forever.
New meta every season means new optimal builds to work out and build every 4 months.
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The same. I didn’t flip builds on a whim. Just a skill or June here or there depending on the gear. But again, D3 wouldn’t ever have significant costs, nor would there be a reason for them due to how it was designed. It was designed specifically to mild your build to the gear you got to expirement