Thanks for reminding me - you also have tinfoil hat conspiracy theories that would literally never in a million years happen. Hyperbole, hypocrisy and tinfoil hat conspiracies. Sorry I forgot.
That is how Blizzard balances games. You must be new to Blizzard games. I can continue to argue this or you can refer to this post with almost 1500 replies.
This lunacy is still not helping me find what button to press!
Blizzard actually generally balances games so that most coherent builds can complete all content, usually even the most difficult. Nobodyâs expecting people to respec between bosses in a raid in WoW except world-first clearers. Youâre not ABLE to respec between packs in greater rifts in D3, and all of D3âs content can be completed by at least a half dozen if not a dozen specs of every class, so it certainly isnât âbalancedâ around the idea of everyone swapping specs between content.
Thereâs just no evidence that thisi s the case. If anything, its the opposite - they often make content too easy for some peoplesâ tastes because they want everyone to be able to participate regardless of spec. Nobodyâs ever accused Blizzard of balancing anything except MAYBE day 1 mythic raids âtoo tightlyâ. They always err on the side of accessibility.
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Not sure if serious or not, but the you right click on the skill for pc. I think its X on controller. Theres also a reset all button.
Thats a good point. I wonder if you could respec in the middle of nightmare dungeon or other end game
Great! Then you should be fine spreading your points across the skills for all your different builds!
This is just flatly untrue. There was zero reason to save points beyond level 30 and no information to be gained by power leveling to 70 that would help make this choice. Just as there is also no horde of people wandering around PoE with no points invested hoping someone will teach them how to use the internet. Sounds more like youâre thinking of leveling people to max in D3.
No, it is tying gold to optimization. If you want to experiment, do it at low level or spread the points around, then optimize once your experiments seem to be working.
When you reroll stats or farm/gamble new items or level glyphs, it is not always a power increase. You are doing it in support of a build and so if that build is bad then the cost you paid made you worse. Adding a gold cost to respec doesnât change that, it just changes the threshold between changing to try to optimize a build and changing for the sake of change.
The main thing the respec cost deters is constantly swapping between skill/item packages on a single character. That means no one needs multiple builds for different content types (they could make different characters for that purpose if they want, but itâs also reasonable to choose not to do that⌠it is a choice that has trade offs, instead of a choice that has a more powerful option and a less powerful option).
It also means that items you find might not fit your build even though your class can use them. Thatâs good, because it gives you a reason to trade or to make an alt and invest in a different experience, rather than short circuiting that experience by just getting the end product.
No, it is factually true. Because I very clearly recall doing it. You do not get to call my experience âuntrueâ. It is what I did. And it happened ALL the time.
Nobody would need it anyways. No developer is EVER going to balance around the idea that that is necessary. Theyâre not stupid. That would SO dramatically reduce the accessibility of the game and make it so unfun that it would just be an absolute flop. Nobody does it and nobody EVER would do it.
If you think the developer is stupid enough to entertain the idea of balancing around that, you shouldnât trust them to make a game. Like⌠if I legitimately thought ANY developer of a game I played was THAT absolutely and unfixably stupid that I felt there was any chance of them balancing around âforcing people to respec every time they wanted to do different contentâ I would never give them my money.
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Was curious so I hopped on the D4 planner. Some classes can do this. Like the Necro can invest 1 point into every skill and have each skill using their upgrade paths. They still have 10 points left over. The exception being that you canât invest into multiple Ultimates and Key passives. So if you were gonna do those -1 for KP and -3 for Ult = 6 points left to invest into whatever.
Using a variety of gear, like the Harlequins Helm that gives +4 to all skills, and other items with +toskillcategory or just +skill that youâre interested in. It seems completely possible to have a good enough build with the right items to still get by. Just like with free respec youâd just have to find the right items when youâd wanna switch up your playstyle. With the Necro at least.
Tried Rogue as well. You can do up to 2 to 3 from each category of skills not counting KP or Ultimates. 2 leaves you with 28 points left and 3 leaves you with 13 points left. This is with the skills and their upgrade paths selected each time. Doing similar itemization with what I stated above, youâd probably be able to throw together whatever.
Iâd also add that some paragon boards are actually pretty broad in what they can do, so you could even probably make a generic paragon setup that works for almost any skill setup.
Not saying these would be optimized builds, but completely possible youâd be able to throw together a build that could at least run endgame content, Just not effectively.
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Which most of the respecters have kept saying is a fine choice to make.
So I guess that is case closed!
Would more than likely still not be satisfactory enough to most. As they wouldnât have access to all. Not that they would use all of them and with the setup I stated for most classes, you would maybe respec a skill for another within a category that you havenât already have chosen within that category. If you just really didnât like said skill and wanted to try something else or just happen to find an item for something. Wouldnât cost much this way to change things around.
This is something Iâm willing to attempt on release. Create a broad build that can switch playstyles with the right gear choices. I already threw together a Rogue build that has access to both Marksman and Cutthroat skills, using Vulnerable, Slows, and a small amount of daze. Using Combo points. Paragon boards are overall generic ones that work with what is stated above. (Cheap Shot, Exploit Weakness, Cunning Stratagem) are the main boards, If you were gonna go Cutthroat/Marksman Hybrid the Tricks of the Trade board could be a good one to trade out with one of the other 3. Another option is also the Leyranaâs Instinct which could be swapped out with Cunning Stratagem if you decided to use inner sight instead of Combo Points. 
But to keep it broad, the original 3 are probably best for that (Cheap Shot, Exploit Weakness, Cunning Stratagem)
Friction is the cost if it is not negligible enough or too prohibitive in the eyes of the player.
- Iâd love to use that gear but itâs for a different build for this class and I donât want to pay the respec cost
- Iâd love to play a different build today, but I donât want to pay the respec cost or level another character of the same class ⌠I only have so many characters slots as is
- Iâd love to not have some skills be useless when I play with a buddy with a similar build that doesnât stack/overlap (Barb Shouts, Necromancer Curses, etc.)
- I love playing a thorns build, but it sucks playing it with my friends and their minion builds, but I donât want to pay the respec cost to play something else with them
In each of these scenarios the player has to contend with whether or not they want to pay the respec cost or make the decision to do the thing that would likely improve their enjoyment of the game.
As for your suggestion, I didnât realize those were both seasonal since the eternal is not seasonal in the current structure. Sure. I think I had suggested that in another thread ⌠jokingly calling it âroleplay modeâ since the one talking about the weight of decisions used Diablo being an aRPG as the reasoning. Those who wanted âmore weightâ or whatnot from picking a set build could play roleplay mode and have no respecs or very costly ones.
As far as a separate mode that has free respecs, I honestly donât want anything else except free respecs and Iâd gladly accept lower drop rates to get them; as Iâve also stated in other respec threads.
I simply want to be able to respec to use the items I have earned; not be taxed every time I want to swap between those things Iâve already earned.
Just like Iâd be annoyed if I was taxed every time I swapped between my different positions/roles in real life.
I donât want free stuff. I want freedom.
Disagree. The skill points have meaning because they are limited as are your skill slots. So you are making decisions as to how to allocate them.
Again, as I previously stated, there is no difference between
- JohnDoe plays specA always
- JaneDoe plays specA after a respec
In both, the skill point allocations have the same meaning/impact/etc.
The D3 part is pointless given there are no skill points to allocate.
The anecdote is fair as I donât think statistics exist (at least not for public consumption) as to how many players are holding on to their points out of fear of making a mistake due to the cost.
If you simply search online for âpath of exile respecâ, youâll find a treasure trove of people asking about respec, claiming they havenât used X amount of passive points, etcâŚ
This is just blatantly false and a couple strawmen.
- Free respecs donât keep you from swapping classes nor does it do away with the fact that we have to level up each class we want to play every season.
- Free respecs have nothing to do with infinite stash space. These are two separate things and trying to combine them like this is a gross strawman. I havenât asked for infinite stash space nor have I seen the others ask for it.
- We expect constant changes in balances and endgame content, and those of us who love to tinker with builds and game mechanics really appreciate free respec every time those things occur as they are new ground to tinker/experiment.
- Time sink for devs ⌠you mean creating new content so that we donât have a repeat of D3 with the content draught? If the devs want to keep us busy, they do that with providing us with things we want to do (end-game content), not forcing us to do things we have no interest in.
- if you find interest in replaying the lower-level, much-easier content ⌠nothing is stopping you ⌠not even free respecs.
- weâll be replaying that lower-level, much-easier content already every singly season for every class we want to play that season
Well first, thereâs the meaning in it ⌠who cares. I have server firsts in various MMOs from two decades of gaming. You know who cares? Absolutely no one.
Whether you beat the a game as a Frost Sorc or Lightning Sorc ⌠not much meaning.
Second, there are respecs in the game ⌠so there is nothing stopping someone from âbeating the gameâ as a Frost Sorc and then just respec-ing to a Lightning Sorc. The currently implementation of Respec Costs allows for this.
What Iâm wanting it to be able to swap between Frost Sorc, Lightning Sorc, etc. based on things like:
- what build do I feel like playing today
- am I playing solo or multiplayer
- if multiplayer, are there some fun combos we want to try today
- are there some build/mechanic I want to play around with today
All of that is geared towards having fun; not trying to find meaning where there is none.
Again, the current system of paid respecs doesnât present you with the challenge you are claiming to have.
As far as what we see in the genre ⌠the aRPG genre isnât exactly big. Iâd argue itâs one of the smaller and most stagnant as far as innovation as well.
In other *RPG genres weâve seen costly respecs go away, replaced by free or negligible cost respecs and the games not experience issues from it. Instead, the players love it. Guild Wars 2 is a good example of a game that started with costly respecs and later went to free respecs and it was wins across the board.
As far as you feeling gimped sticking with a build ⌠that is where you get to make a personal decision. Do you want to challenge yourself to see if you can squeeze more out of the build ⌠or do you want to see if you can improve your build? These are decisions which will impact how you play moving forward. They already exist even with non-free respecs. The cost of the respec simply tries to push people away from respec-ing even though it could be what would result in them having more fun.
I would like to make 5 characters (more when more classes are available) and farm for the builds for each of them that I feel like playing, meta and experiments Iâm tinkering with.
I donât think I should be taxed for putting down a dagger to pick up a bow. Iâm not in real life. I simply had to earn the dagger and the bow and now Iâm a big boy who can manage my inventory and have self-control to not just constantly swap between the two willy-nilly without some purpose 
No because a skill can be fine until you are suddenly playing multiplayer and it is useless because it doesnât stack with your buddiesâ skills ⌠good examples being Barbarian warcries and Necromancer curses.
While there are similarities, there are meaningful differences such as the above.
I canât speak to D2R. I do recall some of my buddies back in original D2 holding on to points. But if you want to really see a treasure trove of posts on the Internet spanning years, then just search for âPath of Exile Respecâ and youâll see all sorts of peopleâs anxiety (or other, more fitting, words) due to the respec cost in that game and how it has them hoard points, not experiment, etcâŚ
Instead of that games immense options for build customization being a source of immense joy, it causes quite a bit of unhappiness for players as the respec cost deters experimenting.
This is quite true and while youâll see me mention free or negligible-cost. They are essentially the same to me. I just donât always mention the negligible-cost because itâs tiresome. What is considered negligible-cost can also differ from person to person ⌠but then weâre getting super nit-picky.
You later speculated as to costs and I would just point out that itâs speculation in either direction. We wonât know how negligible or prohibitive the cost is/isnât until we get into the actual game post-launch; maybe the first season.
Agreed. So I think it is a vast improvement over D2 and Path of Exile.
However, until we see how negligible/prohibitive the cost is, there is concern that it could impede player enjoyment with regards to tinkering, swapping from single- to multi-player, etc. as Iâve mentioned before (I can elaborate again if youâd like, just ask).
If it is ânegligible enoughâ, then awesome.
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Penalizing?? 
Its a grinding game.
Effort + knowledge of the game = reward
You learn the game to maximize your reward of your effort.
I really like nothing is free. You have to put in some effort to get items, upgrades, respec etc.
And I dont mind grouping up to optimize the rewards in Helltides, vs worldbosses etc.
I dont suffer from antisocial personality disorder like some here, being totally freaked out by teaming up in this game.
In late game it will be raining gold, so respec cost wont be a problem.
I would love if there were a shortcut to respecing, like a level 100 encounter you could do with friends or randoms like the ubers.
Farm the keys, farm the organs, kill the ubers. I loved that. 
WoW is another example. Initially respeccing was highly prohibitive and theyâve been slowly removing barriers for it, and every time theyâve removed a barrier to respeccing it has been welcomed with open arms by the community.
The current skill UI is a one of the best Iâve ever seen among RPGs of almost any genre. They have long, deep skill trees full of a variety of impactful options⌠the ability to adjust your spec on the fly whenever you want, a UI that lets you play around with your skills without actually changing anything if you arenât happy with the outcome, the ability to save loadouts and swap between them easily⌠its beautiful.
Which is what makes it so jarring to come from one game made by Blizzard that has created such a SPECTACULAR skill UI with so much flexibility, creativity⌠and go to another Blizzard title and feel like youâve been transported back to the stone ages.
If they want a cost toss a random piece of gear on the ground each time they respec boom it has a cost.
Yes. I was a Tauren Restoration Druid in the guild Vae Victus on the Bleeding Hollow server back in the original days of Vanilla WoW. Even though we had several server firsts, I eventually quit (as did others) because of the costly respecs.
I loved healing, but it was very annoying being specâd as a healer when you were doing anything solo. The DPS players are mostly happy since thatâs ideal for the solo content, but Tanks and Healers were a bit shafted solo. Could do the solo content, just stupidly slower.
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ya, I leveled my priest holy, it was brutal back in Classic. My first main was a hunter in those days so that went smoothly, but my priest⌠holy crap that was a grind. All the props to anyone who played vanilla and leveled a priest the old fashioned way, especially since shadow was terrible in vanilla lol
Itâs not ludicrous at all people literally use a 3rd party utilty in PoE to ensure they donât mess up their builds.
Itâs not a good start. It doesnât fix the problem, it just adds friction in a place that doesnât need it.
I would imagine everyone here has seen the skill tree. Itâs like the very definition of boring and unimpactful.
The unfortunate truth is your skill build is just to compliment your gear layout, not the other way around. You donât really have a lot of control what gear the game throws at you
This is far more true at max level than during the leveling process as well
If someone wants to build a pure fire mage. Regardless of what the âmetaâ says Iâm all for it.
But if that same person just starts getting nothing but ice and lightning legendaries and feels a need to be switching back and forth on the road to their goal because they feel theyâre falling behind I definitely donât want them getting disheartened either.
Adding in roadblocks to keep people from wanting to experiment and and feeling like they canât fix and tweak as they go along seems like it is far more likely to promote everyone ending up in the âmetaâ build whether they actually enjoy it or not.
Personally I think having to rotate the boards to line up just right and filling out 280 nodes is probably punishment enough for a respec.
Seems like it would be a pretty lengthy process
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If you actually think any bosses in diablo are âbalancedâ to that point you kind of suck at the game. You canât balance to that level or certain classes flat out couldnât do the content.
Ya, its the biggest of tinfoil hat conspiracies. Not only would no developer do that because itâd be shooting them in the foot⌠but Blizzard specifically doesnât want the game to be that restrictive. Theyâve NEVER wanted their games to be balanced to that much of a knifeâs edge. They value their games having a wide audience, which - by nature - means they have to balance it more loosely. Blizzard is - in fact - frequently accused of balancing for the lowest common denominator.
So like, its not only not a real fear in ANY game, but its PARTICULARLY not a real fear in a Blizzard game.
100%. The more roadblocks you put in the way of experimentation, the more you herd everyone to maxroll.