You went to the extreme. Not that there’s anything wrong with (in my opinion) respeccing 30 times a day, I’d be happy with a day, or a two day timer, where it was cheap and affordable - and then increased significantly from there.
People want freedom to experiment and try other things, other builds, make use of other gear. If the cost to respec is “painfully” expensive (word right out of the dev’s mouths) it’s taking that freedom away from the player through arbitrary and unnecessary restrictions.
Not to mention something like a thorns barb may literally be rendered close-to-useless in some group content…