I'd prefer not to see respecs at all as I think they devalue the investment we all make in our mercs, which in turn takes away one of the key differentiators of Dust.

That said, I understand why they may be appropriate when CCP make wholesale changes to the skills structure of the game.

I guess I could also support a (partial) respec system that preserves the investment somehow. For example, it might be possible to "untrain" levels of skills, which would return a portion (60% maybe?) of the SP spent, as an accelerator to SP earned. For example, if you spent 320K SP on level 5 of a skill, untraining it would double your SP earning rate until you'd earned back an extra 192K SP.

I can imagine an Aurum booster that reduces the proportion of the SP that is lost, and I can also imagine CCP dynamically changing the loss % for specific skills in specific situations: setting the loss to only 15% on vehicle skills after a vehicle rebalance, for example.

If you are doing that, I would it rather it cost no aur and be at a 60% reduction in total sp

If this is a full respec, you should have to give up 25% of your lifetime SP.

Hell no

Money bought respecs are a benefit to online games both free and paid for. Look at Dcu online. If a person wants to pay to spec into something else they feel is a better suit for their playing style then let them. It's a brilliant idea.

You have to give something up to get something. It's the way the world works. Or you could just use that infinite amount of lifetime SP you get to spec into another role while keeping the one you have. You don't need proto to play a new specialization on the first day.

An interesting idea. I know in EVE Online, if you are killed while in a clone that is not fully up to date, then you can loose a percentage of your skill points. Since there is no clone upkeep mechanism in DUST514, maybe this would be a way to accomplish that style of skill point "sink."

But if there is a 25% loss, do you also mean that there should be no AUR cost for the respec? So the idea would be that if a player doesn't want to pay AUR for a monthly respec, then they can instead pay 25% of their current skill point total to get one? Would this idea still be compatible with the respecs for AUR?

Interesting ideas...

Things I like about Respec for Aurum: gives players a choice, gives CCP income

Things I dont like about respec for Aurum: adds to the Pay to Win argument

Comment: if CCP allows players to sell Aurum for isk ( the way they do with Plex) this could help to reduce the P2W contention

in eve you don't lose a percentage of you sp. you lose your biggest skill. even if it took you 2 months to get. it's gone, and gone forever.

Money bought respecs are a benefit to online games both free and paid for. Look at Dcu online. If a person wants to pay to spec into something else they feel is a better suit for their playing style then let them. It's a brilliant idea.

You realize that this would make the game p2w right?

At least make an ISK respec (that doesn't cost something ridiculously high like 50m)

Ok, I could be wrong about the percentage thing, but it does loose you the "biggest skill" ie. the last skill trained to level 5 (or if you have no level 5 skills the last one trained to level 4, etc.). You loose those SP forever, however the skill can still be trained back, so I'm not certain where you are getting the "gone forever" part from.

I think it's a terrible idea to have a respec in any fashion. doesn't matter what you lose, or what you spend, it's still a bad idea.

it takes away the weight of your decisions, and it compounds small balance problems within the game.

no respecs. ever.

it would be far more than 50mil.

You realize that this would make the game p2w right?

At least make an ISK respec (that doesn't cost something ridiculously high like 50m)

[quote=low genius]No. You do realize that only 100 people would be able afford that right? But.. Screw time and investment I should just throw cash at my PS3

Do you know how long it would take to complete all the skill books?

If you spend 2mil SP on something, just to have it changed a few weeks later, before everyone else, then no it should matter what you use.

What if I made everything you had useless? Nope don't be upset your SP and time doesn't matter at all

Real money for respecs = pay to be FOTM which is essentially pay 2 win which would be very bad for the game

I can just as easily just pay for a booster and use those added skill points to skill into the FOTM. What's the difference?

You actually have to play the game as well with the booster. Also if you max out weekly with 30 days active and passive boosters both you get little over 2.3 million SP which gets you proto in a new suit or maxes out 1 new weapon. An Aurum respec lets you completely rearrange what could be what about 27 - 30 million SP for some people right now? That's a big difference

How about having it like EVE's attribute system? Where you can set them once a year but a respec?

After the respec due for implementing basic content;

40,000 Aurum. (Less, and you demean the value. More, and you eliminate a potential source of income.)
Available once every 720 hours. (Again, longer cool down, less profitability.)
No SP reduction. (Removing bought SP is just bad business.)