I'm not certain if I fully understand the intent of your response. But I think I get the gist of it. I personally do not need or require a respec. Hell, once they do the future revamps and add in all the new stuffs, I still wouldn't care if I ddin't get one. Why? Because like you I planned ahead and did a little research before spending my skill points on the stuff that I did.

So why did I make this posting? Because more and more in public matches I hear squad and team-mates complaining about how they want a respec and when is the next respec. Some hate taht they wasted their points on a vehicle that is now somewhat worthless to the goals that they originally intended. Other found that a weapon they originally enjoyed is now nerfed and no longer fun. Others still just didn't understand the skills when they bought them.

So in the interests of trying to maintain the number of satisfied players in the game while retaining the older/veteran ones, would respecs for AUR be a good or a bad idea?

0 Aurum, just a -35% reduction in total sp

A loss of 25% total SP seem like alot to me.
I have hit 4m total sp recently and losing 1m of it just to get back that 1.4m that i put into the wrong place.
i would lose 1m while only gaining 400k.
sounds a bit over the top for me.

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.)

I have no issues with a respec being sold for AUR. Personally I would rather see something like a 2 or so month cool down rather than a SP penalty. Maybe an SP penalty is okay, but loosing SP that you likely paid for to then pay to reallocate SP feels off.

I think it would make sense to allow 1 free respec every 12 months and also give an optional respec to new players at around the 30 day mark. Around the 40,000 AUR mark seems to make sense.

So in one, it overly penalizes the player for the ability to change one skill. In another it's just not good business to remove SP. And finally, SP are akin to AUR to begin with. So why charge AUR and SP when SP = AUR and it's bad business to take money (ie. SP) away?

1 - How much should an Aurum respec cost?
NONE. It will only reinforce the stigma that Dust is pay-to-win.

It would do nothing for the game except cause even more "I want a respec", "When's the next respec", " Respec for Aurum" or "CCP you suck give me a respec" threads. Refunding SP will not keep players, add players or make them happy for more that a week or two. There are few cases where refunded SP would make the game better. We need to focus on making the game fun by adding content instead of wasting time typing junk on the forums. Use the search and find one of the 1,000 other threads with the exact same title and message.

1 - How much should an Aurum respec cost?
NONE. It will only reinforce the stigma that Dust is pay-to-win.

2 - How often should they be allowed to happen per character?
If we are ever forced into living with respecs, I would say no more than once a year. Eve Online's Neural Remap system (which is nothing like the respecs you know) is offered only once a year to Eve players.

3 - Should free respecs ever be allowed again?
Only when content has been added in such a way that results in A) most or all racial weapons/suits/vehicles are added and B) when the skill tree has been overhauled to the point where it's more practical to just simply give everyone an automatic FREE respec.

4 - Should a respec be "bankable?"
Hell no. Don't let it stack. If you fail to use the respec in the allotted time, you lose it.

5 - How might this affect the fiction or back story of the game (if we care)?
No impact on the back story at all. However, it will greatly impact the overall gameplay for the players.

I think there should never be paid respecs. That would finally make this game P2W like most other F2P games (Which most of them that are P2W fail pretty hard)

Best way for CCP to make money is selling cosmetic items. If they did that I will actually buy more AUR again.

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

This will ruin the balance CCP has strived to fight against the "pay to win" issue so many f2p games suffer from.

Being able to respec like your last fit is going out of style with your pocket book and specialize where ever to put your skills next is a terrible idea for DUST.

Many games have done this even subscription based games where you can just respec you maxed out character and everything you worked for or put into your character was meaningless as your just a blank shell again..

My OCD goes off crazy when i open my skill sheet and see skill points that could of been better allocated... But that's the entire fun of building and developing your Mercenary. and one of the key factor's to Dust's player time investment.



So no against any respec's ever again in DUST. SP reimbursement for skill changes? sure.

your point is null and void.

again, if you have to live with your choices, why were tank players allowed to reinvest their SP into suits after the patch. they should from the beginning be only able to reinvest those SP into tanks. either everyone has to live with their choices or no one. how often did CCP devs changed the premise on which you decided to invest SP into something? plenty of times, and those people did not get a reallocation with their points! CCP often made your decisions null and void, thus they didnt matter in the first place.

beside that, if you do not understand how respecs actually speed up balance process then you have anyway no crediblity

I have played more games then you would imagine, where respec's weren't available and then magically became available... It ruined the balance in every single game.. made giant FOTM cookie cutter builds rampant from one build to the next... it ruined diversity in every single game.. Biggest example is World of Warcraft...

They completely changed all the skills around the tank tree. This is history in CCP even with EVE. They will reimburse any skill points invested into that area... specially when they do a ground up rework... It has happened for longer then most people on these forums have been playing PS3.

Everyone's including your argument is completely based of what YOU think is "fair" and its not even a balanced concept... and one we have already done and saw the outburst of FOTM cal logi's everywhere with TAR's....(After they got the respect and saw the imps all running cal logi with TAR's)

Respec's have killed the biggest title in gaming down to the smallest... and in a F2p game with a persistent skill system like DUST it breaks so many aspects of it.


And go troll credibility some where else... pathetic.

There needs to be a content threshold to be reached before a respecing system is introduced. Given the way that the game has changed and continues to change I am of the mind that once the skill tree is reworked, the suits themselves, and the other racial variants introduced there should be a final free respec. The game is still being balanced, tweaked, gutted, and frankenstiened back together again (see current vehicle redux and eventual rebalancing for a small example). This is still the beta - regardless of the press release that this is an official and full game - and the players know it. Hell, even CCP has talked about how much work the game needs ("eating their vegetables" i believe is how they phrased it).

There will be a balancing point, and least one where most can agree that the game is functioning well, offers versatility, and is a truly competitive product vs other popular shooters. When that point is reached there should be a respec. And when that is offered and we can invite our friends to play this game without the constant frustrations that the players and devs constantly deal with right now; then we can expect no more respecs because of reworking - until years later.

However, a system for respecing should be implemented to further appeal the the standard gamer customer base. It is a game that is in the EVE universe, but is not designed for the narrow niche of players that EVE serves. Different consumer = different tactics/offerings. This is how I see it progressing.

This is and always will be the worst possible idea to come out of these forums.

Just throwing that out there.

The WORST.