It is one thing to want a respec because you're just tired of the stuff you skilled into.
It is another thing to want a respec for new content since racial variants (especially for dropsuits) should have been there on release, but instead we were forced to spec into things that otherwise would not be our first choice to stay competitive because we weren't provided with all the options. This I think makes a respec completely justified, but its not the biggest reason.
Its a completely different thing when CCP is changing the stats, bonuses, and slot layouts of suits. Such big fundamental things completely invalidates our choices, like buying an expensive sports car, and then the manufacturers break into your garage, and change the car into an expensive tractor. The tractor may be a great tractor, but if you're a race car driver and not a farmer then you're screwed; in such a case, you would feel that a refund for that car is something you are entitled to, likewise I feel that the 1.8 changes mean that infantry deserve in an SP refund. This is the biggest reason why a respec is absolutely required.
The Minmatar logi is such an example.
Awry Barux wrote:
An example of the changes invalidating previous decisions: I generally run Min Logi, uplinks, hives, and a scanner. No rep tool because I'm not that kind of logi. I picked Min Logi for the hacking bonus (free complex codebreaker), which is being changed to a bonus to something that I have never used in the past and will never use in the future. That warrants a respec.
I thought the idea that these big changes warranted a respec would be clear and obvious to CCP, but CPM member Hans Jagerblitzen has informed me that its not guaranteed yet. This should be a guaranteed thing, not a maybe.
For those worried about the favorite-of-the-month chasers, the respecs do not create the the problems, its poor balancing that leads to FoTMs; they will just get nerfed and re-balanced anyway.
The fundamental issue is our choices not being invalidated. Many have claimed to oppose respecs because they say they want our choices to have meaning and consequence, but our choices need to be informed decisions to be meaningful; an uninformed choice is as meaningful as a coin toss. If the information (slots, stats, bonuses) about the things we chose changes, then the choice is no longer informed and meaningful since the information we made our choices on is no longer true.
So yeah, respec for 1.8 please, for dropsuit command at the very least. Ideally all infantry skills. Here is why:
Awry Barux wrote:
Skilling into a different dropsuit necessitates very different SP distribution. If someone is switching from logi to heavy, what use would they have for equipment skills? If someone is switching from Amarr sentinel to Cal sentinel, they deserve to move their armor SP to shields.