When they said this is official release we came out of beta. Doesn't matter what you think or feel the game is released because they say it is and they own it.

the few demand it.

There are, in fact, a few polls on the matter. I've mentioned two of them here.

In short: Respec for 1.8 is popular. Respecs as an AUR feature are not.

Being popular or not has no bearing on whether or not they're a good idea for the game overall, mind you. Those two are entirely seperate concepts and CCP is well adviced not to confuse them when making their decision.

Firstly I think it's funny when people say "look how big this thread is, they have to give us a respec" as if this was a democracy and thread size equated to support. A good portion of these posts are me and others explaining why they shouldn't give us one in 1.8.

Secondly they made this post and posted it up top because one day the entire forums was flooded with posts about respecs. This post is an excuse for them to bury every other post on the forums, and not a confirmation or denial of a respec. The fact that they've remained silent support neither side.

Thirdly I don't know how many other "you better do blank or else I'll leave" posts have actually got any traction, but I don't think that phases them much. Just leave if you have a problem, player counts affect how they approach things more than anything, and I honestly think more people will comeback to try the new suits than leave because they didn't get a respec for it. Until they add a proper new player experience nothing else will sway the numbers much, and even 500 regular players leaving in order to facilitate a game that hopes to have an open market is a small sacrifice.

Lastly those of us who oppose a respec in 1.8 don't necessarily want them to never give us a respec, many of us would rather wait until the game is more balanced and complete. I agree with many of the arguments for one, but right now it would do so little in the larger scheme, and would make people think repsecs will come every time something changes, which was never their intended use. A game with an open market driven by supply and demand can't thrive in a respec culture, the balancing in game will do more than enough to sway markets.

Some of us are looking at the bigger picture, and since a respec at the release of 1.8 doesn't do anything to help a player who joins afterwards IMO it doesn't matter.

The 1.8 respec is not the end of the world either since we're getting some broad changes and supposedly the missing suits. The tricky part for CCP here is, if they choose to do a respec, to formulate their reasoning in way that can(read: will) not be used to justify one more, then another one rinse and repeat every other month.

CCP has to greatly improve their approach to game balance in order to make meaningful long-term decisions possible