hurr durr mur sp 'cause balance

Discuss

Actually, if you think about it, it isn't a bad idea. CCP would be able to see what weapons are OP because everybody would spec into them. By making very small weekly nerfs, they would eventually know the found a balance when a relatively equal number of people specced into everything and STAYED there. Then we know every weapon is balanced. At that point, we get one more RESPEC, and thats it. No more changes to anything. This is honestly brilliant. No trollin'.

But most aren't gonna like it and if it's been posted already, my bad for being lazy.

How about offer unlimited free respecs so the unbalanced classes/weapons will show themselves in a quantitative form.

Would have worked better in beta but CCP pissed that opportunity away. And I know marketing would be 100% against this. But just think outside the box for a bit. CCP could about other things while not having to put brainpower/money into figuring out how to balance the game. It WOULD work a hell of a lot better than listening to this forum to get the job done.

Discuss

EDIT: Discuss and say WHY or WHY NOT.

good lord no
the ONLY respec you should EVER get is when you exit the battle academy, which is a suggestion i made a while ago

I made this suggestion too, until I created an alt to try out the academy. I graduated after like 7 matches. Didn't have enough SP to make it worthwhile tbh.

No. Unlimited free Respecs means there are no consequences to your actions. For testing purposes it is a good idea but they could do the same thing by introducing the proto item or whatever level they prefer and it will take no skills to use and cost zero Isk but it will be removed from your assets/marketplace after 1 week so no stockpiles.

Really quickly. What consequence are we so in love with? I mean, other than the almost solid assuredness that if you're not some spreadsheet nerd you're gonna misallocate something into total uselessness (or boredom), be stuck with it, and the eternal weapons nerf/buff cycle (which ALSO negates the notion of consequence) means that the train is a'comin' no matter how far off.
And only a week to try new gear. C'mon. We've already firmly established in other threads that reviewers who put in that amount of time don't know anything about the first scintilla of this game. Make it six months.

While this makes sense from a game balance testing point of view, it doesn't make sense from the money making point of view.

And here's a hint about how the world works: Money-making trumps every other incentive anywhere. Any time. Any place.

Here's the "free Dust 514" scam, err.. "money-making business model," in case you didn't know:

1. You choose something you like.
2. You see something that seems better or realize your set-up is ineffective or broken
3. You must either grind for more SP to make up for your mistakes, or buy AUR for boosters/gear to make up for it faster.

See? If you let people re-spec for free and infinitely, then it takes away a big incentive for buying AUR, which is all CCP wants you to do in the long run.

By the way, I did spend money on Dust 514 once, and I don't regret it. 7-day booster during the 3x experience week? Yeah. Best decision I ever made in Dust 514.

And don't forget, there is always another great option to avoid having to re-spec: Be very very patient. I got the re-spec on May 7 like everyone else, and I didn't spend a single point until May 15. I researched the forums quite a bit before making my decision, and did experiments with the new gear on alternate characters. Optional re-spec? Never needed it.