Good news for chronic respecs
by Amanda Miller 
Feb 1st 2008 at 7:30PM
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With all of the buzz related to patch 2.4 lately, I wanted to take a moment to look at one particular change that our friendly neighborhood healers and tanks will really appreciate.Respecs have always been a bit of a pain in the butt. Unless you are willing to align and keep your talents so that you are proficient at one aspect of the game, but weakened significantly in all others, you likely find yourself paying through the nose periodically to change your specialization and talents.
In fact, healers, tanks, and hybrids can find themselves making the switch several times a day, sending their expenses soaring. Well, once patch 2.4 hits, your costs will be subsidized. Thyvenne on the European forums let this information slip.
Specifically, although you will need to still pay for the actual switch, you will no longer be asked to shell out gold to relearn talents and spells from your trainer.
I think we should dub 2.4 patch day "Hybrid, Healer and Tank Appreciation Day". Well, we might look for a catchier name; something with pizazz.
Will you be making use of this change? Are you jumping out of your seat with excitement, or are you feeling somewhat clueless right now? Along those lines, are you addicted to respecs, or do you feel pressured or even forced into them?
Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Warrior, Patches, Blizzard, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tcgjarhead Feb 1st 2008 7:39PM
Im sorry but is this really good news? It only cost around 4 or 5 gold to relearn talents. Compared to 50 gold for a respec im not very impressed...
Dave Feb 1st 2008 7:42PM
It's not the money.
If I'm reading it correctly, it's the training part of it too such that if you're L70 and you spec Pyroblast, you'll instantly get max rank pyro, rather than start with the basic entry-level pyro.
This means no more "I'm in a hurry to respec for a raid, lol oops I forgot to re-learn all the higher levels of the talented skills" stuff that you KNOW happens every once in a while.
It's a stupid thing to have to change, but a very very obvious one that should have changed a long time ago.
skbid Feb 2nd 2008 4:22AM
No, it IS the money that is the reason that this needs to change. While you are leveling up you should be able to experiment with different builds to see what works best for your style of play and the gear you have. After you reach 70 you should be able to select 1 skill for each of the talent trees and be able to switch between them at will with NO charge. If you want to change the builds you have selected then THAT'S when you should be charged. You also should have the ability to select between armor and weapon sets without having to fill your bags full of armor and weapons. They should be selected just like changing your specs. possibly a 5 second cast time with a 5 minute cooldown or something.
skbid Feb 2nd 2008 4:38AM
Let me help you understand my thought about having 3 separate builds at the same time...
I play a rogue, so I'd have 1 build for each of the talent trees:
Assassination
Combat
Subtlety
If I wanted to switch between the 3 builds I would just click on a tab or whatever and after a cast time POOF. I'm now a completely different rogue and then I can change my armor set and weapons to complete the change. That way you can have talent and gear builds for PVE, PVP, and RAIDING.
Now if I ever wanted to say change from combat maces to combat swords, I would then have to pay to make the change to the talents for that build.
The same can be done for any class since there are 3 "trees" for all of us.
Now even though there are 3 trees, you won't necessarily have to spec heavy in each of them, after all you choose how to spend your talents, but you are limited to only 3 builds.
So in theory, I can be a combat mace, combat swords, and a combat dagger rogue all at the same time and just change my build and weapons to suit my mood.
I hope this makes more sense, if not, sorry it's late and I'm tired.
Zach Feb 1st 2008 7:46PM
Yes, it's helpful, but I'm still getting poor. I re-spec about 5 times a week (8 times last week). The auto max-rank is a time-saver, not a cost saver.
Zhalseran Feb 1st 2008 7:56PM
woo so I save like 2 gold o_o
mizatt Feb 1st 2008 7:57PM
This isn't enough. There's no reason respecs should cost what they do or work the way they do. It's stupid and it's just a hassle for players who want to enjoy both PVP and PVE. They should either lower the cost significantly or allow the player to save a couple of different specs and switch between them at no cost or for a much smaller fee.
It bothers me when there's aspects of the game like this that seem to have no purpose and pigeonhole players.
Magnetite2 Feb 1st 2008 8:07PM
I've never played any other MMOs much - how does WoW compare in this regard?
matt Feb 1st 2008 8:48PM
Everquest 2's system is almost identical, but a little cheaper (30 days after your initial respec, it resets to 10 gold, according to what I read).
OTOH, EQ2's is more for experimentation-- the game doesn't require as many roles, in general. For example, there are no BGs. It's my impression that you wouldn't generally respec multiple times a week as a matter of course, but I don't play, so someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Ironhide Feb 2nd 2008 9:15AM
you are pretty much correct about EQ2, your not so pidgeon holed with your specs.
WoW uses its talents to create almost 3 "subclasses" per class. They have 9 main classes and 3 subclasses for about 27 classes, essentially.
EQ2 has 24 classes already, and each class has 2 areas with roughly 5 trees in each. While you generally find raiders to roll with a certain spec for their class, you chose your role when you choose your class, not your spec. For instance the Prot War is like the EQ2 Guardian, the Fury War like the EQ2 Zerker. Both the Guardian and Zerker have the same first area with 5 tree's and a separate class based second area with 5 trees. Its alot more flexable and doesnt require respecting to perform a different role.
mattarin Feb 1st 2008 8:13PM
i am a arms warrior and lots of ppl want me to respec to protection. my guild needs more tanks tho. my current build is 41/5/15. i have respecced a few times to find out what works best for me and i plan to stay this way and feel comfortable playing this way so i just say "i am playing the way i want, not the way you want or need me to play". so if you are a priest but shadow and your group needs a healer just say what i would say.
Dave Feb 1st 2008 8:21PM
You realize that you won't actually be tanking anything without being Prot spec after kara right?
I mean you can get away with the idiotic "I do what I want" attitude for a while, and that's fine... but to actually do what needs to be done when raiding, it doesn't matter how you play when a certain spec has distinct advantages over others with regards to helping everyone out.
Jack Feb 1st 2008 8:46PM
Yeah, this'll save me no more than about 2 gold per respec, which, though nice, shouldn't be viewed as a great boon to respec-ers.
Milktub Feb 1st 2008 9:46PM
Lame.
I'm a prot warrior. I never respec. I can tank well, and I haven't noticed much of a change in soloing from my arms days.
Yet another "PvP needs trumping PvE balance". I hate PvP.
jp Feb 1st 2008 10:19PM
This is a very tiny change and insignificant to 50 gold.
BOO
Dave Allen Feb 1st 2008 11:04PM
Speaking just as a warlock respec costs are just rediculous, even with the change its still 100g each time. For example spec'ing to tank Leo the blind and back (100g), spec'ing to do Arenas and back (100g). Respecs should just be free to be honest, I mean just what is the reason for charging players simply to adjust their skills neccessary to do the content Blizzard put there in the first place?
Bresh Feb 1st 2008 11:43PM
Wanna know the reason why it costs money to respec?
Two words. Money. Sink.
In order to keep an MMO economy running, there has to be some outflow to try and keep pace with the influx of money people make from questing/grinding. Don't counter it and you run into the problem of making the economy totally inaccessible for any new players (which we all know there are). Inflation would run rampant, and money would eventually be meaningless ala D2. That's why you'll never see respecs be free. Just be thankful they saw fit to bless us with a hard cap that it will never exceed.
Bresh Feb 1st 2008 11:38PM
Someone asked how this stacks up to other games. Someone else responded via EQ2's respec system. Now for some real perspective to shut up all you whiners:
In SWG everything was skill based and you had trees. You only gained xp by actually using those skills. And once you decided to drop a skillset, or entire tree, you had to start all over at the beginning to work your way up. This had the effect of actually making you THINK about your spec, instead of paying for the FotW build like we have in WoW.
In UO, you had a set number of skill points that you could spend across all the skills (750 iirc). Again, you only gained those skills by USING them. To change? You had to set a skill that you didn't want to use to 'lower' and one you did to 'raise', while setting the others to 'lock' so you didn't acidentally raise others. Again this had the effect of making you think and have an investment in your character long term. You were never locked into any set, but you had to work to switch a spec. Granted, this was back in the day when MMO's were actually a challenge/time consuming unlike the casual friendly WoW (not that that's a bad thing).
So, everyone still wanna whine about your ability to pay 50g and totally change your character? It's not like 50g even means anything in TBC either. As far as I'm concerned, the cost post-60 should be commensurate with the amount of money you're bringing in, raising the cap to 75, or maybe 100g. As it stands, you can EASILY bring in 25g just questing or farming once you hit 70.
Now, all that being said... I do think they should give us the ability to save 3 different specs that we can switch to at will via the skill trainers for a slightly decreased price (maybe a 5g discount). They implement that, and I'd be impressed, but the current change is, as it stands, a total non-event and I think it'll be greeted with a collective 'meh' from the playerbase when it comes to monetary savings. Time/flub savings, probably a bit more of a lukewarm 'meh', but still.
Kamileon Feb 2nd 2008 12:38AM
Meanwhile, in Guild Wars, anyone can respec in any town, for free.
klink-o Feb 2nd 2008 12:45AM
Simply because some other game's system was bad, or the economy is poorply designed, is no excuse for why respec costs are such a burden on some classes. They little purpose in the end other than being annoying.