Respeccing your character.

moosecatlol

With free to pay eclipsing all other payment models in the industry in terms of volume. Often times sacrificing many conveniences that would've been considered a normal feature for any RPG. This can include the respecialization of your characters, bag space, character slots, mounts, fast travel, or even the worst skills.

So lets say you made a game and you absolutely had to have a real money price on respeccing, what would you price the respec cost?

 

 

*edit* I could've kept going, because I know of some games that charge upwards of $30.00 to respec one character. However I would like to think none of you are that horrible.

Fusion

buck to three 1-3$

I think anything above 3$/€ is just begging for a punch in the face and being labeled as greedy (tho 99% of the MMO companies are these days)

This genre in no longer FROM gamers to gamers, it's from investors to investors.

Barrikor

When someone respecs a character, they'll probably be needing new gear, probably requiring another trip to the cash-shop.

An evil game developer would keep it free, and make it easy to do by accident.

Metanol

I actually prefer no respeccing at all, but if there must be a respec option, then it better be done through rare materials and ingame currency, not the good old american dollar.

PieRad

It's sad that we're at a point in history where the gaming community just bend over and take it up the ... repeatedly.

timtrack

One of those things that should never be charged real money for i think. If the game is built around specs they should be available through gameplay alone, not cash. Most games give you spec-options at level 10 or below, and by then you still have nowhere near enough knowledge to make proper decisions. It might, at the time, sound good with "+1% crit", but later in the game you realize that you are leaning towards a DoT-oriented gameplay. You are then stuck with extra crit when there were other options more suited to your prefered playstyle. Re-speccing is not a "convenience" in my book, it's a core feature (depends on game of course). It should be encouraged, not milked.

 

Why most games make it a money-sink in the first place is very "matrix-style". Go to a "trainer" and cash up, and he wipes your memory and implants new ones. I'd really like to see some innovation in this area right about soon.

Adamantine

Ugh.

Are you serious ?!?

I tolerate the "freemium" model of Vanguard simply because, as a subscriber, I get some of these "points" as well and can get the stuff other people pay for. Those things I really need, anyway.

And about respeccing, people shouldnt ever feel the need to respec at all in your game. Thats usually done to fix a problem with balancing. I heard in WoW its even done because people need to switch what role they play in a party. Thats kind of stupid, but whatever.

 

rockin_ufo

Wouldn't charge at all...what a pointless money grudging thing to charge for. I think Guild Wars 1 was really the only MMO to get respeccing right..

geel

All these horrible threads are so depressing. Bring back p2p puhlease!

moosecatlol

Originally posted by Robokapp

I voted 5-10.

 

because it completely redefines your character. its the gameplay equivalent of a character re-customization which I think in wow costs 10.

 

That's an interesting observation, as actually respeccing in WoW costs $0.09 according to gold -> USD exchange rate. Assuming that respecs are still capped at 50g.(I haven't played since Wrath)

Maybe I should've clarified by stating a respec for a characters talents/traits/feats/skills/attributes whatever you call them in whatever game you would apply this to. Not a respec in the sense of a new character class.

Also I agree that Guild Wars has the best respec system of any game.

waynejr2

City of heroes had a group mission that if completed would allow you to respect your character.

Vrika

I think it depends on how often respeccing would be needed.

If the game is built so that you want to respec maybe once or twice during your entire time playing it, then it's ok to charge a lot of money for respeccing. But if respeccing is something you'll want to do regularly, then there should be in-game alternative that costs no real money.

waynejr2

Originally posted by Vrika

I think it depends on how often respeccing would be needed.

If the game is built so that you want to respec maybe once or twice during your entire time playing it, then it's ok to charge a lot of money for respeccing. But if respeccing is something you'll want to do regularly, then there should be in-game alternative that costs no real money.

 Devs can't control your wanting.  If you want a raid build and a pvp build and need to change it depending on your mood, then I say that is a fine situation for charging.  Now, if bug fixes and nerfs change a class or some abilities a free respec would be good.  CoH sometimes gave out free respecs.  IIRC, CoH also gave a respec every 9  - 12 months as part of the vet rewards.