Why was free respec removed?

cyborgtemplar wrote:i tried a trap sin in a few different builds . . . . couldn't do hardly anything in a1 nm with a full set equipped. granted it was lacking energy due to the str/dex reqs of the particular gear so i wasn't expecting any viability in hell. However nm a1 shouldn't be taking nearly 7-10 traps just to kill one undead.

Assassins are a whole different topic that isn't really releated to respec. She definetly suffers pre-125 and that is something we will be addressing next patch.

That said, I've reached 125 and completed all ubers without doing a single respec on a scorp blade assassin, which is certainly not the best pick, at least compared to caster / shuri assassin (I don't have much experience with melee/nagi in current patches). I'm not saying it's easy, it required some nihla farming for 200+ signets in vit as well as a lot of jewelcrafting to increase HP pool and not die from barrels.

It took a lot struggle but I sticked to my gear plan of stacking poison damage, and eventually I killed astro with scorp blade, which is something I honestly thought I'd never see, but it felt great and accomplishing, compared to having done a respec, discarding all the progress I had done so far. At many points I was thinking if I shouldn't just respec to psi/cold and just re-craft all my gear. But instead of wasting time doing that, I commited to improving my current build in all ways I could, and it paid off. Plan A is always the best one.

Marco wrote:It took a lot struggle

He ain't lying look at that death count. That's what I call persevering!

Ben- is my teacher :mrgreen:

All hail Ben- !

haha ya, sin in melee in my experience is fine if you don't mess up blink and is using physical damage for the leech, at least for the farm content after sunless sea (that was probably the hardest level so far. k3k is a relatively simple since it's a lot of smaller attacks, which prismatic + high phys res is good at). bosses on the other hand I haven't been able to kill much outside butcher and the 25 stat charm. high dph is difficult when you need to be in melee at low hp low defense. but the elemental melee build with only life on atk/kill to sustain and no other means is tough. either you kill so fast your innate skill keeps you alive or you hope your merc can handle it.

as for respecs, i don't really mind them being limited in some sense. it's just the availability of how to build different paths currently isn't really there. if you're experienced you know which path to take or what mechanics you'll be dealing with and can build knowing that. When something is nerfed for balance you know why. newer players don't know these details and so any build they put together is a complete crap shoot if you aren't following a guide.

I've looked at some people have linked, and a common theme among the older ranged versions is using skele reanimate mo's as your front line since you lack one. Or on hit procs which have been sometimes cut in 1/2. I could follow them and test to see if it's viable without those items and relatively noticeable hits. but when nearly every item on a build has been hit like that it's difficult to trust investing into that path.

Well one thing you achieved @cyborgtemplar is to make me wanna play a sin and give it a whirl. I know what I'm doing tonight.

Marco wrote:Ben- is my teacher

Np

JonAC wrote:All hail Ben- !

Ty

Everything @Marco said here is music to my ears. Committing to builds rather than characters is what gives the player a sense of accomplishment. That said, here is an ideas that might work as a form of compromise:

- Make belladonna a guaranteed drop from A3 stat quest on top of the 5 extra stats.
- Same thing with A4 Hellforge quest.
- Alter the exp rates for pre-125 so that it is less painful to level up and test chars in case someone wants to try some new schtuff.

This would provide players with 9 respecs which should be more than enough. Because of that, the bella drop rate could actually be lowered much further. Perhaps even removed as world drop and kept only as unique drop from certain late game bosses like Astrogha. This would provide the player with a stream of sufficient respec potions on which he can rely throughout the early game but in case he does not need them, they can now function as a good source of currency early/mid season as they will now be a much scarcer resource worthy of being purchased for a good sum of TG. As for SP, 9 respecs are more than enough in most cases.

If this seems excessive, think about it as if the player bella drop rate is capped at 9 forever as they are removed from world drop, and he gets them early game. If 9 is too much, then make it like 70% chance from those quests and on average the player should get it like 6-7 times or so.

This is just an idea. Might actually be a stupid one. Not sure. But... something to think about at least!

I had a bella drop in cold plains yesterday while leveling my wolf dru. I was lvl6 at the time. The 3 other guys w me were completely new I think bc they were all standing around trash drops and I came running on screen and ... there lies a belladonna extract. Lol. I have personally found I think 5-6 of them now between 4- 110+ toons.

I can understand the frustration of needing a respec and not having one available. You need to have better planning of your progression as others have mentioned.

But it would be nice if the drops of bella was tweaked somehow.

It just - doesn’t make sense- that a respec item would drop in Act 1 Normal- cold plains. It is not needed this early in the game. Im not a dev or a median “expert” by any means BUT it would make more sense if bella’s drop was restricted to maybe late NM —> hell. And possibly increased ever so slightly.

Either way- it doesn’t bother me. It I screw up a toon I just reroll anyway. Leveling to 115 is a cakewalk in this game anyway.

Celladoor wrote:I had a bella drop in cold plains yesterday while leveling my wolf dru. I was lvl6 at the time. The 3 other guys w me were completely new I think bc they were all standing around trash drops and I came running on screen and ... there lies a belladonna extract. Lol. I have personally found I think 5-6 of them now between 4- 110+ toons.

I can understand the frustration of needing a respec and not having one available. You need to have better planning of your progression as others have mentioned.

But it would be nice if the drops of bella was tweaked somehow.

It just - doesn’t make sense- that a respec item would drop in Act 1 Normal- cold plains. It is not needed this early in the game. Im not a dev or a median “expert” by any means BUT it would make more sense if bella’s drop was restricted to maybe late NM —> hell. And possibly increased ever so slightly.

Either way- it doesn’t bother me. It I screw up a toon I just reroll anyway. Leveling to 115 is a cakewalk in this game anyway.

agreed up to 115 only has one difficulty and that's sunless sea in the 2 playthroughs I've had up to 115. Was slightly easier for sin if i abused blinks stun. if i missed a stun or lost momentum it's dead to rights. but if you just plow 100% forwards with liberal blinks, it's actually quite good at open content. everything is generally dead before the; AoE stun fades, limiting the physical area around you that melee's can attack into. it's when you can't stun, can't kill in a short span, and the individual hits get pretty high that sin seemed to struggle.

melee sorc was just an outright cakewalk at relatively every point. the angels in sunless sea had a fair bit of damage which was painful to sorc though (and trivial to sin, you just blink over it on top of them and gg), with the trash being more trivial to sorc and painful to sin if you mess up execution. Both of them hate tran athulua lol. damn arrowside is a real pain in my arse.