Respecs

[Nebu]

/Rant on

What the hell is up with respecs in this game?  You make a character and plod up the xp treadmill only to discover that many of your powers are worthless or not in your general gameplan.  Now I'm stuck with a blaster in the mid-30's only to realize that in order to respec, I have to join some mission with 3 other people.  Sure, limit respecs... I can understand that.  Why can't I get them on my own?  It's not like I'm wanting an endgame raid or anything... I just want to fix a few things on my character without having to wait for a veteran reward or being dependant on other players (with questionable competency).  Grrrr...

/Rant off

[hal]

Well...ya. there not the worlds easiest missions either. The only bright spot is that this happens to allmost everyone. In order to have a viable charactor at lower levels you take el crappo attacks. The good stuff comes later.

[Strazos]

Nebu, what server are you on?

[Nebu]

I have most of my toons on Pinnacle.  I don't think I've managed to get anything past 36 before rerolling... that's like the endgame for me.

[Strazos]

Doh, I don't think I have anything on Pinnacle.

[Trippy]

Yes I agree that it sucks that there isn't a way to get a respec doing a solo Trial. If any game should have an easy method for respecing it's CoX cause there are so few powers that each choice can be critically important. I used to spend many hours with hero planners and on the Test servers trying things out because trying to get people to do the Trial can be so painful. I still haven't be able to get a group together for my final 44+ one cause my SG went defunct after CoV came out and I haven't been able to find people interested in doing it when I'm on.

[Llava]

If it's a Hero, you at least have a fairly simple set of missions to do.  Most pickup groups can handle it.

If you're a Villain, you're screwed.  It's a hard mission, most pickup groups fail (I base this on no statistics other than my personal experiences) and it's generally way more of a pain in the ass than it has a right to be.

[Trippy]

If it's a Hero, you at least have a fairly simple set of missions to do.  Most pickup groups can handle it.

If you're a Villain, you're screwed.  It's a hard mission, most pickup groups fail (I base this on no statistics other than my personal experiences) and it's generally way more of a pain in the ass than it has a right to be.

Trying to do the first respec at 24 in CoH was painfully hard for me because of the fucked up way they set the level to the highest level person in the Trial. Took a number of tries with different groups before I was able to do it (ironically the smallest, lowest level group was the easiest). At that level people don't have their full complement of powers and you *have* to get people around 24 to do it at that level. If you get somebody at 27 or higher just forget doing it unless you can get a majority at the highest level so people can be sidekicked. Plus you usually get at least one idiot who has never done it before and can't sit still for one minute and rushes into the final chamber before everybody is healed (from triggered the bombs, impatient fucker), equipped and buffed up.

[eldaec]

If you're a Villain, you're screwed.  It's a hard mission, most pickup groups fail (I base this on no statistics other than my personal experiences) and it's generally way more of a pain in the ass than it has a right to be.

The devs claim more than 50% of groups finish it.

I wouldn't know because I've never managed to run out of free respecs from patches, special events, and vet rewards on the villian side. As you said the hero side is pretty straightforward. I imagine the only problem these days is finding a group given how many free respecs veteran players are starting out with.

There is another free respec coming in I9, and if I were you I'd double check that you don't already have a free respec. I'm not suggesting for a moment that you aren't smarter than the average PuG member, but there have been a number of times I've grouped with someone who was complaining about the shortage of respecs, only to find that when I suggest they just try typing '/respec' they go really quiet and stand absolutely still for about as long as it takes to, ooh, I dunno, complete a respec.

All that said, imo they should give every character a spare respec on creation, and make sure that the 3 month vet reward has one (it might do already - I have no idea).

[Trippy]

There is another free respec coming in I9, and if I were you I'd double check that you don't already have a free respec. I'm not suggesting for a moment that you aren't smarter than the average PuG member, but there have been a number of times I've grouped with someone who was complaining about the shortage of respecs, only to find that when I suggest they just try typing '/respec' they go really quiet and stand absolutely still for about as long as it takes to, ooh, I dunno, complete a respec.

They show it now when you log on but it used to be really easy not to realize you had the free /respecs available.

[Jimbo]

Actually, the veteran respecs won't show up unless you have clicked on them.  Then they can't be used on the hero side until you go to Jack in Atlas Park (the one with Back Alley Brawler) and have him activate it.  The free respecs that the dev's hand out will activate with just /respec.  I know this as I wasn't paying attention, clicked on my veteran reward for respec, typed /respec, and didn't pay attention to the message, so I hit another free respec from the veteran reward, typed /respec and actually read what it said to do...

When you log in, you will get a message saying you have x amount of free respec's available, but it doesn't tell if you need to go claim them or if you can just type /respec.

[eldaec]

This just in....

We wanted to let players know that, as part of our celebration of the 3rd year anniversary of City of Heroes, we will be applying a free respec to all characters. So, if you have been wanting to change your powers around a little bit, switch up your power slotting or make other changes, this will be a good time to do it!

To get the most out of your character respecs, be sure to visit the Player Guide section on Respecification.

The actual timing of when the respec is May 1st, 2007

Remember you can only store one free-spec at a time. If you still have a free-spec on any character you should use it before 1st May, or you won't get a new one.

Afaik the last free-spec was with patch 7. If you haven't free-specced since then, you almost certainly have a free-spec already.

This replaces the previously anticipated I9 free-spec. Word from the devs is now that I9 will not carry with it a free-spec.

You use free-specs by just typing '/respec'. You do not have to visit anybody called Jack.

[Sky]

I've called them respecs so long (pronounced 'speck') that at first I saw respecification and thought it was a made up word until I remembered it's a soft 'c'.

I laughed at myself again.

[Nebu]

Thanks Eldaec, that's great news.

[Jimbo]

Okay, what I should have said is that there are 2 types of free respecs out there:

1. The free respec from the Devs granted every so often.  You can only have one of these active, so say I still have one from issue 7, I could type /respec and respec my character (I think one has a free respec from christmas of last year).  If I don't use that respec when issue 9 rolls out, I don't get the free respec from issue 9, because I have the one still hanging around from issue 7.  You don't have to talk to anyone or do anything special for them, just type /respec.

2.  Veteran rewards respec are given out at 9 months, 21 months, 33 months.  You may have all three of them stored up, they are in your badge area, you don't activate them untill you click on them.  Once you click on that badge that says veteran reward respec 9 months, it says veteran reward earned, you may now respec your character.  If you type /respec it says, "you do not have any respecs available at this time".  What happens is that they made it so it acts like you completed the respec trial, so you have to go talk to the reward person from it, for villians it is Arbiter Lupin in Nerva Archipelago, for heros it is Jack Wolfe in Galaxy City.  Then once you click on them, you can do your respec.

In theory a person who has 35 months played like me, can have 3 badges with respecs available and one from a freebie event (issue roll out or holiday gift) for a total of 4 respec hanging around. 

[Nebu]

Thanks for the info.  I've been playing since beta off and on, but rarely more than a month or two at a time. I think in 3 years I have 9 months of total sub time.  I'm left relying on the freebie on Tuesday.

[eldaec]

We will be making a Free Respec available shortly after Issue 10 goes Live. We will make a more detailed announcement post in the near future on the subject of the Free Respec.

[Lantyssa]

Interesting.  What need could they be having for that?  Adjusting IOs?

[Trippy]

Interesting.  What need could they be having for that?  Adjusting IOs?

Among other things they changed the graphics on Sonic so Sonic "offenders" may want to actually take the bubbles this time around.

[Phred]

Interesting.  What need could they be having for that?  Adjusting IOs?

I thought they threw in a free respec every issue whether it was needed or not. When is i10 going live? I may resubscribe for a month to check it out and get the respec.

[Lantyssa]

They often do, but the phrasing of, "We will make a more detailed announcement post in the near future on the subject of the Free Respec," sounds like there is more to it than simply being a while since their last free respec.

[Trippy]

Interesting.  What need could they be having for that?  Adjusting IOs?

I thought they threw in a free respec every issue whether it was needed or not.

Not exactly. Sometimes they are given out in an after issue patch. Sometimes they are given out right before the issue.

When is i10 going live? I may resubscribe for a month to check it out and get the respec.

The latest Test server patch had only two listed changes in it so I think they are getting pretty close to releasing it.

[UnSub]

Lighthouse has said that, assuming things go well with this last patch, I10 is going to be released very soon.

[Amaron]

Just thought I'd point out that they announced there would be a free respec pretty soon now that I10 is out.  If any of you already have a free respec you might want to use it since you can't have more than 1 at a time.

[bhodi]

Wasn't that granted already? I thought they'd give it when I10 was released.

I just checked, I have 0 free respecs remaining and 1 unclaimed respec. I'll be using the unclaimed one now, I guess.

[Trippy]

Nope.

[bhodi]

You're right, apparently I had a terra volta respec I never used. It's OK, I needed to use it anyway -- and I'll get another soon, which is cool.

I traded in my blazing bolt for super speed, and reduced slotting in aim and build up from 3 to 2, putting one in health and one in combat jumping for a total of two each. I am now an even more kick-ass fire/nrg blaster, and all I need to do is drop that 4-10 mil on the celerity:stealth for my SS and I'll be perfect.

[Amaron]

Wasn't that granted already? I thought they'd give it when I10 was released.

I read this last night and I dont remember when they said they'd grant it.  The message though said they were giving advance warning on the free respec so people would use up any they already had and thats why it didn't come out with I10.

[Typhon]

I still find their stance on respecs pretty humorous.  That Statesman still imagines that CoX is an RPG, where player decisions are part of the game and are the reason people play, is just funny.

Make is cost something (like WoW), or put a timer on it (to force players to give their choices a chance to play out), but to imagine that player choice in MMOs is anything like player choice in PnP RPGs is just demented.