While it would be more interesting to have unlimited, free respecs, I believe that, along with the "no skill cap," it eliminates some of the skill and wisdom from the game. With free respecs, then, while the ability to experiment is there (which I like), you don't really have to think as much. You can just sorta swap out whatever you like whenever you like. It removes the aspect of the game where you really have to consider what skills you want and think about what you are actually doing.
So, I assume, that many of you are playing Rear Admirals right now. Well, I am going to guess that you were able to experiment a bit at Captain before you reached Admiral. I know I did. I decided that I needed to start figuring out exactly what I wanted. Well, I changed my build like 15 times between Captain 1 and Admiral 5. I finally decided to go with healing on my sci ship, and I have stuck with it. Of course, it was weak for a while before that because I didn't have access to Sci Team III or Hazard Emitters III, but I realized that I would have the opportunity to respec when Season 1 came out.
I also talked to various members of my fleet and people with/against whom I played in PvP (also with my Klingon). They gave me a good idea of what to get.
In the week before Season 1 came out, I jumped on Tribble and checked out what I wanted to respec. I played around a bit and figured out exactly what I wanted.
Honestly, I can live with being locked into one or two builds/ships. I don't need to be swapping out every PvP match because I lose or something. I am more concerned with figuring out my one main build. My secondary build would most likely only have different bridge officers and maybe different consoles/weapons, but I keep the same weapon and console types in both builds.
For the record, I think they should lower the number of merits to do it to maybe 15,000-18,000, but I can live with 20,000
The whole issue? As far as im aware Cryptic is one of the very very few companies that uses respecs as a way to make irl money. Most MODERN games offer it extremely 'cheap' using in game currency.
Thats not true. CoX charges for respecs if you have used all the in-game ones up. They also charge for additional character slots and server transfers.
Most MMOs that don't charge for respecs have some kind of diminishing return on the to prevent overuse of the respec system. Either way, you're not supposed to respec whenever you want, however you want as often as you want.
Ok, since there are still some idi*** around who don't get it:
- While leveling up you get a free respec upon reaching a new rank.
- If you are already rear admiral, you still got 1 free respec.
- Additional respecs can be purchased using merrits / honor in-game.
- More additional respecs will be granted if Cryptic applies a major skill change and / or new skills.
.... and only if you are either dumb as hell or still think that all those opportunities to respec are not enough do you have one more option to use:
- You CAN use Cryptic points (= real money) to buy even more additional respecs from the C-Store. You DON'T HAVE TO, but YOU CAN if you WANT.
And, of course, if you feel the need to have to respec even more than the already numerous given opportunities in the game already allow you.
As a BG5, I only got 1 free respec. I'd be happy if they gave me an extra 4 respecs or however many you're supposed to get along the way, but as it is, I only got 1. I have enough Honour for 3 more respecs after that, but once they're gone I'm replenishing them at a rate of maybe 1 respec every 2 or 3 months (I have no idea tbh, just guessing).
Now, I don't think they should be free, as I said -- they should have an in-game cost, as they do now. But that in-game cost should be around 1 month's worth of play. That is, it should take approximately one month to earn enough Honour to respec again.
Your spec should be a fairly long term decision. And it's fine to play around with a few different specs at the start -- which is why giving away 5 or so free respecs to new players is a great idea. But over the long term, when those free ones have run out, you shouldn't have to wait so long to accrue enough in-game points to respec. It should take a month or so, not 2 or 3 months.
And yes, having to pay real money for a basic in-game feature is a greedy way of grabbing money off players... No other way of spinning it, sorry...
I'm appalled as a lifetime member that I'll be charged freaking 400 CP every time I feel like respeccing. That's highway robbery. It should be free, it's that simple.
I respect Cryptic charging for, say, a MAJOR expansion pack... for instance... but to charge for repeated access to a feature we were told from the beginning the game would have... which involves no additional content whatsoever, but really, just makes up for the fact that there is VIRTUALLY NO DOCUMENTATION available from Cryptic for this game, and we've had to rely on cobbled-together user-written "guides" and stuff... that's f'd up. We still are just randomly figuring out this game from trial and error, now you're going to charge us to retool our characters when we don't even know what half the skills really do?
I'm appalled as a lifetime member that I'll be charged freaking 400 CP every time I feel like respeccing. That's highway robbery. It should be free, it's that simple.
I respect Cryptic charging for, say, a MAJOR expansion pack... for instance... but to charge for repeated access to a feature we were told from the beginning the game would have... which involves no additional content whatsoever, but really, just makes up for the fact that there is VIRTUALLY NO DOCUMENTATION available from Cryptic for this game, and we've had to rely on cobbled-together user-written "guides" and stuff... that's f'd up. We still are just randomly figuring out this game from trial and error, now you're going to charge us to retool our characters when we don't even know what half the skills really do?
Make it free!
I call this topic F A I L come on man read patch notes and the forums more.
I personally wouldn't spend real money on a re-spec when I can get the merits in game. The C-store re-spec is there as another option. You can't say you need to re-spec for PvE then PvP, that is the choice of someone not wanting to be happy spec'ed long term for either or long term partly for both. If you say that then you could say you need a re-spec for every individual encounter be it PvP or PvE.
I respect peoples individual needs and I don't like C-store at all. But the OP has no grounds.
Beyond this is another, 'I'm a lifer give me give me give me," thread. How else are they going to make money off of lifers? If this game runs for years, after, what is it, year 1 or 1.5, you technically stopped paying into the system. More then likely, the smart business move if this game still has a good monthly sub following after a year from public lunch, would be to cancel the Lifer program. I'm not saying they will, but think of it from a business point of view - for arguments sake, 25% of the active server population is lifers who have been playing for a year, and not buying, or not buying enough from the C-Store - what would you do? Cancel the program, and even if 25% of the cancelled lifers return, that is a monthly increase of 6.25% in monthly sub revenue.
Everyone should start with 1 free token, which will automatically appear on the Skill Trainer UI next to Cost for the first purchase. These tokens stack. You can obtain additional tokens and respec by:
* Being promoted to the next rank - you are granted a free respec at each promotion mission. These are not retro-active for players who have already reached various ranks.
* Purchasing a respect with Starfleet Merits (cost goes up at each rank
* Purchasing a token from the C-store titled Retrain.
So you get 1 free one now, and any new character would get 5 along the way for free.
That expires at every tier level. You cannot store them. You can only ever have one at a time.
According to what I've read, the rank granted ones DO store. Only the free ones from updates won't. You can have up to 4 rank ones, plus one free one, max. It was somewhere deep in the Season One Release Notes thread that a Dev mentioned the difference.
(I only see 4 rank granted ones: LtCdr, Cdr, Captain, Admiral. We start as Lt.)
The rank tokens and the C-Store tokens all stack, and you can also have one free token on hand granted by the devs from a major update. If you still have that one at a future update where they give another, you won't get a second one.
I don't know how they'll tell them apart. I assume they've already considered that.
The ONLY complaint I have id the no-retroactive respec thing. I'm already finding flaws in my new spec.
I wouldn't mind a second spec slot the way some games are doing it now, where you have more than one spec, presumably one for PvE and one for PvE, though I'd prefer one alternate simply because I occasionally swap to a different ship.
As to if I think charging us Merits for respecs is reasonable, yes. Yes I do.
Name one game with completely free respecs.
As to the C-Store, I welcome any method the team can come up with which allows people with more dollars than time (or sense I suppose, certainly patience) to support the game. Keep it up, just make sure we get those unlocks by other means in-game!!!
That expires at every tier level. You cannot store them. You can only ever have one at a time.
According to the patch FAQ, they do stack but I believe the issue is they don't tell you how many you have stacked.
Everyone should start with 1 free token, which will automatically appear on the Skill Trainer UI next to Cost for the first purchase. These tokens stack. You can obtain additional tokens and respec by:
...
The ONLY complaint I have id the no-retroactive respec thing. I'm already finding flaws in my new spec.
I wouldn't mind a second spec slot the way some games are doing it now, where you have more than one spec, presumably one for PvE and one for PvE, though I'd prefer one alternate simply because I occasionally swap to a different ship.
As to if I think charging us Merits for respecs is reasonable, yes. Yes I do.
Name one game with completely free respecs.
As to the C-Store, I welcome any method the team can come up with which allows people with more dollars than time (or sense I suppose, certainly patience) to support the game. Keep it up, just make sure we get those unlocks by other means in-game!!!
As a BG5, I only got 1 free respec. I'd be happy if they gave me an extra 4 respecs or however many you're supposed to get along the way, but as it is, I only got 1. I have enough Honour for 3 more respecs after that, but once they're gone I'm replenishing them at a rate of maybe 1 respec every 2 or 3 months (I have no idea tbh, just guessing).
Now, I don't think they should be free, as I said -- they should have an in-game cost, as they do now. But that in-game cost should be around 1 month's worth of play. That is, it should take approximately one month to earn enough Honour to respec again.
Your spec should be a fairly long term decision. And it's fine to play around with a few different specs at the start -- which is why giving away 5 or so free respecs to new players is a great idea. But over the long term, when those free ones have run out, you shouldn't have to wait so long to accrue enough in-game points to respec. It should take a month or so, not 2 or 3 months.
And yes, having to pay real money for a basic in-game feature is a greedy way of grabbing money off players... No other way of spinning it, sorry...
Within the 2 months of time that STO has been live, I leveled 1 engineer and 1 science to RA 5 and geared them with daily exploration mark gear. On my engineer I got enough merrits for 3 respecs, my science has enough for 2 respecs.
However, I did fine using just the free respecs on season one release day for both characters and I have not felt the need to re-work their specs again so far.
... ok, this might have something to do witht he fact that I mostly play my third char, which is a captain 4 tactical - I used some merrits for one respec on the tac (6000), but from the looks of things by the time I hit RA 5 with my tac and start gearing up I should reach 20000 merrits as well. And thats not even counting in the 2 free respecs I will have as a reserve available by then.
My whole point is this: unless you only get to play for a few hours a week, you can easily work up the merrits required for an additional respec within a month.
But then again, if you really only can play a few hours a week, why would you even want to frequently change your skill spec?
And yes, having to pay real money for a basic in-game feature is a greedy way of grabbing money off players... No other way of spinning it, sorry...
There is another way: Cryptic could remove the C-Store option, leaving players with "just" the option of either using merrits or waiting for the next free respec.
It's not greed, it's commerce. And as I said before: if you dislike the C-Store OPTION so much, DON'T USE IT. As for the merrits price.. well, maybe Cryptic might at least reduce the price slightly. But overall, as things are now, the message is clear:
Use your brain or use your wallet. YOUR CHOICE.
... and from what I can tell, that works nicely so far, as every player has chosen to use whichever "option" is better stacked in his / her particular case.
I think its fine the way it is, your not suppose to get ez mode free/cheap respecs when ever you feel like it. Grinding in a MMO, I've NEVER heard of that... :rolleyes:
If anything the cost could go by how much you change, one point moved costs 5-10 merits, ect.
Within the 2 months of time that STO has been live, I leveled 1 engineer and 1 science to RA 5 and geared them with daily exploration mark gear. On my engineer I got enough merrits for 3 respecs, my science has enough for 2 respecs.
However, I did fine using just the free respecs on season one release day for both characters and I have not felt the need to re-work their specs again so far.
... ok, this might have something to do witht he fact that I mostly play my third char, which is a captain 4 tactical
Within the 2 months of time that STO has been live, I leveled 1 engineer and 1 science to RA 5 and geared them with daily exploration mark gear. On my engineer I got enough merrits for 3 respecs, my science has enough for 2 respecs.
However, I did fine using just the free respecs on season one release day for both characters and I have not felt the need to re-work their specs again so far.
... ok, this might have something to do witht he fact that I mostly play my third char, which is a captain 4 tactical - I used some merrits for one respec on the tac (6000), but from the looks of things by the time I hit RA 5 with my tac and start gearing up I should reach 20000 merrits as well. And thats not even counting in the 2 free respecs I will have as a reserve available by then.
My whole point is this: unless you only get to play for a few hours a week, you can easily work up the merrits required for an additional respec within a month.
But then again, if you really only can play a few hours a week, why would you even want to frequently change your skill spec?
Well I checked my character and my main (Klingon BG5) has just over 3 days /played time and 36k honour. So that's basically just under 2 respecs in just under 2 months of my playing rate. At this rate, I doubt I'd have much problems with respec - like I said, I tend to keep my spec for a long time (probably because it takes a while to get used to it). But I still think it's pretty damn close for comfort... Honour points are pretty ethereal too - you're never really sure how or why you get them, on Klink side at least. You just sort of accrue them unintentionally for killing turrets (pretty random) or "winning" mislabelled PvP maps (this is still bugged, AFAICT). I'd rather they made it a bit more robust, especially if respecs are going to depend on them.
It's clear we're never going to agree on the C-store way of respeccing. I can't accept that an essential part of a game is something you have to pay extra for. Paying extras is for extras, like the bridge packs or various cosmetic enhancements -- not a core part of an RPG. It's a lazy way of squeezing a few extra quid out of us, and it really puts me off playing. I'm happy to give money to companies that I feel are dealing fairly with customers, but not with companies that see us as pinatas full of dollar bills they have to beat out of us. It's the same thing with call centres charging premium rates for calling tech support or customer services -- it's obvious why they do it, to make a few extra quid off me, but that doesn't make it any less crappy.
I'm appalled as a lifetime member that I'll be charged freaking 400 CP every time I feel like respeccing. That's highway robbery. It should be free, it's that simple.
I respect Cryptic charging for, say, a MAJOR expansion pack... for instance... but to charge for repeated access to a feature we were told from the beginning the game would have... which involves no additional content whatsoever, but really, just makes up for the fact that there is VIRTUALLY NO DOCUMENTATION available from Cryptic for this game, and we've had to rely on cobbled-together user-written "guides" and stuff... that's f'd up. We still are just randomly figuring out this game from trial and error, now you're going to charge us to retool our characters when we don't even know what half the skills really do?
Make it free!
I am sorry but why do you need more than one or at most two respecs? Are you changing spec like your changing shirts or what?
I did one respec and I see no reason what so ever why I have to do another one.
If lets say you want to do a respec a month there is ample time to get the merits for it, and that is IF you wish to change Ships for instance and go from cruisers to Escorts etc...other than that if you are RA, you should by now know exactly what you want out of your character what weapons you need to use what areas to focus on.
Respec is not meant for every day changes or changing spec when you switch between Space PvP to queue up for Gound PvP or to do a different Episode...
Where the hell do you go for respec? And how does the C-Store respec take affect? I spent the 400 cp for the respec and nothing happened.
You can respec at the Appropriate NPC, I know of two one in DS9 and One in Sol Station (in the middle section), I suppose Klingons should have the equivalent in Q'nos and I do not know where else.
if you bought a respec from the C-store then you bought a Token which you use up when you talk to the above mentioned NPC (if you never respec before you did not need to buy any from C-store as everyone got a free token after the patch it was on the release notes).
I will agree that this should never have been an Item from the C-store ...I actually think there should never have been a C-store..but that is my feeling sand opinions, i do not relate to this approach to the MMORPG, I am old school, and I do not approve of RMT, legalized or not.
Where the hell do you go for respec? And how does the C-Store respec take affect? I spent the 400 cp for the respec and nothing happened.
Go see the Skill Trainer NPC at the centre of space dock or the eastern area of DS9 where the banks are accessed. The dialogue with the NPC enables the respec. The C-store respec will have given you a token for the respec so you won't have to pay merits for it when you click accept in the respec dialogue. The token is only visible in the respec window you access when speaking with the Skill Trainer.
I really think this needs to be made clearer that you don't NEED to buy one off the C-Store. I read the patch notes and followed it on the forums as it was rolled out, and I see folks mentioning in zone chat how they bought a respec token, unaware that they already have a free one from the update. So they're wasting C-Store points. Not everyone reads the patch notes.
I think the game should warn you that you're buying a token even though you have one available already, and ask you to re-confirm. Just to be safe.
Where the hell do you go for respec? And how does the C-Store respec take affect? I spent the 400 cp for the respec and nothing happened.
Thanks for partially proving my point there, smart guy. You know, the "spending money on something you don't really know what to do with" thing I posted.
But to in order to help you: the actual respec is done at the center of Earth Spacedock. There's an NPC that will gladly let you handle your respec.
I was appauled at the notion of charging real money for a respec. Respecs are an integrated and common function of almost every MMO. That being said, you should never charge real money for said things (especially when Cryptic has historically had trouble maintaining the things we already pay for monthly).
I am all for charging money for non-essential extras or functions that require external maintenance from a developer employee (i.e. server transfers in WoW). So the C-Store function for things like character renaming, extra bridge designs, etc. are fine because it's not necessary to have them in order to enjoy the game as intended.
On to the issue of the merit cost, I do believe 20,000 merits is a bit steep. For casual players (assuming an average of 2 hours play every other day), that's a fairly lengthy time to grind up the cost. Also, the idea of the free respecs for ranking up is moot because where 95% of respeccing is done is at max level. When I played WoW, I had to respec my characters every time Blizzard changed the game mechanics which was pretty much every patch. I suspect similar changes to the game will happen here over time as well, thus leaving RA5's to fork up either the time or dough to stay on top of their game.
My Solutions
I don't believe Cryptic will strip respeccing from the C-Store unless no one buys them over an extended period of time. All of you upset at this, as I certainly am, now have a civic duty to simply not purchase respecs with real money. As they say: money talks. No business will maintain a product that's not profitable.
As for changing the merit cost, I believe the cost should be evaluated based on a reasonable amount of time that it would take a casual player (however you want to define that) to acquire the merits. If Cryptic is open to this idea, the discussion should immediately shift to gathering a concensus of what that should be.
I really think this needs to be made clearer that you don't NEED to buy one off the C-Store. I still see folks mentioning in zone chat how they bought a respec token, unaware that they already have a free one from the update. So they're wasting C-Store points.
I think the game should warn you that you're buying a token even though you have one available already, and ask you to re-confirm. Just to be safe.
The actual, real question here is this: if they are obviously so poorly informed about game options, how do they even know they can respec at all?
The answer to this is simple: they do know where to find the C-Store - and most of them seem to have some money to spare.
Of course, never mind the fact that in the proper FAQ, the patch notes and probably all across at least a solid 30% of this forum there are more than enough explanations on how and where you can respec.
"Me got money, me clicks C-Store"
A beautiful example of the concept of assuming something, heading out and investing money, without so much as a second guess or just a slight moment of even considering to ask for more information on the desired product BEFORE buying it.
Because, if something is not the way one expects it to be, despite the fact that in many of such occasions one walks by pretty much half a dozen opportunities to inform oneself properly, one can always complain and demand compensation afterwards - so why bother using that little grey mass inside one's head before a transaction is completed? :rolleyes:
When I played WoW, I had to respec my characters every time Blizzard changed the game mechanics which was pretty much every patch. I suspect similar changes to the game will happen here over time as well, thus leaving RA5's to fork up either the time or dough to stay on top of their game.
Past performance is not an indicator of future events, but historically Cryptic has given out "freespecs" with major changes and/or as rewards for events or anniversaries. My guess is we'll be getting additional free tokens as time goes on.
I agree 20k may be steep though for an in-game value. Hopefully, when they get around to implementing an actual crafting system, they'll let us craft a respec token that way like CoX has done.
I was appauled at the notion of charging real money for a respec. Respecs are an integrated and common function of almost every MMO. That being said, you should never charge real money for said things (especially when Cryptic has historically had trouble maintaining the things we already pay for monthly).
I am all for charging money for non-essential extras or functions that require external maintenance from a developer employee (i.e. server transfers in WoW). So the C-Store function for things like character renaming, extra bridge designs, etc. are fine because it's not necessary to have them in order to enjoy the game as intended.
On to the issue of the merit cost, I do believe 20,000 merits is a bit steep. For casual players (assuming an average of 2 hours play every other day), that's a fairly lengthy time to grind up the cost. Also, the idea of the free respecs for ranking up is moot because where 95% of respeccing is done is at max level. When I played WoW, I had to respec my characters every time Blizzard changed the game mechanics which was pretty much every patch. I suspect similar changes to the game will happen here over time as well, thus leaving RA5's to fork up either the time or dough to stay on top of their game.
My Solutions
I don't believe Cryptic will strip respeccing from the C-Store unless no one buys them over an extended period of time. All of you upset at this, as I certainly am, now have a civic duty to simply not purchase respecs with real money. As they say: money talks. No business will maintain a product that's not profitable.
As for changing the merit cost, I believe the cost should be evaluated based on a reasonable amount of time that it would take a casual player (however you want to define that) to acquire the merits. If Cryptic is open to this idea, the discussion should immediately shift to gathering a concensus of what that should be.
Did you, even for a second, even bother looking through those replies in this thread here that carefully explain how (often) one can respec?
For example, say, the fact that free respec tokens while ranking up stack until you need to use them?
Or the fact that we already established that the average player should be able to scrape together enough merrits within a month for yet another respec?
Or maybe the thing about "expecting Cryptic to dish out free respecs on all major skill changes" - something I'm rather sure of that Cryptic will do?
And (hopefully) for the last time: buying respecs from the C-Store is not "forced" on anyone, it is a freely choosable EXTRA-option for all those who feel the need to have even more respecs available than the game already, mostly for free, grants you.
It's simple commerce: you want something EXTRA beyond the "common" designs, you PAY. Otherwise, stfu and enjoy what you have. Or don't enjoy it, but still stfu.
Did you, even for a second, even bother looking through those replies in this thread here that carefully explain how (often) one can respec?
To answer your question, no. I don't have time or energy to read EVERY post and quite frankly, I could care less even if I did. I give my two cents about the main topic and people either take it or leave it. Spare me your *****foot nerd rage and while you're at it, delete your forum account. It's because of people like you I don't read every post on message boards.
Especially as a lifetime member who has already dumped almost $300 into this game, being charged for something that, based on all the choices, lack of documentation and is offered for free in other games, I'm appalled Cryptic is charging for it.
Comments
So, I assume, that many of you are playing Rear Admirals right now. Well, I am going to guess that you were able to experiment a bit at Captain before you reached Admiral. I know I did. I decided that I needed to start figuring out exactly what I wanted. Well, I changed my build like 15 times between Captain 1 and Admiral 5. I finally decided to go with healing on my sci ship, and I have stuck with it. Of course, it was weak for a while before that because I didn't have access to Sci Team III or Hazard Emitters III, but I realized that I would have the opportunity to respec when Season 1 came out.
I also talked to various members of my fleet and people with/against whom I played in PvP (also with my Klingon). They gave me a good idea of what to get.
In the week before Season 1 came out, I jumped on Tribble and checked out what I wanted to respec. I played around a bit and figured out exactly what I wanted.
Honestly, I can live with being locked into one or two builds/ships. I don't need to be swapping out every PvP match because I lose or something. I am more concerned with figuring out my one main build. My secondary build would most likely only have different bridge officers and maybe different consoles/weapons, but I keep the same weapon and console types in both builds.
For the record, I think they should lower the number of merits to do it to maybe 15,000-18,000, but I can live with 20,000
Thats not true. CoX charges for respecs if you have used all the in-game ones up. They also charge for additional character slots and server transfers.
Most MMOs that don't charge for respecs have some kind of diminishing return on the to prevent overuse of the respec system. Either way, you're not supposed to respec whenever you want, however you want as often as you want.
Now, I don't think they should be free, as I said -- they should have an in-game cost, as they do now. But that in-game cost should be around 1 month's worth of play. That is, it should take approximately one month to earn enough Honour to respec again.
Your spec should be a fairly long term decision. And it's fine to play around with a few different specs at the start -- which is why giving away 5 or so free respecs to new players is a great idea. But over the long term, when those free ones have run out, you shouldn't have to wait so long to accrue enough in-game points to respec. It should take a month or so, not 2 or 3 months.
And yes, having to pay real money for a basic in-game feature is a greedy way of grabbing money off players... No other way of spinning it, sorry...
I thought the first one was free?
I call this topic F A I L come on man read patch notes and the forums more.
I respect peoples individual needs and I don't like C-store at all. But the OP has no grounds.
More than just the first one being free.
From the Patch FAQ:
So you get 1 free one now, and any new character would get 5 along the way for free.
That expires at every tier level. You cannot store them. You can only ever have one at a time.
According to what I've read, the rank granted ones DO store. Only the free ones from updates won't. You can have up to 4 rank ones, plus one free one, max. It was somewhere deep in the Season One Release Notes thread that a Dev mentioned the difference.
(I only see 4 rank granted ones: LtCdr, Cdr, Captain, Admiral. We start as Lt.)
Edit: wasn't deep at all, was on the first page: http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=143065
The rank tokens and the C-Store tokens all stack, and you can also have one free token on hand granted by the devs from a major update. If you still have that one at a future update where they give another, you won't get a second one.
I don't know how they'll tell them apart. I assume they've already considered that.
I wouldn't mind a second spec slot the way some games are doing it now, where you have more than one spec, presumably one for PvE and one for PvE, though I'd prefer one alternate simply because I occasionally swap to a different ship.
As to if I think charging us Merits for respecs is reasonable, yes. Yes I do.
Name one game with completely free respecs.
As to the C-Store, I welcome any method the team can come up with which allows people with more dollars than time (or sense I suppose, certainly patience) to support the game. Keep it up, just make sure we get those unlocks by other means in-game!!!
According to the patch FAQ, they do stack but I believe the issue is they don't tell you how many you have stacked.
I take it you don't PvP then?
Within the 2 months of time that STO has been live, I leveled 1 engineer and 1 science to RA 5 and geared them with daily exploration mark gear. On my engineer I got enough merrits for 3 respecs, my science has enough for 2 respecs.
However, I did fine using just the free respecs on season one release day for both characters and I have not felt the need to re-work their specs again so far.
... ok, this might have something to do witht he fact that I mostly play my third char, which is a captain 4 tactical - I used some merrits for one respec on the tac (6000), but from the looks of things by the time I hit RA 5 with my tac and start gearing up I should reach 20000 merrits as well. And thats not even counting in the 2 free respecs I will have as a reserve available by then.
My whole point is this: unless you only get to play for a few hours a week, you can easily work up the merrits required for an additional respec within a month.
But then again, if you really only can play a few hours a week, why would you even want to frequently change your skill spec?
As for this gem here:
There is another way: Cryptic could remove the C-Store option, leaving players with "just" the option of either using merrits or waiting for the next free respec.
It's not greed, it's commerce. And as I said before: if you dislike the C-Store OPTION so much, DON'T USE IT. As for the merrits price.. well, maybe Cryptic might at least reduce the price slightly. But overall, as things are now, the message is clear:
Use your brain or use your wallet. YOUR CHOICE.
... and from what I can tell, that works nicely so far, as every player has chosen to use whichever "option" is better stacked in his / her particular case.
If anything the cost could go by how much you change, one point moved costs 5-10 merits, ect.
Spooky, really Spooky, are you me?
It's clear we're never going to agree on the C-store way of respeccing. I can't accept that an essential part of a game is something you have to pay extra for. Paying extras is for extras, like the bridge packs or various cosmetic enhancements -- not a core part of an RPG. It's a lazy way of squeezing a few extra quid out of us, and it really puts me off playing. I'm happy to give money to companies that I feel are dealing fairly with customers, but not with companies that see us as pinatas full of dollar bills they have to beat out of us. It's the same thing with call centres charging premium rates for calling tech support or customer services -- it's obvious why they do it, to make a few extra quid off me, but that doesn't make it any less crappy.
I am sorry but why do you need more than one or at most two respecs? Are you changing spec like your changing shirts or what?
I did one respec and I see no reason what so ever why I have to do another one.
If lets say you want to do a respec a month there is ample time to get the merits for it, and that is IF you wish to change Ships for instance and go from cruisers to Escorts etc...other than that if you are RA, you should by now know exactly what you want out of your character what weapons you need to use what areas to focus on.
Respec is not meant for every day changes or changing spec when you switch between Space PvP to queue up for Gound PvP or to do a different Episode...
You can respec at the Appropriate NPC, I know of two one in DS9 and One in Sol Station (in the middle section), I suppose Klingons should have the equivalent in Q'nos and I do not know where else.
if you bought a respec from the C-store then you bought a Token which you use up when you talk to the above mentioned NPC (if you never respec before you did not need to buy any from C-store as everyone got a free token after the patch it was on the release notes).
I will agree that this should never have been an Item from the C-store ...I actually think there should never have been a C-store..but that is my feeling sand opinions, i do not relate to this approach to the MMORPG, I am old school, and I do not approve of RMT, legalized or not.
Go see the Skill Trainer NPC at the centre of space dock or the eastern area of DS9 where the banks are accessed. The dialogue with the NPC enables the respec. The C-store respec will have given you a token for the respec so you won't have to pay merits for it when you click accept in the respec dialogue. The token is only visible in the respec window you access when speaking with the Skill Trainer.
I think the game should warn you that you're buying a token even though you have one available already, and ask you to re-confirm. Just to be safe.
Thanks for partially proving my point there, smart guy. You know, the "spending money on something you don't really know what to do with" thing I posted.
But to in order to help you: the actual respec is done at the center of Earth Spacedock. There's an NPC that will gladly let you handle your respec.
No, but I'm really glad I'm not the only one "of my kind".
I am all for charging money for non-essential extras or functions that require external maintenance from a developer employee (i.e. server transfers in WoW). So the C-Store function for things like character renaming, extra bridge designs, etc. are fine because it's not necessary to have them in order to enjoy the game as intended.
On to the issue of the merit cost, I do believe 20,000 merits is a bit steep. For casual players (assuming an average of 2 hours play every other day), that's a fairly lengthy time to grind up the cost. Also, the idea of the free respecs for ranking up is moot because where 95% of respeccing is done is at max level. When I played WoW, I had to respec my characters every time Blizzard changed the game mechanics which was pretty much every patch. I suspect similar changes to the game will happen here over time as well, thus leaving RA5's to fork up either the time or dough to stay on top of their game.
My Solutions
I don't believe Cryptic will strip respeccing from the C-Store unless no one buys them over an extended period of time. All of you upset at this, as I certainly am, now have a civic duty to simply not purchase respecs with real money. As they say: money talks. No business will maintain a product that's not profitable.
As for changing the merit cost, I believe the cost should be evaluated based on a reasonable amount of time that it would take a casual player (however you want to define that) to acquire the merits. If Cryptic is open to this idea, the discussion should immediately shift to gathering a concensus of what that should be.
The actual, real question here is this: if they are obviously so poorly informed about game options, how do they even know they can respec at all?
The answer to this is simple: they do know where to find the C-Store - and most of them seem to have some money to spare.
Of course, never mind the fact that in the proper FAQ, the patch notes and probably all across at least a solid 30% of this forum there are more than enough explanations on how and where you can respec.
"Me got money, me clicks C-Store"
A beautiful example of the concept of assuming something, heading out and investing money, without so much as a second guess or just a slight moment of even considering to ask for more information on the desired product BEFORE buying it.
Because, if something is not the way one expects it to be, despite the fact that in many of such occasions one walks by pretty much half a dozen opportunities to inform oneself properly, one can always complain and demand compensation afterwards - so why bother using that little grey mass inside one's head before a transaction is completed? :rolleyes:
Past performance is not an indicator of future events, but historically Cryptic has given out "freespecs" with major changes and/or as rewards for events or anniversaries. My guess is we'll be getting additional free tokens as time goes on.
I agree 20k may be steep though for an in-game value. Hopefully, when they get around to implementing an actual crafting system, they'll let us craft a respec token that way like CoX has done.
Did you, even for a second, even bother looking through those replies in this thread here that carefully explain how (often) one can respec?
For example, say, the fact that free respec tokens while ranking up stack until you need to use them?
Or the fact that we already established that the average player should be able to scrape together enough merrits within a month for yet another respec?
Or maybe the thing about "expecting Cryptic to dish out free respecs on all major skill changes" - something I'm rather sure of that Cryptic will do?
And (hopefully) for the last time: buying respecs from the C-Store is not "forced" on anyone, it is a freely choosable EXTRA-option for all those who feel the need to have even more respecs available than the game already, mostly for free, grants you.
It's simple commerce: you want something EXTRA beyond the "common" designs, you PAY. Otherwise, stfu and enjoy what you have. Or don't enjoy it, but still stfu.
To answer your question, no. I don't have time or energy to read EVERY post and quite frankly, I could care less even if I did. I give my two cents about the main topic and people either take it or leave it. Spare me your *****foot nerd rage and while you're at it, delete your forum account. It's because of people like you I don't read every post on message boards.
Especially as a lifetime member who has already dumped almost $300 into this game, being charged for something that, based on all the choices, lack of documentation and is offered for free in other games, I'm appalled Cryptic is charging for it.