"It is because io's were meant as an infl sink. Due to this, the devs have gone on record as saying that we are lucky to even be able to pull 10 off."
They're lucky they came up with the respec option as it allows folks to make CHANGES to a character that you have no way of knowing how it will actually end up until you're there aka seeing the future. If this wasn't an option, this game wouldn't be as popular as it is and they would lose money/subs.
"Uhm.. no, you're not. You're making a choice..."
Again, this game is all about choices but there's no way you can know how you're level 50 scrapper will feel when you're still level 1. Making those choices permanent is a bad move on the devs part for many reasons, not least of which is alienating your players as they realize their favorite character made a mistake not picking up fitness and now can't keep up with the rest of his friends in a prolonged melee. It's just not FUN...
I guess the problem I see with some of these responses is the draconian mind-frame surrounding the magical and mystical respec. Put it on a pedestal why don't you?
It's a respecification, folks, a way to completely re-pick your powers and slots. If the enhancements for those slots are just "oh so hard" to remove and store then why give us the option to re-choose at all? It's ridiculous to think that we will actually use this option and have only 10 possible enhancements that don't fit into the new version of our character.
The entire character (enhancements, slots, powers, costume pieces, badges, etc) is an investment of time. You can't start splitting that up into partial investments that are more important than others. It just becomes arbitrary if you look at it for what it truly is.
So, you're saying the devs are giving us this precious gift of the respec option, sometimes due to things like i19 where fitness becomes inherent, but are going to be sticklers on the fact that we invested time in the enhancements we have currently... um, just cuz they can? Cuz they wanna be mean? Cuz they're so worried that if we keep the enhancements we already earned it will topple the fragile game balance? Are you kidding me? Where's the problem? You think that by keeping me from being able to use the respec option due to this one limitation is going to keep me around as a player, knowing that I'm stuck with a build I no longer enjoy?
Oh, I know I know... I can't threaten to stop playing, due to the flaming that will ensue, plus I'm not going anywhere, let's face it. But, if my very long-term scrapper needs an updated build to take advantage of the new issues and changes in the powers he has (there have been tons, he's /regen) then he should not be able to unless he loses billions in enhancements? Am I being punished for something I earned?
This has nothing to do with moving to florida, and everything to do with a game wherein the devs have full control over this and every aspect of the mechanics (in your florida example the devs would be able to manipulate the worth of my old stuff and my abillity to sell it at full value).
Apparently, they do think that we are "lucky" to have the respec option but I disagree. They knew that doing so would make the player-base as a whole happy and keep them around (due to those same permanent choices making us feel like our level 50 needs to be re-rolled to be "just right"). Punishing a percentage of that player-base because there are issues with just throwing away excess enhancements during this "gift" process is ludicrous. It seems to me that this just wasn't a big deal back in the days of SOs being all there was. I had tens of millions of unspent influence at that time and nothing to spend it on so if I lost ALL my enhancements, oh well! But, the landscape has changed, the game is different. There should be an option to save months worth of time investment as represented, in this case, by my enhancements. Just like the respec was an option to KEEP your investment of time (aka your character) instead of rolling a new one that was almost identical but with some changes to slotting, power selection, etc.
Bottom line is, it's a good idea. It will help thousands of players, if not all of them, during respecs of any kind. So, draconian thinking or not, respecs need to be looked at with all the changes that have been made since their introduction.
Do multiple respecs. The devs gave two freespecs this last issue, actually - though no, they don't stack.