Discussion: Purchasable Character Respecs
By
Acemace,
Posted on: 2008-07-31 10:40 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
It's good that more options are being offered. I won't personally get any use out of this as I respec infrequently enough that I'm always sure to have a free respec or vet respec to use. For folks that like to experiment with their builds this will be a boon though. Kudos to the developers for making this available!
"I am a Tank. I am your first choice, I am your last hope." -- Rune Bull
"Durability is the quintessential super-power. " -- Sailboat
It occurred to me this morning that I have used 1 vet respec and 0 of my 3 earned respecs and I only use the free respecs to get inf back for upgrading at levels 22, 27, 32, etc.
But now with the comfort of knowing I can always buy a respec if I run out, I won't be afraid of using (and using up) my earned respecs.
Thanks, NCSoft. I might never buy one but you took away a fear I had of not having one if I needed it.
Oh and people who say this will hurt people running the respec trials, remember we could only get 3 that way per character. People who had them and used them can't go that route any way.
If you need people for a respec trial, hit the market types up. They might like a Pool D recipe.
total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
QR
Don't need this personally as all my characters get mucho Inf just from regular play and marketing, plus I even got a Respec Recipe drop yesterday on my Crabbie, but I'm all for more options. 
Thank you guys.
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Might explain the ridiculously low drop rate of respec recipes. I've yet to see one.
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Same here. I've received dozens of purple recipe drops since they came out, but have never seen a respec recipe.
Hurray for more options! Thanks devs!
Shard Warrior - 50 MA/Regen/BM Scrapper
Founding Member and Leader : Shadow-Force
Co-Leader: Council of Heroes
"Whatever evils come this way... we will be there to stop them."
Just curious, but can thsi be used for free on the test server?
If not, why?
I just beg you, Devs, don't overdo all of these purchasable things. Respecs are fine, maybe a bit overpriced, but I know I'd never use them anyway so I don't really mind. They'll bring in income for the game and all of those players who just have to have those IOs slotted perfectly can pay for some great updates.
I just ask you guys to not get too comfy with all of your $10 purchasable stuff and do something really stupid. Purchasable respecs are dangerously close to buying something that directly affects your character's performance.
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Well I have to say that I am disppointed with the pricing structure they chose. I believe for this type service, $5.00 is much more in line.
But it is not my business and I personally doubt I would ever use this type of service.
Grats to more options (I guess).
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I would have to agree with you on this one. $15 for items is hard to pin down, but 10 for a respec? They could very well send players to Farmer sites to buy Inf for respec recipies.
It is nice that they are selling them though. It isn't "sleazy" or greedy or anything. CoH is going with a new MMO model where beyond the monthly fee you can purchase a variety of items and services. None of the optional packs/services are required to play the game by any stretch.
The models for MMO's I've seen are:
Monthly Fee plus $50 expansion that you may as well delete your account if you don't have because everyone else will be spending all their time in the new area. (WoW)
Monthly Fee plus free updates and optional add on packs (CoH) that looked at individually probably are worth the cost (add 5 wedding packs together and you get the cost of a full expansion pack but no where near the content). On plus side this makes the packs more flexible as to content because there is nothing that HAS to be in one (expansions pretty much have to have at least 1 new zone).
Optional monthly charge but the game is very annoying to play without the services you get for signing up (no bank etc). If you don't pay the charge you also have to dig through more ads than a WTBS movie.
No monthly service but you constantly are offered the chance to purchase items in game.
Monthly charge and occasional free updates with nothing else. Fact is that this is most commonly seen on games struggling to get an audience. Often they will even give you get game itself free just to get your monthly fees.
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You can't please everyone, so lets concentrate on me.
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My one real issue with this respec for purchase idea is that I like the respec TFs. IMO there fun to run. But finding a team to run one now, especially at my normal play hours gets tough. When alot of players are sitting on like 5 vet rewards ones by the time there worried about doing it, plus the free ones, the recipes etc. There really is not much point in running the actual TF anymore.
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There's only so many people who will have that many vet respecs available. The way you talk about it, you make it sound like everyone's been here long enough to have all four respecs. At the moment, I have two. When those run out (at 22, because I like handing down IOs to my alts and one respec isn't enough to do that), I do the trials. I'll still do trials.
Why? Because I'd rather spend 1 hour of my time, than $10 of my money. And I'd rather spend an hour (maybe 1.5 hours) on a respec trial than grind away for hours to get enough inf. for a recipe.
But when those options run out, I'll pay $10 if I really want to avoid losing some IOs I could use elsewhere.
@Rylas
Kill 'em all. Let XP sort 'em out.
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Given that any character I start comes with about four vet respecs, its not personally useful for me, and charging $10 seems a bit steep for something you can earn for free in the game three times per character, get awarded for free, or buy on the market.
Worst Case Scenario: No more free respecs when wide-sweeping game changes are made.
I kind of doubt they'd do something that lame, but I suppose its an issue that should be raised.
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This would be my concern as well. Sweeping game changes, a run on the market for respec recipes, having an old toon that already used the 3 free in-game respecs, and no more vet respecs left. That would force you to buy one if the changes made the toon difficult/unenjoyable to play. Not a common scenario, but a possible one. I would like to see the PFMEA on this process.
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Just curious, but can thsi be used for free on the test server?
If not, why?
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The Purchasable Free Respec hasn't been hooked up on the Training Room. We'll be looking at that more next week.
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
Remove the subscription Fee per month.
IMO you cant have a CASH SHOP and a SUB FEE..
It used to be pay sub fee get all this wonderful other stuff for free or part of your sub fee.. however you wanna see it.
Now its pay your sub fee and now buy everything else.. because we wont give it to you for free even thoe this game is OLD 4 years and is coming up on some MAJOR competition..
I wonder if those other copmpetitive games are going to make us pay a sub fee AND buy all the ingame extras too. ??
*make is maybe not the right word.. but thats what i am sayin right now.
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But it being $10 for one respec really puts me off to the whole idea.
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I really have to wonder what kind of jobs people have that ten bucks seems like a big deal. Or are they approaching this from the "Damn I'd like to respec six times a month, and that's way too much?" position?
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Some people disagree with such things on principle, not
personal finances.
Can I afford $10? Yes. Would I consider $10 for a respec to be
a fair price for this service, if I needed it? No. Therefore, I
wouldn't use it even if I wanted/needed it. I'm not that
impatient and wasteful of real money.
You don't have to be unable to afford something, to find it
overpriced and not worth its pricetag.
When it comes to MMO revenue, I've always looked at it this way:
Microtransaction-based.
Advertising-based.
Subscription-based.
Expansion-based.
Hybrid (2 or more of the above).
Many MMO's out there would be Subscription/Expansion hybrids. Many MMO's/games are at least microtransaction, but some include advertising and very occassionally optional subscriptions.
COH/COV eliminated the Expansion (er... expanshalone) element, but is Subscription/Microtransaction/Advertising. What is pretty awesome is the Microtransactions/Advertising revenue streams are optional. I can opt out of ads and I choose not to buy. I like that I'm given the choice which is why I leave the ads on, and of course they're selling things I want and have asked for so I'm likely to buy. And as I recall this money is slated for NCNC developing COH, which I am entirely cool with.
I know some folks are looking at this and going OMGGREED, but keep in mind that some of these things we've asked for, and for the services that other MMO's do happen to offer as well, we've got it pretty cheap. Two other MMO's will do server transfers for $25 and $50 whereas we pay a low, low price of $10, for instance.
The devs are steadily giving us what we have been asking for, giving us things for free (VR slots!), aren't removing competing resources (respec trials, freespecs, vr respecs), and have even improved our options to pay for stuff (Paypal). I am quite happy with their responsiveness, and look forward to seeing what else they have coming up in the future.
Hint: I would not mind seeing a paid expansion. Just sayin' 
@Perfect_Pain
NCSoft isn't selling enough items to sustain the game, much less grow the game, on microtransactions alone. And have you played some of the games that are free with only microtransactions? I don't want COH turning into that!
The Wedding Pack got VEATs into i12, ahead of schedule and budget (scheduled/budgeted for i13). That was certainly a plus! People and development cost money, and as Randy Pitchford (CEO of Gearbox) said, "The difference between some games that have a great promise but don't quite fulfill it and the really great games is often about budget allowing the commitment to quality that most game makers have."
NCNC has a great commitment to quality. The "cash store" lets them improve their budget without raising fees. I don't see a problem.
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@Perfect_Pain
NCSoft isn't selling enough items to sustain the game, much less grow the game, on microtransactions alone. And have you played some of the games that are free with only microtransactions? I don't want COH turning into that!
The Wedding Pack got VEATs into i12, ahead of schedule and budget (scheduled/budgeted for i13). That was certainly a plus! People and development cost money, and as Randy Pitchford (CEO of Gearbox) said, "The difference between some games that have a great promise but don't quite fulfill it and the really great games is often about budget allowing the commitment to quality that most game makers have."
NCNC has a great commitment to quality. The "cash store" lets them improve their budget without raising fees. I don't see a problem.
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In the neer future several "Competitive" games will hit the market. With flashy new graphics, New storylines, New powers, New everything. And this game will remain 4 years old and grow to 5 years old so on and so forth.
For 3+ years CoX only asked us all for a Subscription Fee. And for the we got 2/3 Free issues per year. And everyone was happy.
Then they tested the waters with the First Microtransaction.. Good versus Evil goodie pack.. then was another goodie pack.. then more and then the bridal pack.. then server transfers.. then name changes.. then more slots.. now respecs..
Now sure none of that was/is needed. But in the beginning, when we thought it was gonna be like every blue moon they have them, then sure why not. But now. Its not the same as back then.
I see no reason why they cant just open up the microtransaction store.. where people can buy just about everything in game and just drop the sub fee.
We can pay NCNC for ingame currency and for better prices than the RMTers.. we could buy recipes we want.. we could buy all the current stuff they are selling.. and even more.
Just really seems like this is where its headed..
What was unclear about 'we're not removing any of the free methods to get respecs'?
Wavicle, Energy/Energy Blaster, dinged 50 in Issue 4, summer of 2005.
@Wavicle, mostly on the Justice server.
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why would you do that though. why pay 2/3rds of a monthly fee for something you could earn the cash for in less than a week? (less than a day if you want to)
I understand why they'll make this option available but still, why do this when you can earn it easily in the game?
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Uh, well... let's take your logic and look at it the opposite way. I earn ten bucks in about 8 minutes while sitting at my cubicle at work. Why spend a week, or even a day, or even an hour grinding away in the game for something that only cost ten bucks, which I can easily earn in about 8 minutes out-of-game?
For those not hurting for money in real life, who want to play the game, not grind to earn influence, this makes MUCH more sense, doesn't it?
So for those who'd rather pay real cash for in-game benefits, better that they get it from NCSoft than from RMTers.
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<Does the math>
DAMN!
I want to make over $150k/yr. 
Back on-topic: I'll never understand the logic of complaining when addn'l features get offered, especially when they're features that players have been asking for. It's not as though those that can't/don't want to use the feature somehow have less choices open to them than before...
Also, the prices are extremely reasonable, compared to their (current) competition. That includes games with monthly subscription fees.
Not gonna spend $10 for a respec, but still want to get one?
a) Use a freespec. There's one with pretty much every issue
b) Run the respec trial. Avaiable multiple times.
c) Get a respec recipe in a drop, or buy one from the Black Market/WWs.
d) Use a vet respec. You get one, per toon, per year.
On average, most players get 3 respecs/yr per toon (2 Issue freespecs + 1 vet), without any effort. If you're blowing through that, I'd suggest testing builds on Test Server before actually respecing on live and planning your builds (using Mids) more in advance.
Heck, I have 4 vet-specs and have run the respec trial only once with most of my (high-to-mid-lvl toons) and almost all of them still have 4-5 respecs in the bank. I've just been using the freespecs every few months.
So, I will probably never make use of this feature. But I like the idea of it being there... just in case.
PerfectPain, you can always go and play those "new" games if you want. I think the inclusion of this and other microtransaction things are nothing but good for the game, they have made them optional, they are pretty cheap (at least by my standards). I turn off the in game advertisevemts (Jeter whatever shoes anyone?). I get to play the game I love and none of this new stuff impedes with that. To me its all good.
High Beam - 50 Blaster Energy/Ice - 1228 Badges
Munitions Mistress - 50 Mercs/Traps
Many Other 50's, Too Many Alts, All On Freedom
Just Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should!
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Just a quick follow up:
We have no plans of getting rid of freespecs. Each Issue that brings with it major power changes (which is pretty much every single one, eh?) will bring a freespec with it.
We have no plans of getting rid of the respec trials.
We have no plans of getting rid of the dropped Respec Recipes.
We have no plans of getting rid of the Veteran Respecs that your account earns.
This is simply another way to get a Respec onto your character.
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Given this comment, I like it.
My biggest problem with this service is I dread the day when powers change and its borderline whether to give out a freespec and some marketing weasel uses lost revenue as a reason to pass on the freespec. If Positron is saying this isn't going to happen then I am all for this.
Moonlighter
50s include MA/SD, MA/SR, DP/Elec, Claw/Inv, Kat/Dark, Kat/Fire, Spine/Regen, Dark/SD
First Arc: Tequila Sunrise, #168563
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Remove the subscription Fee per month.
IMO you cant have a CASH SHOP and a SUB FEE..
It used to be pay sub fee get all this wonderful other stuff for free or part of your sub fee.. however you wanna see it.
Now its pay your sub fee and now buy everything else.. because we wont give it to you for free even thoe this game is OLD 4 years and is coming up on some MAJOR competition..
I wonder if those other copmpetitive games are going to make us pay a sub fee AND buy all the ingame extras too. ??
*make is maybe not the right word.. but thats what i am sayin right now.
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This isn't an ingame extra. This is an alternative path to the existing ingame methods of getting a respec.
If there were no other means of getting one you might not be so many light years off in your assertion but since there are several...
Personally, I wish they would sell us the ability to get the unlockable costume items.
total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
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@Perfect_Pain
NCSoft isn't selling enough items to sustain the game, much less grow the game, on microtransactions alone. And have you played some of the games that are free with only microtransactions? I don't want COH turning into that!
The Wedding Pack got VEATs into i12, ahead of schedule and budget (scheduled/budgeted for i13). That was certainly a plus! People and development cost money, and as Randy Pitchford (CEO of Gearbox) said, "The difference between some games that have a great promise but don't quite fulfill it and the really great games is often about budget allowing the commitment to quality that most game makers have."
NCNC has a great commitment to quality. The "cash store" lets them improve their budget without raising fees. I don't see a problem.
[/ QUOTE ]
In the neer future several "Competitive" games will hit the market. With flashy new graphics, New storylines, New powers, New everything. And this game will remain 4 years old and grow to 5 years old so on and so forth.
For 3+ years CoX only asked us all for a Subscription Fee. And for the we got 2/3 Free issues per year. And everyone was happy.
Then they tested the waters with the First Microtransaction.. Good versus Evil goodie pack.. then was another goodie pack.. then more and then the bridal pack.. then server transfers.. then name changes.. then more slots.. now respecs..
Now sure none of that was/is needed. But in the beginning, when we thought it was gonna be like every blue moon they have them, then sure why not. But now. Its not the same as back then.
I see no reason why they cant just open up the microtransaction store.. where people can buy just about everything in game and just drop the sub fee.
We can pay NCNC for ingame currency and for better prices than the RMTers.. we could buy recipes we want.. we could buy all the current stuff they are selling.. and even more.
Just really seems like this is where its headed..
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They will keep the sub fees and include microtransactions but price them exhorbitantly high so as to discourage people buying them. Because that makes the most sense to some people, apparently.
And in a weird way they are right, only not the way they meant.
QR
To all of those that flamed me for suggesting this two years ago and said it would NEVER happen.... I told you so. You were wrong. How you like me now.......
.
.
.
.
Just kidding on the tease, but I did say they would do this because it makes good business sense. Kudos devs.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
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For 3+ years CoX only asked us all for a Subscription Fee. And for the we got 2/3 Free issues per year. And everyone was happy.
Then they tested the waters with the First Microtransaction.. Good versus Evil goodie pack.. then was another goodie pack.. then more and then the bridal pack.. then server transfers.. then name changes.. then more slots.. now respecs..
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First off, you're wrong. The first micro-transaction was the ability to purchase the extra goodies from the CoH Collector's Edition (Power-Slide and cape IIRC) and that was available less than 1 yr after game launch. Most people didn't care, but those that did liked it (and were thankful we didn't have to spend $60+ for the boxed product... which some were considering). And oddly... the world didn't end. The GvE goodie-pack was an almost identical situation a few years later. Again.. the world didn't end.
Second, they gave us features that were not available to us before (transfers, slots, renames), but attached nominal fees to them. Yes, partially to make money, but also partially to help with the additional infrastructure required to support these services.
Third, they've added one "standaolne/unique" costume/emote pack, which helped pave the way for VEATs coming an issue earlier, which was a huge boon to red-side. Now they've added one more way (in addition to 4 existing methods), for those that don't want to/can't earn it the old-fashioned way, for players to obtain a wanted feature. You don't care for em? Don't get em. I probably won't buy a respec, but did get the wedding pack. That was my choice. You have the same choice. Don't like it? Vote with your wallet.
Fourth, at no time was "everyone happy"... Ever.
I want purchasable accolades. I hate getting them.
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why would you do that though. why pay 2/3rds of a monthly fee for something you could earn the cash for in less than a week? (less than a day if you want to)
I understand why they'll make this option available but still, why do this when you can earn it easily in the game?
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Uh, well... let's take your logic and look at it the opposite way. I earn ten bucks in about 8 minutes while sitting at my cubicle at work. Why spend a week, or even a day, or even an hour grinding away in the game for something that only cost ten bucks, which I can easily earn in about 8 minutes out-of-game?
For those not hurting for money in real life, who want to play the game, not grind to earn influence, this makes MUCH more sense, doesn't it?
So for those who'd rather pay real cash for in-game benefits, better that they get it from NCSoft than from RMTers.