Why don't free respecs stack?

Vega · 06-30-2009 01:18 PM

I just wish that they had stuck with the seven day notice policy. Forget stacking, I had a few that I wanted to burn, but didn't see the notice until too late (Monday morning).

/e sux to be me

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Barata · 06-30-2009 01:19 PM

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<Insert my sob story about being gone this weekend and getting called away last night and missing my respecs on characters before the patch. Also insert statements of aggravation.>

Why can't granted free respecs stack?

[/ QUOTE ]
Because the freespecs are given out so that you can respec your toon to compensate for any changes that have been made in powers. Players would spec out their toons knowing that powers behave a certain way. After a major change somewhere, the power would behave differently, and players would say "if it behaved like this when I had to choose it, I would've chosen something else." So the devs give you a freespec to settle those complaints.

The reason they don't stack is because they don't need to stack. At most, you only need one respec to compensate for those power changes.

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NuclearToast · 06-30-2009 01:49 PM

Moonlighter wrote:

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Why can't granted free respecs stack?

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Because the devs HATE you, villain!

--NT

They all laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian.
But I showed them, and nobody's laughing at me now!

If I became a red name, I would be all "and what would you mere mortals like to entertain me with today, mu hu ha ha ha!" ~Arcanaville

Peacemoon · 06-30-2009 02:02 PM

If you have a freespec and a trial respec and you respec, which one is used first?

Bad_Influence · 06-30-2009 02:04 PM

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My mistake.

Either way you end up with more inf by doing a respec than by not, and this is probably part of the reason freespecs don't stack.

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If they cared about the influence aspect of respecs, we would never get Veteran respecs: what if people used a vetspec at level 22 to sell back their DOs and gain cash....! OMG no.

In fact depending on the character I might burn MULTIPLE vetspecs just to sell back enhancements at crucial levels. The developers have yet to complain about this so far

My guess on non-stacking freespecs is that they want for incentive to remain to run the respec trials. I really doubt that the developers care about the cash aspect of it.

Ice_Wall · 06-30-2009 02:04 PM

Why would they?

If you didn't use the last one by the time they gave out another one, why would you need another one? I mean, it's not like they give these out all that often. You usually have months between granted respecs, if you don't use one for that long, you probably won't need 2 before they give you another one.

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mousedroid · 06-30-2009 02:06 PM

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If you have a freespec and a trial respec and you respec, which one is used first?

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Pretty sure there are two different mechanics to these. For a freespec, you just type /respec in the chat window, but for an earned respec (or vet respec), you have to go visit a contact I believe.

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Rajani Isa · 06-30-2009 02:28 PM

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That, and for ease-of-coding, it is a Boolean value (0 or 1). No room for a 2, or a 3, etc.

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Good hypothesis, but I do not think that is the case here.

If it was, then the Patron respec would not stack with the other Freespec.

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The counter has always stacked the respecs, and at the very least if one is a freespec you get that text.

According to the wiki, the patron respec is an earned respec.

If you look on that page, you will note that crafted respecs are listed as "free" not "earned" and you cannot craft a respec if you have a free respec remaining.

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Rajani Isa · 06-30-2009 02:32 PM

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If you have a freespec and a trial respec and you respec, which one is used first?

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Pretty sure there are two different mechanics to these. For a freespec, you just type /respec in the chat window, but for an earned respec (or vet respec), you have to go visit a contact I believe.

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And I think earned respecs (everything but free/recipe repsecs) are used second at the contacts, but I am not totally sure - you can use a freespec at a respec contact like an earned one if you wish to.

Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net

Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.

NuclearToast · 06-30-2009 02:55 PM

Leech wrote:

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[ QUOTE ]
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If you have a freespec and a trial respec and you respec, which one is used first?

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Pretty sure there are two different mechanics to these. For a freespec, you just type /respec in the chat window, but for an earned respec (or vet respec), you have to go visit a contact I believe.

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And I think earned respecs (everything but free/recipe repsecs) are used second at the contacts, but I am not totally sure - you can use a freespec at a respec contact like an earned one if you wish to.

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This was the case the last time I used a freespec. I went to the contact in Galaxy City, did my free respec, and still had my earned ones remaining when I was done.

--NT

They all laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian.
But I showed them, and nobody's laughing at me now!

If I became a red name, I would be all "and what would you mere mortals like to entertain me with today, mu hu ha ha ha!" ~Arcanaville

HelinCarnate · 06-30-2009 10:54 PM

Best educated guess would be the free ones are listed as yes or no in some code instead of how many you have. Much easier to change everyone to yes instead of adding 1 to every single toon out there.

HelinCarnate · 06-30-2009 11:44 PM

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That, and for ease-of-coding, it is a Boolean value (0 or 1). No room for a 2, or a 3, etc.

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Good hypothesis, but I do not think that is the case here.

If it was, then the Patron respec would not stack with the other Freespec.

[/ QUOTE ]

While they do the same thing earned respecs and freespecs are quite probably different on the back end. Just because they can count both together and tell you the total number you have when you log in does not mean that one of them cannot be a boolean value of only 1 or 0.

BrandX · 06-30-2009 11:55 PM

[ QUOTE ]

<Insert my sob story about being gone this weekend and getting called away last night and missing my respecs on characters before the patch. Also insert statements of aggravation.>

Why can't granted free respecs stack?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, if you still had the free respec from before, why would you need the free one now?

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Schismatrix · 07-01-2009 02:41 AM

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<Insert my sob story about being gone this weekend and getting called away last night and missing my respecs on characters before the patch. Also insert statements of aggravation.>

Why can't granted free respecs stack?

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Well, if you still had the free respec from before, why would you need the free one now?

[/ QUOTE ]No logic allowed! Begone!

(Other than that i agree.)

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Moonlighter · 07-01-2009 09:31 AM

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<Insert my sob story about being gone this weekend and getting called away last night and missing my respecs on characters before the patch. Also insert statements of aggravation.>

Why can't granted free respecs stack?

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Well, if you still had the free respec from before, why would you need the free one now?

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Because I like to explore and experiment with many different character possibilities before I settle on a final build. This type of power experimentation is what I like best about City of X. I'd prefer to try lots of different combinations myself rather than copy cookie cutter builds from the forums.

I also have more fun playing a build a lot before deciding on it, and it's simply more fun to do this on live. Test server has a limited player base and I essentially lose any rewards I gain while playing there. I prefer to actually test when on the test server, although I have used it to play with quick respecs to test specific powers to look for animations or effects.

The more respecs I can use, the more I can explore the nuances of power combinations and try power pools that generally don't get used as much. This is extremely fun for me.

It seems to me that all of the arguments presented here could be applied equally as well to free costume change tokens and those stack.

Moonlighter

50s include MA/SD, MA/SR, DP/Elec, Claw/Inv, Kat/Dark, Kat/Fire, Spine/Regen, Dark/SD

First Arc: Tequila Sunrise, #168563

Dispari · 07-01-2009 09:36 AM

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Because I like to explore and experiment with many different character possibilities before I settle on a final build.

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Have you considered using the test server? I know you specifically mentioned it in your post, but it's still the best place to use respecs and try out new things.

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Speculator · 07-01-2009 11:22 AM

I 'burned' my free respecs once I knew I15 was pretty close to getting released. Now days, it seems we are granted free respecs with every issue release, regardless of if there were any major changes to powers or not. With the changes to Dominators in this issue, it was almost a certainty that we would be getting a free respec. For any CoH veteran, I don't think you can claim that you didn't know free respecs were coming on issue release, even if you didn't see the official announcement.

Moonlighter · 07-01-2009 12:44 PM

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Because I like to explore and experiment with many different character possibilities before I settle on a final build.

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Have you considered using the test server? I know you specifically mentioned it in your post, but it's still the best place to use respecs and try out new things.

[/ QUOTE ]

I *do* use the test server to test out changes to the build that can be evaluated in a short amount of time. When a change messes with play style, however, it often takes me many hours of play to really get a feel for the nuances of that new play style and the effectiveness of it. Also, sometimes a new play style feels "off" to me not because it's bad, but because I am unused to it. All this means my changes often require lots of time to evaluate.

As examples of what I mean; something as simple as using Hurdle + Combat Jumping instead of Swift to run around missions required a lot of testing. I hated the hopping / head slamming of using Hurdle but I gave it a lot of play time to see if it was simply a matter of familiarity that would change over time. Obsidian Gloom versus Cloak of Fear requires a lot of play time. Burn + Caltrops versus Burn + Tentacles requires a lot of play time.

If I did this on the test server it would greater reduce my enjoyment of that time for the following reasons:
~ My friends don't play on the test server. This alone is *plenty* of reason to avoid it.
~ Global chat can't be used on the test server to talk to friend.
~ All rewards accumulated on the test server during this play time are useless.
~ My super group's base is not available on the test server.

Moonlighter

50s include MA/SD, MA/SR, DP/Elec, Claw/Inv, Kat/Dark, Kat/Fire, Spine/Regen, Dark/SD

First Arc: Tequila Sunrise, #168563

Moonlighter · 07-01-2009 12:47 PM

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I 'burned' my free respecs once I knew I15 was pretty close to getting released. Now days, it seems we are granted free respecs with every issue release, regardless of if there were any major changes to powers or not. With the changes to Dominators in this issue, it was almost a certainty that we would be getting a free respec. For any CoH veteran, I don't think you can claim that you didn't know free respecs were coming on issue release, even if you didn't see the official announcement.

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There have been issues that did not grant a respec. Plus, I didn't want to spend my current respec now. I wasn't specifically testing that character at this time. Later when I am back to playing that character an iterative process for testing builds is both really fun and really useful.

Moonlighter

50s include MA/SD, MA/SR, DP/Elec, Claw/Inv, Kat/Dark, Kat/Fire, Spine/Regen, Dark/SD

First Arc: Tequila Sunrise, #168563

MunkiLord · 07-01-2009 12:49 PM

Moonlighter, you should just be more like me. All your problems would be solved. And it's only 39.99 USD a month!!!

NuclearToast · 07-01-2009 01:34 PM

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Why don't free respecs stack?

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Because they're ever-so-slightly convex on the top and bottom.

--NT

They all laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian.
But I showed them, and nobody's laughing at me now!

If I became a red name, I would be all "and what would you mere mortals like to entertain me with today, mu hu ha ha ha!" ~Arcanaville