Champions Online Will Fail Without a Full Respec or Retcon Option

If you are unfamiliar with Champions Online you might want to read the Champions Online Preview. It explains the game in detail and analyzes its major features.

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Without a full respec option, this extreme customization becomes a detriment rather than an asset. Without a full respec, the high level of customization simply adds complexity and risk to character design rather than flexibility and fun. Having a lot of choices and flexibility can actually be a bad thing if every choice could potentially ruin your character. Choice without the ability to undo or recover from that choice raises the stakes to a level so high it is harder to simply enjoy the game.

Right now, you can only respec your last 10 level up choices. As noted in the CO preview, this includes power picks as well as stat increases, travel powers, and advantages added to powers. It is extremely easy to ruin a character by choosing a power, stat, or advantage that you are unhappy with later. The ability might not scale up like you thought, a better or more fun power of the same type might come available, your playstyle might change a bit, or many other reasons.

Champions Online is a non-class based game that touts its extreme customization as a primary selling point. This is an accurate claim only if people are able to UNDO their choices if they end up being unhappy with them. Effectively requiring that people do hours of research and use third party build planners in order to avoid fun ruining mistakes is a horrible way to go. The current situation makes leveling up a time of stress and worry rather than excitement and fun.

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Some players worry that full respecs will allow powergamers to constantly respec their characters into "whatever is best" at the moment. Here's the thing: powergamers are already playing "whatever is best", and they always will be. The fact of the matter is this: powergamers will always powergame. They will spend hundreds of hours researching and planning their characters, and they will do everything it tanks to twink up and powerlevel their characters. Denying respecs to the entire game will not impact powergamers. They already know exactly which powers they want, which stats to raise, and which advantages to pick.

Respecs are what allow everyone else to be able to enjoy their characters as well. Respecs allow casual players to simply PLAY THE GAME rather than RESEARCH THE GAME. Respecs give regular players the opportunity to tweak and improve their character build so they actually have some hope of competing with the powergamers.

Furthermore, developers almost always find it impossible to resist balancing their game based on the way powergamers play it. Difficulty and xp curves will eventually be tweaked based on how powergamers play. If regular players cannot improve and enhance their builds to keep up, they simply suffer.