Champions Online has a "triple dipping" business plan where they charge an up front fee for the game ($50), a monthly fee ($15 per month), and also have a "cash shop" for additional content. From the beginning, this has been cause for concern among potential players of Champions Online. But until some actual items were made available in the C-Store, it was impossible to really make an informed judgement. Now that some real game affecting options are in the C-Store, the concept can be reviewed and analyzed.
Before we can look at the cost of individual items, first we have to look at the currency. Champions Online uses something called "Cryptic Points." 400 Cryptic Points were included along with most pre-order deals. Beyond that, you buy them directly from Cryptic. Cryptic points basically cost 1.25 cents per point. (1000 points costs $12.50).
Most of the items have a cost that is either a multiple of 100 (each 100 points costs $1.25) or a multuiple of 80 (each 80 points costs $1.00).
Keeping all of that in mind will help as we look at the specific items in the C-Store.
We might as well jump right into it with the most contentious of the C-Store items. The full retcon is one of the more expensive items in the C-Store, and it is certainly the most worrisome of them all. It also gives us the best look into the motivations of Executive Producer Bill Roper and Cryptic as far as this C-Store concept.
Since its release, the issue of full respecs (called retcons) in Champions Online has been a controversial one. CO has a fully open ability/skill system, which means you can choose any powers, stat boosts, and power advantages you want for your character. There are no paths, templates, classes, or anything of that nature to guide you. The system is very flexible, but it is also extremely easy to ruin your character through a few unfortunate choices. If you do not spend tens of hours studying powers and builds via forums and character builders, you will almost surely make a few level up choices you will regret later.
The only remedy for that is a good respec/retcon system. In Champions Online, changing things you picked recently is not that costly, but going back more than 10 or 15 levels is cost prohibitive. By the time you are level 40, it is easier to simply start a new character from scratch than it is to earn the money you'd need to change something early in your build.