Trading stuff is a big part of Diablo for me. It's fun getting good deals. But if the other guy has duped the awesome item I'm trading him something for, then that ruins the game for me. I literally stopped playing Diablo 2 the day people found a way to dupe stuff. And yes, I started again after a year or two.

And I hate respecs for two reasons. The first is that they remove the need to gather information *before* I allocate skill points. I like reading about a game and planning a character first and then seeing how it works afterwards.
The second is that they don't make any sense in the game world. It's a bit like getting an education as an accountant and then deciding you'd rather be a dentist. Then you sprinkle some magic dust and presto! you're a dentist.
Yes, I know arguing about realism in a game is stupid, but good games have a consistent world and explain why stuff works differently than you'd intuitively expect. Respecs don't make sense. Neither in WoW or in Diablo. They're immersion breaking and poor game design, imo.

For me, the harshness in Diablo is a big part of why I love the game. Your actions have some form of consequence. I was really, really anxious when I took my hardcore char down to fight Duriel the other day. Few games give me that feeling these days. And I hope that Diablo 3 will give me the same feeling.

Respec availability removes the requirement of actually knowing how to play the game.

It's the only one I've heard about that isn't simply a matter of using a bare minimum of willpower, though.

This seems kind of silly to me. There is nothing macho or particularly admirable about somebody playing a magical elf or whatever on a computer in the first place. If it's not at the top of the pussy list, it's close enough. Who cares what other people in the same pussy world are doing too?

Sorry to seem so harsh, but the passion level still seems pretty comical to me, along with the weird dependence on what other people might be doing and perhaps what you might imagine they might think of the "you" that your cartoon character is. Or whatever.

I understand what you mean, but on the other hand, games can have whatever rules the developers like. There is no violating something that is so completely arbitrary in the first place. At least, not unless it's done mid-game. At that point you're already invested in the game world and I can see why your mind would be set one way or the other.

But every new game builds the game world and starts the rules all over again.

I suppose you could say you've already invested in Diablo 2, but I don't think that has anywhere near the same traction as game changes mid-game. I'm pretty sure people's investment in a game 10 years ago would not prove compelling to developers trying to sell a new game in today's market.

RESPEC PLAYS THE GAME FOR YOU!

Respec gives people that don't have a bajillion hours to burn the option of trying out different stuff.

+1

Remove the grind, play the game.

I like discovering the game myself the first time around and mess about, and then later make a proper build.

Takes the excitement out of the game for me to know whether the barb jump is good or bad, I will just stomp some zombies and find out instead!

respecs in crpgs, especially ones with only a handful of classes, vastly reduces the games shelf-life imo.

respecs at all in HC is just lulz.

-1

Sometimes I'm like that but sometimes I'm the opposite. I'll try out a canned build just to get the feel of things and see how the min-max way of doing things works, keep that as a reference point in my head, and then make a new character or play in an unconventional way to see how far I can push unusual or less than ideal strategies, or if they're any fun. Never dying or never losing just means not taking enough chances or being very curious, IMO.

Agree. There's more than one way to play a game, just like there's more than one kind of player. Even people with a ton of time don't necessarily want to spend it retreading the same ground.

Then why not just give everybody a max lvl char and full build if they have no time to get it themselves.

You're a moron.

I'd tend more toward the definition of moronic and narrow-minded elitist troll.