Skill Point Reset

[Oikawa 1]

Hello RPers of SAO. I have a predicament. As of late, many awesome and necessary changes have been made to enhancements, armors, and gameplay involving the site. While I am all for the change, I am not all for the change in build that my character must now undertake due to the changes. I, like a few others, plan out their characters before investing in skills and acquiring items with certain enhancements. When changes implemented affect a character quite a bit it, like it did for me, it may make the player feel like they can no longer have the build they wanted and they may possibly wish they could now go a different route. This may not be such a problem for high leveled vets or new players coming in, but for players just getting through the teens and twenties, like myself, it can be difficult to make a change and make a build you're satisfied with.

 

So I propose that there should be some sort of one time quest, much like the Redemption Quest, or a one time use item, obtained through some rigorous means, that allows a single soft reset of one's skill points. That way if one does decide to change their mind they can, but on the flip-side you can only ever use it once. 

 

What does the community think about this? Take the poll and comment below! Thanks for reading!

[Xanatos 0]

I think a blanket term we can use here is known as a "Respecialization" or a "Respec". I think that although it was never mentioned in SAO, we can reasonably apply a Respec system. Oikawa's right, when changes are made to the systems that we use to play, the impact can be large or small depending on the character itself. In my opinion, when presented with the ever changing concepts of how we are playing the game, it is fair to present players with the ability to adapt their current characters to fit the system changes and do not force them to  abandon their original character concepts that the player was working towards. Rather, we must give them to chance to respec and adapt to the new system as they see fit with a soft reset of their skills. Reallocation would be pretty simple. I think if you have to respec, you have to provide a log of how you acquired the skills in the first place, then a GM must approve the change. Although, if you have acquired skills through quests i.e Martial Arts, Concentration, etc. Those would be untouched. I think that making it a quest to respec is a fun idea but isn't necessary. I like to think of it being an in game service that is a courtesy to those whose characters have been (for lack of a better word atm) forced to be "restructured" by the "patches" provided by the devs of this awesome site.  

[Draterion 0]

 May I ask why this should be considered a "one-time" quest? I do not believe it should be one-time. It should just be hard or long, either way, but long would be better for the newer players and teens with not much health.

[Xanatos 0]

Again I ask, why does it have to be a quest? Why can't it just be a one time use option provided by an NPC interaction?

[Baldur 0]

I think a one time only quest is a good idea.

 

I also think that (Such as the case of armor here) certain changes instigated by the management should allow players a limited style respec, such as (in this case) changing points in Heavy to light, or light to heavy.

[XWuZHeAR 0]

In the case of weapons I think it would be fair if someone's weapon could change to a desired form in acordince with there new skills. Seeing as that difrent weapons don't provide difrent stats they should also be able to move over the same enchantments from there previous weapon.

[Baldur 0]

In the case of weapons I think it would be fair if someone's weapon could change to a desired form in acordince with there new skills. Seeing as that difrent weapons don't provide difrent stats they should also be able to move over the same enchantments from there previous weapon.

 

I don't see how this is relevant. There is currently no difference between anything other than one hand and two (e.g. the ability to use a shield). If you use a two-handed weapon, you are willfully gimping yourself (*points to self*). This has changed slightly with the recent enhancements as there is slightly less of a gimping if you choose not to use a shield because of the different enchantments you can get.

 

Otherwise, I can't really understand what you're trying to say. Can you rephrase that?

[Rebekah 0]

Personally, a one-time quest is not the solution that would work. I think it should be saved for special cases, such as an overhaul of the skills OR enchantment system, which would make a lot of equipment/build paths no longer viable for your player. The problem with a one-time quest is that what if the system gets changed again in say 2 months later, when new ideas and improvements are being made, and you want to change things around.

 

That said, I think it should be allowed to reset, or at least a semi-reset whenever the skills or enhancement guide gets tinkered with.

[XWuZHeAR 0]

I don't see how this is relevant. There is currently no difference between anything other than one hand and two (e.g. the ability to use a shield). If you use a two-handed weapon, you are willfully gimping yourself (*points to self*). This has changed slightly with the recent enhancements as there is slightly less of a gimping if you choose not to use a shield because of the different enchantments you can get.

Otherwise, I can't really understand what you're trying to say. Can you rephrase that?

If someone were to take said quest in question and, they desired to change the skill points alloted to weapon skills. Then they should also be able to change what kind of weapon there currently equipped one is. For example if some one takes the quest as a straight sword user and has a straight sword equipped. they should be able to change to a curved sword user and there weapon would change to compliment the new aloted points. Make sense now baldur?

[Baldur 0]

Yes, but i disagree. There are items that do this already. You'd just have to go buy one

[Xanatos 0]

Yes, Baldur is correct with the voucher system (An extremely useful system at that)

[Oikawa 1]

 May I ask why this should be considered a "one-time" quest? I do not believe it should be one-time. It should just be hard or long, either way, but long would be better for the newer players and teens with not much health.

 

I said a one time quest to put a limit on how abusive the reallocation of skill points could become, but at the same time I agree that there should be another way of doing it that may allow for more times to change should you choose. Maybe a penalty of sorts that could have a negative attribute towards your stats or something. A sort of setback if you will. Obviously the idea needs more thought but that's what we are here for.

 

Personally, a one-time quest is not the solution that would work. I think it should be saved for special cases, such as an overhaul of the skills OR enchantment system, which would make a lot of equipment/build paths no longer viable for your player. The problem with a one-time quest is that what if the system gets changed again in say 2 months later, when new ideas and improvements are being made, and you want to change things around.

 

That said, I think it should be allowed to reset, or at least a semi-reset whenever the skills or enhancement guide gets tinkered with.

 

Alright I see your point. But lets put my personal scenario aside and just say in general. Lets say we have a person that started making a DPS like character . High damage and accuracy and evasion you know? The good stuff. Now lets say they've had a sudden change of heart and want to become a tankier role. As it stands now, we are only allowed to have 9 skills not including extra skills (survival, katana, reveal, etc.) So if you've invested into several skills that benefit a DPS build, and only have lets say 3 skill slots left, at best you can grind the sp for 3 more tank related skills and hope for the best while having quite the...err..unique character. But you'll never be at full potential for either builds. However if we were allowed a rest or "Respec" of our SP it would make it easier for players to build who they want. Should there be limit or a setback for this I certainly believe so. We shouldn't be allowed to just change as we please all willy nilly. But to make players grind out thread upon thread for 1 sp most times (assuming they completed most of the static quest for extra sp) is kind of cruel. That or if you want to go a more extreme route, having to create an all new character because your so invested into one playstyle that it'd be impossible to convert over to a new one.

 

Long wall of text aside, I believe the community does in fact agree that there should be in some shape, way, or form, a way to reset some or all your skill points. A balance to that privilege is what we should be discussing.

[Oikawa 1]

Somehow this got omitted...

 

I think a blanket term we can use here is known as a "Respecialization" or a "Respec". I think that although it was never mentioned in SAO, we can reasonably apply a Respec system. Oikawa's right, when changes are made to the systems that we use to play, the impact can be large or small depending on the character itself. In my opinion, when presented with the ever changing concepts of how we are playing the game, it is fair to present players with the ability to adapt their current characters to fit the system changes and do not force them to  abandon their original character concepts that the player was working towards. Rather, we must give them to chance to respec and adapt to the new system as they see fit with a soft reset of their skills. Reallocation would be pretty simple. I think if you have to respec, you have to provide a log of how you acquired the skills in the first place, then a GM must approve the change. Although, if you have acquired skills through quests i.e Martial Arts, Concentration, etc. Those would be untouched. I think that making it a quest to respec is a fun idea but isn't necessary. I like to think of it being an in game service that is a courtesy to those whose characters have been (for lack of a better word atm) forced to be "restructured" by the "patches" provided by the devs of this awesome site.  

 

 I like the points you bring up and I agree with them for the most part, however, I disagree with and I quote "I think that although it was never mentioned in SAO, we can reasonably apply a Respec system. Oikawa's right, when changes are made to the systems that we use to play, the impact can be large or small depending on the character itself." This line is what can deter part of your argument. Since it was in fact not listed in SAO as far as we know, it will literally come down to whether the GM's want to add it or not. As with the overhaul of stuff, they seem to be edging towards staying as canon as possible. Which makes our task that much harder.

[Reusririasuir 0]

Why not make it repeatable as a quest which also requires a col payment. A payment being prohibitively expensive? (5k, 10k Col; something to that effect). A price which will make you REALLY have to think about doing it.

 

This is a bit different though then staff offering a stat re-spec period because of major changes to the game's internal guts. Obviously, that should be provided as a 'seen-fit' experience.

[Baldur 0]

I don't like the idea of it being repeatable. I'm okay with it being a one time thing, then with staff approving certain things (like going from Heavy Armor to light armor) based on these changes.

 

We may not have seen it in the show, but they're common in MMOs, even having a quest required to complete them, but I don't like the idea of them being repeatable, even with lots of money.

 

Though I guess we could say the quest drops an item that lets you respec, but you can only do the quest once, and allow players to sell theirs if they don't think they'll want it.