Power Respecification

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Revision as of 17:35, 9 September 2008 by imported>Eabrace (Combat Level -> Threat Level (combat/effective level is slightly different))
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This article is about ways to acquire a respec and how to use them. For the slash command, see respec (Slash Command).

Overview

A power respecification, or respec, is a means for a Hero or Villain to respecify, or change, the powers he or she has available for use, as well as how those powers are slotted with Enhancements. Power respecifications are gained in many possible ways:

  1. By completing a power respecification trial
  2. By crafting one from a Respec Recipe
  3. By having one given to him or her by the developers during a special event or after a significant change in power mechanics
  4. By subscribing for a specific number of months and receiving one via the Veteran Reward System
  5. For villains only, by completing the first Patron arc and unlocking a Patron Power Pool
  6. For villains only again, by having a Soldier of Arachnos reaching level 24
  7. Purchasing one from the in-game store for $9.99 USD

Respecs are typically used to trade unwanted powers for more useful ones and/or to rearrange hard-to-obtain Enhancements that have been permanently slotted into powers.

  • During a power respecification, a character may choose different powers within his or her primary and secondary powersets, as well as completely reconfigure his or her selection of Pool Powers (and, for Heroes, Ancillary Power Pools). Respecs also let a character reallocate Enhancement slots and redistribute all Enhancements that were either in a power or in his or her inventory tray.
  • Respecs cannot change a character's Origin, Archetype, primary powerset, secondary powerset, or Veteran Reward Program-selected powers. Respecs also cannot change which Patron Power Pool a Villain has chosen, though they do allow him or her to change which of that pool's powers he or she has taken.
  • Respecs don't allow a player to take a power or add slots in an order that isn't possible for a character leveling normally.

Types of Respecifications

Though there are many ways of acquiring respecifications, the respecs themselves fall into only two types: earned and free. The type depends on the method used to achive it:

  • Trial Respecs - earned, up to 3 possible
  • Veteran Respecs - earned, up to 4 possible (at 45 months)
  • Patron Respecs - earned, 1 possible (Villain only)
  • Soldiers of Arachnos Respec - earned, 1 possible (Villain only)
  • Free Respec - free
  • Respec Recipes - free


A character can accumulate any number of earned respecs, but at most one free one. Any more gained while a character already has one are lost.

An earned respec is used by visiting a special contact. For heroes, this contact is Jack Wolfe, located in the Freedom Corps headquarters in Galaxy City. For villains, the contact is Arbiter Lupin, located next to Arbiter Frederick in the Nerva Archipelago.

A free respec is used by typing the /respec command on the chat command line.

A Soldiers of Arachnos respec is used upon a Villain Epic Archetype reaching level 24. When visiting a trainer for the first time after reaching Threat Level 24, the player will immediately be taken to the respec screen due to the extra powersets being unlocked.

Trial Respecifications

There are two respec-granting trials:

Each trial has three versions: one available to characters of level 24 and up, one for 34+, and one for 44+. There are also limits on how many respecs a character can earn from these trials: at most one for characters level 24-33, two for 34-43, and three for 44+. The interesting thing is that the respecification rewards are not linked to which trial is completed, but to the character's level. For example, a level 48 character who has never done a respecification trial can do the first (lowest level) trial three times, or the last (highest level) trial three times, or any combination of the trials, and gain all three respecification awards.

One other point: a character can do a respec trial even if he or she can't get any more respecs from it. The character simply won't be able to choose a respec as the completion reward at the end. In fact, the character can choose one of the other rewards even if a respec is allowed.

Veteran Rewards Respecifications

Several levels of the Veteran Reward System award respecs to all characters on the account. Specifically, the 9 month, 21 month, 33 month, and 45 month rewards all include respecs.

Veteran respecs are earned respecs and are claimed the same way as trial respecs.

Patron Power Respecifications (Villains Only)

Each villain character that completes the first Patron arc and unlocks a patron power pool will also receive an earned respec.

Free Respecifications

If a character receives a power respecification due to having one given to him or her, it is a free respec. A character may have only one free respec available at any given time. If a character has a free respec when another respec is given out, he or she will not receive the new respec.

Free respecs are usually given out after significant changes to game mechanics involving powers. For example, when Enhancement Diversification was released on the live servers, a free respec was given to all heroes due to a significant change in the effects of enhancement slotting.

Respecification Recipes

As of Issue 11 characters may buy Respec Recipes from other players or find them as rare drops from defeating enemies. Crafting this recipe awards the crafter with a free respec.

How Respecifications Work

When a respec is used, a character will be presented with the power selection screen to select his or her powers. The choice will be limited to the powers available when he or she first selected powers at level 1. After selecting a power, the character will be asked to select another power, this time with the powers available when he or she selected powers at level 2. For each subsequent power selection, the powers available will be the powers available for the next progressive level of the character.

For example, when the sixth power is selected, the powers available will be the powers available for selection with the character attained security level 10 (i.e. when he or she selected his or her sixth power).

After the power selection is complete, the character is then presented with the enhancement slot selection screen. Again, the powers available for slotting are the powers that were available at the time that the character attained the level for that particular round of slots.

For example, when the sixth set of slots is selected, the powers available for slotting will be the powers available for selection when the character attained security level 13 (i.e. when he or she selected his or her sixth set of enhancement slots).

After the enhancement slotting is complete, the character will be presented with a screen in which he or she assigns all of his or her currently assigned and held enhancements to those slots. Until an enhancement is assigned to an enhancement slot or to the enhancement inventory, it is considered unassigned. Unlike the normal enhancement management screen, enhancements may be freely moved around between enhancement slots, the enhancement inventory tray, and the unassigned enhancements tray.

After all enhancements are placed into appropriate slots or into the enhancement tray, all unassigned origin (SO,DO, TO) enhancements will be sold for their full purchase cost. Invention Enhancements will be sold for the crafting cost (the price does not include the purchase cost). Hamidon and Synthetic Hamidon Enhancements are not assigned any value. They will be lost with zero influence/infamy gained if they are unassigned at the end of a respecification.

Notes

  • Important! Earned respecs are finite. Only seven are currently possible for Heroes, and eight for Villains. Once a character has used all available earned respecs, that character may not change his or her powers again unless a free respecification is given out or that character crafts a Respec Recipe!
  • Because a character may have a maximum of one free respec at a time, it is highly suggested that these respecs be used before earned respecs by typing the /respec command on the chat command line.
  • A player may see how many unclaimed respecs his or her character has at the time of logon. A system (green text) message is displayed in the chat box stating, "You have x unclaimed respecs available," where x is the number of available respecs.
  • Remember that the order in which a character's powers are selected determines which powers are available when that character is exemplared or malefactored with lower-level Heroes and Villains. In general, the most wanted or most often-used powers should be selected first.
  • Because the maximum number of respecs available is limited and the time between gaining respecs is typically very long, it is highly suggested to test new builds on the Training Room server before actually committing to the respec on the live server.
  • The word "respec" is often misspelled "respect" by those unfamiliar with the term, by speed touch-typists, or sometimes even by some in a deliberate satirical manner. The word is an abbreviated form of the word respecification, however, and "respec" is the correct spelling. In addition, "respec" is sometimes incorrectly expanded in-game to "respecialization", such as in the badge text for respecs given as Veteran Rewards, leading to further confusion amongst players as to what "respec" is actually short for.
  • The names of the villain respec trial contacts, Sparcetriel, Trepsarciel, and Ractespriel, are all anagrams of "respec trial."

See Also

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