Originally posted by Beyorn

If this has been asked before I apologies:

 

Since there is no respect in the game (which I can tell anyway), when you spend your points they are    forever locked in. So my question is:

 

Let’s say I change my mind and I don’t like a spec I have.  Doesn’t that mean I will then need to grind out more points to spend on the new skills also meaning that I will get these new skill points more slowly (since I already have some)?  I guess I mean is it going to be like the AA points in EQ2?  Once you get past a certain number of points it will get slower and slower to get the points.

 

I hope all that made sense.

Most likely. 

I'm not familiar with EQ2's AA points, but I do know that you can unlock every skill in TSW. Missions being repeatable helps. I'm not entirely sure about the Investigation missions being repeatable, but if they are, that's quick and easy exps.

So in a sense we still have levels ;P?

Originally posted by Beyorn

If this has been asked before I apologies:

 

Since there is no respect in the game (which I can tell anyway), when you spend your points they are    forever locked in. So my question is:

 

Let’s say I change my mind and I don’t like a spec I have.  Doesn’t that mean I will then need to grind out more points to spend on the new skills also meaning that I will get these new skill points more slowly (since I already have some)?  I guess I mean is it going to be like the AA points in EQ2?  Once you get past a certain number of points it will get slower and slower to get the points.

 

I hope all that made sense.

Let us see if I can sort some things out for you. As you go to higher level zones you get a lot more points very quickly to use. There are no specs per say as you can save your current build and start another, also going back and repeating quests in say KM is a fast way to gain more SP and AP.

This game actually rewards you the higher you get with quicker AP and SP, there is not really respeccing but think of it as learning new skills and you can still keep your old build till you increase those.

I hope that un muddied the waters for you a bit.

Originally posted by Beyorn

So in a sense we still have levels ;P?

If you want to think of "Skills unlocked" as levels, you can. But there are 525 of them, broken into 9 weapon types and 3 generalized subtypes.

You unlock Anima points by getting a set number of .. idk what to call it.. EXP for a simple term, because that's what it is. Earlier skills for a weapon require less Anima points to unlock, like so:

The more you focus on a single skillset, the more AP it costs. It's fairly easy to get AP as most everything rewards EXP, even achievements.

Unlike a level system though, that doesn't mean that someone with 525 abilities will be insanely stronger than someone with 300. They just have more options. Doesn't mean they properly utilize them ;)

Originally posted by Beyorn

If this has been asked before I apologies:

 

Since there is no respect in the game (which I can tell anyway), when you spend your points they are    forever locked in. So my question is:

 

Let’s say I change my mind and I don’t like a spec I have.  Doesn’t that mean I will then need to grind out more points to spend on the new skills also meaning that I will get these new skill points more slowly (since I already have some)?  I guess I mean is it going to be like the AA points in EQ2?  Once you get past a certain number of points it will get slower and slower to get the points.

 

I hope all that made sense.

There is no ability to respec at present.

Developers have stated that in order to unlock the full talent wheel that players will need to grind, either repeatable quests or dungeons, given that there are 8 zones with around 15-20 hours of content per zone (that is an estimate, and I believe that they have been holding back some content for release). I'm honestly not sure if PvP awards SP & AP though I assume it must.

Experience given from missions scales with the area, so even though tier 3 talents cost significantly more points than tier 1, you acquire them much more quickly by questing in Egypt onward.

IMO of course.

Originally posted by Beyorn

So in a sense we still have levels ;P?

Unfortunately, yes.

Not in the sense of anima, though. And it does suck that you can't respec, because the tier2 anima skills can get really expensive. To compensate for this I did quite a few Polaris runs last beta weekend, landing my character at somwhere of around 80~ total AP spent.

Where the game still has lvls is basically in gear. The lvl restrictions have shifted from your character, to your gear. So instead of 'lvl X lfg' it's 'QL X lfg'. This is also how you can tell if you are good enough to fight certain monsters. If you are seeing lots of glancing blows, then you are undergeared for the current encounter.

What Im really worried about is that I'm going to play a melee dps with my group this time (I have never done this before, Im usually the healer).  Once I have spend maybe 15 -18 points in clas and chaos magic and decide I dont like it after all those points are wasted (the way I understand anyway).  So I will need to use the points I have in a spec I dont like to get more points to spend on skills in another build i want to try (say bloodmagic).  It will take me longer to get those 15 -18 points again if I understand right (since I already have all those points tied up in claw and choas magic.  Is that right?  I wish the points you have spend were not locked in, what if you make a horrible trainwreck of a build.  It would make more sense to me just to start all over and get the points fast and build your deck up that way?  Am I totally wrong on this?

Originally posted by Beyorn

So in a sense we still have levels ;P?

Only in that it is a measure of aqquiring powers, and progression, but not in gauging how powerful you are compared to other creatures, and so to determine if you can fight "that mob or this mob" kind of mentality of leveling. Most leveling is more of a stat progresion leveling such as getting high strength or hp, while in tsw leveling is more ability/power aquiring to gain utlilties to do well in many areas of the game when called on. In the tradional sense of levels tsw has absolutely no levels as how much exp you have gained does not make you vastly stronger than another layer just by the merrit of having gained those exp points, but that you have a better supply of abilities to create a better build that is stronger than a player which gained less exp than you, but it is all in how you spend your points not in merely gaining exp points or leveling that makes you stronger alone.

no RESPEC (you said respect), yes you have to grind out new points if you want a new build or playstyle.  Or make a new guy...

Originally posted by Beyorn

If this has been asked before I apologies:

 

Since there is no respect in the game (which I can tell anyway), when you spend your points they are    forever locked in. So my question is:

 

Let’s say I change my mind and I don’t like a spec I have.  Doesn’t that mean I will then need to grind out more points to spend on the new skills also meaning that I will get these new skill points more slowly (since I already have some)?  I guess I mean is it going to be like the AA points in EQ2?  Once you get past a certain number of points it will get slower and slower to get the points.

 

I hope all that made sense.

No respec atm, most likely another item for cash shop if they decide to release one. The argument behind this is: You can unlock every skill in the game, if you mess up just change your skill tree. The way skill tiers work, the higher up you go the more it costs.

Originally posted by Asuran24

Originally posted by Beyorn

So in a sense we still have levels ;P?

Only in that it is a measure of aqquiring powers, and progression, but not in gauging how powerful you are compared to other creatures, and so to determine if you can fight "that mob or this mob" kind of mentality of leveling. Most leveling is more of a stat progresion leveling such as getting high strength or hp, while in tsw leveling is more ability/power aquiring to gain utlilties to do well in many areas of the game when called on. In the tradional sense of levels tsw has absolutely no levels as how much exp you have gained does not make you vastly stronger than another layer just by the merrit of having gained those exp points, but that you have a better supply of abilities to create a better build that is stronger than a player which gained less exp than you, but it is all in how you spend your points not in merely gaining exp points or leveling that makes you stronger alone.

Mobs do have a relative strength indicator compared to your toon.

Conning Symbol Colors: range in a spectrum from green > blue > white > yellow > orange > red. White means "roughly same strength as you are". Green and blue are weaker than you are, and yellow > orange > red are stronger than you are. If you pay attention while you progress in Kingsmouth, you'll notice that a lot of mobs that were formerly orange turn yellow eventually as you start equipping more QL1 and QL2 gear items, and certainly you'll see differences by the time you are wearing mostly QL3 gear. 

So the game must have some internal system for measuring your "level" vs mob levels.

Originally posted by Beyorn

What Im really worried about is that I'm going to play a melee dps with my group this time (I have never done this before, Im usually the healer).  Once I have spend maybe 15 -18 points in clas and chaos magic and decide I dont like it after all those points are wasted (the way I understand anyway).  So I will need to use the points I have in a spec I dont like to get more points to spend on skills in another build i want to try (say bloodmagic).  It will take me longer to get those 15 -18 points again if I understand right (since I already have all those points tied up in claw and choas magic.  Is that right?  I wish the points you have spend were not locked in, what if you make a horrible trainwreck of a build.  It would make more sense to me just to start all over and get the points fast and build your deck up that way?  Am I totally wrong on this?

Not really as making that bad build or succh will allow you to notice when you might be makingg the same bad choices in powers you are going to be taking, as well as allowing you to still use the actives or passives you have to adjust the functions/power of the new powers you gain. I have always told peole to try all of the weapon sets in te starting training room so you can see how they feel and such, while also reading about the wheel/cell you are going to be going into. Doing this will allow you to guage hwo well the powers will work, and also to allow you to look into other cells for other passives or actives that you might want to take as well. Tsw's system iss about planning, as well as maaking infomed choices over just buying things on a whim. I have actually had times when i sat down for an hour or more to read thru several lines of abilities and cells to find what i exactly wanted, as well as look at how they would work or function in my current set up.

I'm seriously sad about the lack of respec. - I basically took a tank'ish aproach to my toon. So I went blades, took the brandish line, then decided that worked well with the forked line as well, due to the glancing symbioses there. Then I went to the affliction line up in the other end of the blades wheel - Im now seriously dedicated in Blades, having spent hundreds of points in it. And Im still not where I want to be with blades, because as I play and get more informed about the way these skills interact, and how the game mechanics work, especially where some skills read alot better than they are actually performing in combat, I wish I could have just one chance for a makeover :D

Anyway, its overwhelming in so far as abilities are so numerous, and they interact in so many awesome ways. I would like to just spend 120ish points in the affliction line for blades and a little in fists, for a melé heavy dmg spec with some survivability. For solo levelling which I do alot of. - Then I'd go for the tankish stuff, since I didnt need it for soloing, and its not paying off now that I did invest in that so early.

Oh well.

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Originally posted by Beyorn
If this has been asked before I apologies:   Since there is no respect in the game (which I can tell anyway), when you spend your points they are    forever locked in. So my question is:   Let’s say I change my mind and I don’t like a spec I have.  Doesn’t that mean I will then need to grind out more points to spend on the new skills also meaning that I will get these new skill points more slowly (since I already have some)?  I guess I mean is it going to be like the AA points in EQ2?  Once you get past a certain number of points it will get slower and slower to get the points. I hope all that made sense.

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It always takes the same amount of xp to get a skill point. Quests give different ranges of xp apon completion. so no, it wont be the same speed.