14 replies to this topic

[Skribs]

I just recently came back to the game, and I see we're close to revamping the skill trees. I have a few reservations about the way respecs work; mainly that I feel my mechs I own are like legos, and locking me into a spec is like superglueing the legos together and then making me pay for solvent when I want to respec. However, here are my questions:

1) Is the skill tree per variant or per mech? In other words, if I have two CPLT-A1 mechs, and I want to build one for LRM5 spam and the other as a splat cat, do I have that option? If I sell a mech, do I have to level it up all over again? Similarly, if I want a second Mech of the same variant, I'm guessing I'd level it up separately as well?

2) Is there going to be a requirement to do 3 variants of the same chassis still? I always hated that mechanic, as it made it effectively cost triple to level up a mech.

3) Are some Mechs going to get boosts compared to others, similar to the quirk system? Or is the quirk system still going to be in place? I haven't really liked the quirk system, as I felt it restricted too many Mechs to a specific build (i.e. why run anything but LRM10s on a HBK-4J), but I also don't want to see Mechs like the SDR-5V left by the wayside because they are simply not good Mechs. Maybe give bigger boosts per skill point to certain Mechs (i.e. if a normal mech gets a 2% cooldown boost per point, a SDR-5V might get 4% or 5%).

4) Are there plans to offer free respecs as part of patches that change the balance of weapons?

I have a few other reservations, but I'll reserve those (pun intended) for the time being.

Edited by Skribs, 04 January 2017 - 08:55 PM.

[RestosIII]

• Pretty sure it's per mech, from what we've seen, not per variant.
  
• The 3 mechs to master system is 100% gone. It has raised several questions about the future PGI mech sales system because of it, but it's gone.
  
• Yes. They backtracked and told us on Twitter that there will be "baseline boosts" to mechs that need it, which means that some sort of quirks will still be around.
  
• No news on that regard. I wouldn't place any bets on it though.

Honestly, anything more than that, and we just need to wait for the Town Hall/any news whatsoever from PGI about it officially before we start theorizing.

[JediPanther]

As far as I've read from here, watched some of russ' laughable mwo-con presentation the answers are:

1. You can spec them separately. I plan to make one C1 a dedicated lrm mech and another a srm/laser mech.

2.Rule of 3 will finally be removed. You won't have to play that pos spider 5v to maser the 5d ecm one you want.

3.Russ had hinted that some quirks will remain as "base line quirks" Only a drunk russ can tell you what that is or how it works.Originally they were invented as a way for is to fight back against the clans since is were simply getting steamrolled since day 1 of clan mechs.

4. Re-specs will cost a small amount of in game money. Mc,gxp or xp I have no clue.

[Skribs]

My understanding is that you can remove a point with C-Bills or MC. If you remove the point with MC, you get either a free point or get the XP refunded. If you remove it with C-Bills, you have to use XP to put the point into the new skill, meaning you either need XP banked or you need to farm some more.

My question was more along the lines of if a patch comes out that nerfs something, do we get a free respec so we don't have to pay to fix what wasn't broken when we built it?

[RestosIII]

Skribs, on 04 January 2017 - 09:15 PM, said:

My understanding is that you can remove a point with C-Bills or MC. If you remove the point with MC, you get either a free point or get the XP refunded. If you remove it with C-Bills, you have to use XP to put the point into the new skill, meaning you either need XP banked or you need to farm some more.

My question was more along the lines of if a patch comes out that nerfs something, do we get a free respec so we don't have to pay to fix what wasn't broken when we built it?

As I said, no actual news about that sort of situation, but I highly doubt they'll be giving free respecs outside of case-by-case situations with bugs.

[Johnny Z]

Imagine if a player has his mech sitting in their mechbay for real. Now after earning creds and exp with it a player can get the mechbay/garage to upgrade/modify it. That costs creds for the overhead and materials of the players garage/mechbay. If a player wants to modify their mech again this costs creds again.

This is how a SIM would go about it.

As far as I can tell this is what the new mech tree is doing, along with real time updates on the stats totals on the right, which is awesome, 10/10.

From other details given it is said that only changes made will cost creds and not the entire mech/mod tree having to be redone. From what I understand. This is also sim like and awesome.

Edited by Johnny Z, 04 January 2017 - 10:08 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

Skribs, on 04 January 2017 - 09:15 PM, said:

My question was more along the lines of if a patch comes out that nerfs something, do we get a free respec so we don't have to pay to fix what wasn't broken when we built it?

No, because if PGI nerfs something then, from their perspective, it actually was broken when you built it, you just liked it being broken.

They have never refunded anything for balance passes. You accept going into it that every 'Mech, every item is subject to change.

[Skribs]

The difference is with balance passes in the past, you could just swap stuff out.

Most games that have skill trees or talent trees offer resets after a major patch.

[Y E O N N E]

Skribs, on 04 January 2017 - 11:24 PM, said:

The difference is with balance passes in the past, you could just swap stuff out.

Most games that have skill trees or talent trees offer resets after a major patch.

They nerfed the skill tree once before already, though, so there is no new precedent for being refunded strictly over balance. They also haven't ever offered refunds after changing quirks, and quirks were as huge as this is going to be.

PGI will be giving you back all XP and C-bills you have ever spent on skills and modules, though, so I don't see that there is much to be concerned about from that perspective.

[DGTLDaemon]

What worries me most about free respecs (or lack thereof) is the possibility that PGI may revisit Energy Draw after they introduce the new Skill Tree, which they kind of hinted at when they originally announced the shelving of the Energy Draw. If they do introduce something as radical as Energy Draw, it will necessitate a respec of most or all mechs... and if that respec ends up costing money, it's gonna suck big time.

[Skribs]

My concern is also some Mechs I simply like to run multiple setups. Spider 5D I run 3 MLs, 2 MPLs + TAG, LL + 2 ML, ER PPC, or ER LL. If weapon skills are specific to the weapon, that means a respec every time I switch weapons. And it doesn't look like 1 or 2 points. In the screenshots I've seen, there have been 18+ skills per weapon. If you go all-in on a weapon, you have to grind a lot before you can change spec. As I said above, it's like super glueing your legos together so you can't change them.

[Mechammer555]

So... I am currently sharing expensive modules between numerous mechs.
After this change, I will basically have to "buy" separate modules for each mech.
Hmm..

[Andi Nagasia]

1) Yes, it seems to be per Variant, so 2 CAT-A1s can be Spec'ed Differently,
2) Yes, needing to have 3 Variants will be gone, you will only need to have 1 Mech to master that Mech.
3) Yes, Russ has confirmed that some mechs will be keeping some structure to balance their Geo,
4) costs on how much it will take to Master, as well as how much to Respec is unknown,
.......(Russ has said the Grind will be the same as it is now to master a mech)

[Appogee]

One other thing to note: you'll need to pay CBills and possibly MC to respec a Mech. (ie. change skills unlocks)

[Skribs]

So, it takes 57250 XP to master a Mech now. For simplicity sake, let's say it costs 750 XP per skill point (which I heard was supposed to cap at 75, but that could be hogwash so don't quote me on it). So you have 750 XP * 75 skills = 56,250, which is close.

Let's say it costs 10,000 credits or 10 MC to remove a skill point.

10,000 credits will remove the skill point, and you need 750 XP to add it somewhere else. If you want a complete respec, you need 750,000 credits and the 56,250 XP to redo your Mech. Essentially you must Master it again, and pay a fee to redo it as well. This will be similar to the cost of doing/undoing FF, ES, or Artemis.

If you use 10 MC, you get a skill point that can be added with no XP. A respec costing 750 MC would respec the entire Mech. You require 0 XP to do this, because you get 75 points to add.

Now, the numbers are all completely made up, but that's my understanding for how it will work. The number of skill points, the credit cost, XP cost, and MC cost are probably completely wrong. The mechanics (i.e. MC = respec without spending XP) I believe to be right.