Hey there. Love the game, great job with reforming the genre.
I think you went overboard with one thing though - respecing. I’ve read through some respec threads here on the forums and I see a lot of waving the problem away.
I do agree with it not being a problem late game.
I do agree with campaign being so easy, that being set back in skill points doesn’t make the game much more difficult.
I don’t agree that this settles the problem.
I believe a game that promises great build variety should make exploring that diversity a good experience, also in the early game. For some people (working two jobs, single parents etc) early game can last weeks. And anyone can be discouraged from reaching the end game via bad early experience of course.
Since all other aspects of the game are well-thought and friendly, respecing early is like a cold shower. You need to progress a dozen of maps to catch up (in which time you could’ve been leveling your old skills), compare if your new build is better, and then another dozen to get back to your original skills if it’s not. This is a tiny amount of time for long-time LE fans and genre veterans, but it’s huge for newcomers. And all that time spent feels bad.
Some players power through the bad time they have in front of them, but others just turn off the game. Consider tweaking respec system not because it’s bad, but because its current iteration can drive people away.
If I understand correctly, the respec as a process exists to prevent swapping builds on the fly, to not abuse it in the end game farm? Then make the skill slots retain all points till character level 50.
Such tweak won’t have an impact on late game, won’t remove the aspect of progressing your skills early, and won’t make people suffer through setbacks when they’re deciding if they like the game or not.
That’s it from me. Again: fantastic game, keep up the good work. Cheers!