I think PoE provides a good template there. Why not accumulate respect points past level 20? That way accumulating lot’s of points remains a scaling effect, and respeccing is practically free if you get to 10 respec points (i. e lvl 30).
Sounds fine in principal, but it doesnt prevent the one thing the devs dont want you to be able to do… i.e. respec’ing immediately before facing different kinds of content/challenges.
The key here, imho, is not the actual skill points (because quite honestly they are quick to re-earn), but preventing people from respec’ing at will without any repercussions…
I dont personally agree with the OPs reasoning here but I was thinking that the issue of trying out new skills could be addressed in an out-of-band environment - e.g. perhaps there would be a “dressing room” location/map that allows for you to respec and try out any or all skills against a dummy or two and then when you leave this location your build resets to what it was before - that should then allow ANYONE, no matter their level, experience or understanding of the game, to try out anything they want in a safe space…
Maybe even the dude who gives you the mastery quest can give access to this after you have chosen your mastery…
Who knows… spitballing here to try and solve the “new player” issue on skill choices/testing…
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I like that idea 
a training grounds would let you experiment with builds, maybe with different trial parameters even, like one would let you try against a boss dummy, while another one would let you experiment with hordes of mobs.
Sounds great 
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Love the ‘dressing room’ idea.
Another thought, sort of in the line of the PoE thing but more controlled, might be 'free respecs, but only in the early game. Like every 5 character levels (or whatever arbitrary number) you get a free skill respec. This could stop after you reach character level 40 or 50 (about when i think most folks hop into MoF ). Or maybe each time you unlock an idol quest you also get a free skill respec that you can accumulate or save). This might allow new players more of a buffer and a bit of relief.
It’s kind of similar to the ‘minimum level’ but at the early stages, especially for new players, it’s a bit more of a boost. veterans would then figure out ways to make it work for the speed leveling process, thus also helping to curtail THAT particular gripe.
just spitballing.
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Grim Dawn, Titan Quest, D3, to name a few. That’s where your word “most forgiving” should be at.
Indeed, I feel it should be the opposite way, easy skill respec and leveling up to level 35, and significantly more difficult after. Identity of a build should be forged in the later stage of the game, not early.
A simple design is to make respec cost scale with your level in the early stage of the game. For example, below level 35, each respec only cost 1k gold x level, and skill points are refunded, not lost. After level 35 when you gain your 4th specialization slot, we revert back to current system. By that time, players are already quite resolute in the main damaging skills that they want to play with that char, the rest are just supporting skills that doesn’t hurt as much due to the current respec system.
Mind you, a completely new player, being 1 - 2h into the game, and dev making experimentation miserable for him, that can result in a rage refund out of frustration, which dev won’t like it. Loss of profit.
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I just want to echo this because I think you hit the nail on the head. It annoys new players, while veterans really grow to appreciate the design of Last Epoch. So balancing those competing needs is important.
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