Power Respecification
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. Power respecifications are gained in one of two ways:
- By completing a power respecification trial, or
- By having one given to him or her during a special event or after a significant change in power mechanics
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 not change his or her origin, archetype, primary powerset, or secondary powerset; however, he or she may choose different powers within his or her primary and secondary powersets, as well as select different pool powers and/or epic powers, reallocate enhancement slots, and redistribute all enhancements among new powers or slots.
Earned Respecifications
If a character receives a power respecification due to completing a power respecification trial, it is considered an earned respec. A character may have multiple earned respecs, currently up to three, available at any given time.
An earned respec is used by visiting a special contact. For heroes, this contact is Jack Wolfe, located in the Hero Corps headquarters in Galaxy City. For villains, the contact is Arbiter Lupin, located next to Arbiter Frederick in the Nerva Archipelago.
There are currently two trials for the purposes of power respecification:
- The Terra Volta Respecification Trial for heroes, and
- The Tree of Thorns Respecification Trial for villains
Unearned Respecifications
If a character receives a power respecification due to having one given to him or her, it is considered unearned. A character may have only one unearned respec available at any given time. If a character has an unearned respec when another respec is given out, he or she will not receive the new respec.
Unearned 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.
An unearned respec is used by typing the /respec command on the chat command line.
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 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 enhancements will be sold for a cost indicated above the unassigned enhancement tray.
Tips
- Important note: Once a character has earned all respecs avaialble by completing the power respecification trial the maximum number of times (currently three for heroes and villains) and used all respecs available, the character may not change his or her powers again unless another unearned respecification is given out!
- Because a character may have a maximum of one unearned 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 availble 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, powers should be selected in an order that reflects the order in which they would actually be used in-game.
- Because the maximum number of respecs available is limited and the time between respecs is typically very long, it is highly suggested to test respecs on the Training Room server before actually commiting to the respec on the live server.