Wakfu Dev Blog: The New Respec System

15 Jan 2013
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Today with the help of developer Grou, responsible for class balance and the design of equipment in WAKFU, we would like to introduce a feature, part of the next Content Update, that will surely delight more than one of you: the new Spells and Abilities Respec System!


Why Change the Way We Offer Respecs?

So far, any respec we’ve offered in WAKFU has been put forward as an exceptional event:in such cases of significant class reworks. Work on improving the global balance during the last few Content Updates forced us to execute these more often and in a more invasive and cumbersome way.

As expected, this method posed several problems.

Problems for the team

Each update produced the crucial question: “Has there been a major change to spells?” “Has a bug been corrected which will cause a class to play significantly different?” “Do these changes warrant a respec?

All in all, it wasted a lot of time that could have been used doing something more productive. Of course, not to mention the risk of making the wrong call which would be negatively perceived by the community! Which mind you, is exactly the opposite of what we seek (we love you all).

Problems for the players

In this day and age, respecs in other games have become quite commonplace. This went against the current practice of WAKFU and unfortunately had an undesired effect: players would make “safe bets” in their builds instead of experimenting with their strategy, which is a real shame for a tactical game where a well thought-out plan can really make the difference!

Additionally, when we did offer a respec, an occasional player distributed their spells incorrectly (perhaps failing to realize some of the recent changes) and in effect, “break” their character’s effectiveness which would require them to wait for the next respec (and who who knew when would happen, right?).

Both of these scenarios aren’t something very pleasant to have to go through…

For all these reasons, the approach to respec is about to be modernized in WAKFU.

How Will the New System Work?

Respecs will be obtainable through a variety of means: either through completing two in-game quests or through a single consumable item available from the WAKFU Boutique.

1st Opportunity: Automatically Offered at Level 30

The first quest you’ll encounter that’ll offer you a respec will automatically trigger at level 30. You’ll have 48 hours to visit the Jonk of your nation and ask for your respec. Overall, this quest will work very similarly to the already existing “Restate of Emergency” quest, but its duration will last 2 days instead of 7 days. Please note that we’re talking about 2 days in real time, and not ingame time.

If by this deployment you are already level 30 or higher, this respec quest will automatically be offered to you: but be careful because you will only have 2 days from the re-opening of the server to turn in this quest! Otherwise you’ll loose this opportunity for ever!

Going back to the quest itself, after speaking with Jonk, you’ll be teleported to a special instance dedicated to respecs. More at the end of the article.

The decision to give you “free” access to this first respec at level 30 is intended to allow you to correct any early errors learning the game or the class. We understand how difficult it can be as a newbie, trying to learn all of the complicated features and systems, and it is important for us to ensure that you are not punished for this learning curve.

2nd Opportunity: Obtainable as of Level 30

You’ll have the chance at another respec quest available any time after level 30.

After speaking again to Jonk, he will ask you to retrieve a large number of low-level resources in exchange for access to the special respec instance. But of course, this teleportation will take a lot out of you! This quest can only be completed once per month! So it will be a long but accessible quest, which will allow respecs to be obtainable for everyone (even those not at max level).

Incidentally however, we expect the value of these low-level resources to increase as their demands rise: quite an easy way for newbies to earn a quick kama!

3rd Opportunity: The WAKFU Boutique

In the event the above two methods are not enough (or simply for those who simply cannot wait), there will be a third way to get a respec: a consumable item (Scroll) that will be available from the web Boutique, which will have a max purchase limit of 1/week/account. And by consuming this item, you’ll instantly teleport straight into the respec instance to make your changes! Subscribers and non-subscribers will be able to use this Scroll at any character level. It will also not be tradable but will have no limitation in the amount of use.

The Respec Instance: How Does it Work?

Our old method simply refunded all of your points, removing any safety net and maximizing the risk of the player making an error. It was a simple system: here’s all your points again, have fun!

This time around, when you get a respec, you’ll be teleported to a dedicated instance where Master Kano will offer you as many respecs you need as long as you do not leave his special instance! Near him, you’ll be able to find training dummies with 10,000 HP that will heal at every turn and if you leave the battle, you’ll return back within the instance with no fear of suffering from “De Darm” either — quite the ideal sparring mate to test all those theories.

As soon as you leave the instance you will need to activate a new respec quest or item (explained above) in order to return back to the instance, to be able to return to it and re-allocate your points.

So that’s that! We hope that this special Dev Blog gives you an idea of what awaits you shortly. The whole team hopes that these upgrades for a more persistent and friendlier respect system will meet the expectation that you’ve communicated with us over the last few months.

Grou