Or you can have a respec option but something that doesn't allow you to keep respeccing on the fly like in WoW.
I never heard anyone complain about a games inclusion of a stat distribution system before. As it stands now every barb is the same, every Wizard is the same etc. The only thing that separates us is gear.
Not complaining about stat distributions. Just saying allowing stats and then punishing players for not researching the game (by disallowing respecs) before playing it is a terribly stupid and antiquated idea.
so tell me, what's a good idea that allows you to respec but doesn't punish players for respeccing too often? By virtue of setting limitations on the # of respecs or even the amount of time before respecs, it punishes casual players and people who want to experiment and test things.
wow uses respecs are a gold sink and its effective enough at that, but I don't want to compare diablo or torchlight to a mmorpg since that's getting too far off topic.