Blizzard says Diablo 4's respec costs "are final"

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Diablo 4's respec costs aren't changing before launch, Blizzard has confirmed.

In a recent roundtable interview GamesRadar+ attended, Diablo 4 associate game director Joseph Piepiora responded to feedback from players regarding the apparent costs to respec a character, as skillfully mined from a recent endgame deep-dive.

Piepiora explained that, while the gold required to reallocate skill points will be the same at launch as what's been shown, it won't be as expensive as it seems because you'll have earned a lot more gold later in the game.

"Players earn a significant amount of gold once you start getting into those high levels where those respec costs begin to climb, but the respec costs are final. We have them for launch and we're not planning on removing respec costs. We think they play an important role in asking players to start to harden up their build a bit once they get to the that portion of the gameplay."

Blizzard recently assured fans that Diablo 4's respec fees won't be "prohibitively expensive," and Piepiora echoed that sentiment in this new interview. That said, Blizzard clearly wants there to be some weight behind your decisions with regards to the skill tree and the new Paragon system.

"It is a bit expensive, but it's not the sort of thing where you simply can't achieve it. You will naturally have earned a great deal of gold by the time you reach that stage of the game, and this is a way for you to spend some of it if you choose. But we do want players to feel that there are there are important decisions they're making along the way that feel like they're - not permanent, they can always back out of these things - but they're intentional."

He added, "We'll always be looking at data, and we'll be considering the feedback that we'll be getting post-launch. We want players to get a chance to actually experience the system and see what it actually feels like rather than seeing screenshots that might seem a little absorbent initially. And then we'll take a look then."

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After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.