it would be really nice if we could earn or craft a token to fully reset our skill trees anytime we want rather then get points every level to reset them i just find it frustrating and i really dont like the idea of making multiple accounts just to have different builds.
Hi Josh and welcome to Boundless! The devs have stated a few times in the past that they don’t want to allow too much switching around and allow for multiple builds on one character because the game is supposed to be social and have a functioning (and thriving) player economy. They don’t want to let you get into your miner build while you go search for materials and enter crafting build once you’re back in your base. Instead the goal is more for you to befriend a miner or join a town and give their crafters your resources in return for tools to go mining with.
I know right now in the test server this seems a bit ridiculous as you really want to experiment and try out different things right now. I’m just trying to explain the dev thought behind this as there’s been quite a bit of discussion around this topic! Feel free to use the search function (magnifying glass at the top right) to do some more exploration of this topic as well!
And once more, welcome!
2 Likes
I don’t like the idea of resetting when you feel like it. I actually like the approach of how you can either specialize or be a generalists. I’m looking forward to improvements upon it. I like how if you want to be able to do all the things, you’ll need to do with different characters and not with one character.
4 Likes
thank you 
yeah i understand what you mean and what the devs has said will just have to wait and see how it turns out in patch 1.0 but if you look over the current skill tree it doesn’t actually make a difference what build you choice anyway when it comes down to it, All we do in this game is hit blocks, craft and build so mining and crafting go hand in hand i dont want to do one or the other i want to do both the only skills which are needed are the ones that grant you recipes and speed up crafting so unless they change the current skill tree i dont really see different builds working like someone already mentioned ud have multiple characters anyway which defeats what the devs are doing by not allowing us to reset our skills when we want.
2 Likes
You’re looking at the game as it is now, rather than what the game is building into in the future. Yes, the current game is a decently fleshed out mining and crafting game, but it intends to have so much more than that. Much of the current skill tree is designed around play styles that aren’t yet in the game, such as damage, healing, and tanking as well as different methods of playing those roles lIke melee, ranged, and AoE. It may even be possible to play one of these classes without ever having to mine your own resources or build your own base. Others may choose a more mobile exploration build to seek out and discover amazing new sights and relics before anybody else. Still others may choose to simple path of the merchant, buying and selling from their shops in town. All of these examples could play through the game without ever needing to spec into mining or building.
5 Likes
Well, How about a system that is A. Much more generalized near the beginning, or B. has a mastery or job function near the end. Mainly because it takes time to get into a community. And, yes, I know, Mr. “I’ve been on here a week and I’m friends with everybody”, good job, that’s awesome, I’m glad you found people. But when you’re starting alone, in the middle of nowhere, and you literally can’t progress because you need item A or tool B to get to C, it really sucks.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of being forced to know people and have specializations, but having those specializations be things that are necessary near the beginning of the game, is very frustrating. There are things you can’t mine without tool A, but if you spec into tools to mine it, then you can’t build anything with the material you made the tools to mine!
Make it so that you can get to titanium tier on your own, AND be able to make basic items, but, say, if you SPECIALIZE in tools, you can build hammers that break 3 at a time, or have special effects that aren’t things that are necessary to progress.
Having things that I would consider to be necessities locked behind a “specialization” wall is absolutely killing me. I can finally mine gems but here I am with my friend still unable to make some dang basic windows at my house.
I’m not sure where the balance would lie, but there’s just GOTTA be a balance somewhere between either being at 60 hours with no windows, and being able to do everything without working with people at all.
All in all, this is a building game. Even if you’re a hunter, you have to start somewhere. You have to build your house to have a workshop to make your tools to fight, but you can’t do any of that without crafting, which you obviously won’t be able to do without mining. As it stands, if you wanted to spec into battle, you would probably be homeless for a good long time, which, is pretty tough to do when you’re not immediately part of a community. This is why a reset maybe a few times? Maybe after an extended period of time? Maybe be able to buy one respec point at a time? (my personal favorite) would allow people to get acquainted, get accustomed, THEN move into a permanent role, as they become a valued part of the community.
2 Likes
Might I also suggest being able to be “reborn” after reaching a certain point, or overcoming a certain obstacle, or having a group of people? In practice lets say, create a one time portal item, walk through, be brought to a menu that allows you to redesign, rename, and respec your character. Once all your points have been alotted, your character born, and your look finalized, you’re brought back through, and unable to undergo the process again without a significant wait.
This system would allow you to really finalize what you want to do and what you want to be, and will allow for mistakes in spending skill points incorrectly, as you will need to “finalize” or confirm your spec to continue (because lets face it, we all mis-click). It would also solve issues with name changes, character customization, and will really make your character feel like your OWN character, and not just the jumbled mess you threw together when you first started because you didn’t know what you were getting into.
Forgive the double post.
1 Like
I fully empathize with your concern as I’ve also been in the same shoe. It feels like the grindy part hits you up early in your progression (iirc, right about lvl 5). What kept me going was the exploit on stone crafting exp…
With that said, I feel like it’s easy to misjudge the current system given that it’s not finished yet. As more content gets implemented, there will certainly be more stuffs to do in game and that’s where we can probably give a more accurate judgement.
As for the specialization concern, I’m finding it just about right and yet to find my solid critic on this aspect of the game.
1 Like
Forgetting about something called trading and that building requires no skills at all. It’ll be slower to do so with no dexterity or control, but you can still do it.
The skills required to make tools in specific don’t take too many skillpoints to get. And overall trading.
There’s something you can’t do? Trade, you are good at mining, then trade the things you mine for craftable things.
That’s why we have settlements and capitals. That’s why we have markets and trading.
Taking down all the crafting skills should take you 30 levels worth of skill points, that’s 30 - 50 skill points you get to put elsewhere, you could specialize in hammer mastery if you liked. IMO the system allows for a pretty balanced generalist while still holding one or two specializations.
3 Likes
So, when i first began this game, I tried to start near what was clearly a city on the planet. I spawned in, who knows where, on an iceberg, with no trees rocks or grass (this has happened to me twice). After three hours of trying to get the tutorial done so I could sprint, and having my patience tried quite a bit, I figured out by going back to the sanctum and trying to look at the surrounding area of where I spawned, where I was, and worked my way to the nearest town. The town was abandoned, empty, portals were dead, things were looted, shops were empty. So here I was, stuck on a planet, after 3 hours of making campfires and sticks, finally able to run, and having no idea if the next city I would make it to is even settled.
Even if I WERE to find an active city, (and I didn’t) after 10 hours of gameplay, my point isn’t that you can’t do anything… eventually… my point is, that if I can help it, I’d like not to be forced to live in a dirt house, or something near it, for the amount of time it takes for me to find a village with people, get acquainted with the community, and so on and so forth.
You’re RIGHT, it is balanced…eventually. I know this is meant to be an MMO, but I feel like to survive, I’m always lacking. I’m still one shot by creatures. My light is still torches. That being said, I also spent around 3 hours searching for things like gems, gem hammers, titanium gear, you know, those things that you normally would have to “specialize” for. Things like this aren’t easy to find, and when you find them, you need money to get them. I’m 50 hours in and to craft a high tier hammer, I STILL need two or 3 more levels, as I work out of my hovel with no windows 
Now I’m a patient guy, this is alright with me, but it drove a few of my friends away from the game. FINDING shops, people, cities, doesn’t always go as nice and smooth as you would like. I feel like I’m still fighting to begin this game.
My main point, trading is a viable option end game, but not everyone has that luxury at the beginning of the game. I don’t feel invited to trade and be involved, Instead I feel forced to run across 3 planets to find a shop that still has the item i’m looking for in stock.
In my personal opinion, being able to trade shouldn’t be an excuse as to why it’s so hard. Instead, trading should be an option for those looking to expand what they can do with their current resources.
1 Like
I don’t mean trading it’s an excuse for things being hard. But if anything I find the game to be manageable (easy)
Trading is just an option, just as doing it yourself or buying it from someone. True settlements and cities are not as active as I expect they’ll be at 1.0.
Trading and things depending on playerbase won’t be seen as such, until 1.0 comes.
1 Like
For me, what you said are legitimate concerns BUT keep in mind that we are still in early access with only few people currently playing. In my opinion, the current system works fine for the grander goal of the game post 1.0. I don’t think we have to tweak something right now which can ease our life for the moment that might affect the future plans negatively.
Honestly, I’ve sort of stopped playing again due to couple of reasons and some of your concerns included. As an early access game, we probably have no choice but to wait for more contents to be published. So, I’m currently trying to be more active in forum to mold it the way I want it to be 
(that is if those posts made an impact to the dev’s plans 
1 Like
I suppose I should rephrase. It’s not hard, it’s just entirely time consuming. It feels like there’s a block at around mid-tier if you haven’t yet found an active community or have a friend who happens to have specd into another crafting tree. I typed out a lot, but in the end, it’s more of a minor annoyance, and worth noting.
I’d also like to add that this isn’t just a complaint. I’m very happy with the way things are going, I 100% encourage needing to spec into one thing, or maybe even a few, and having to trade with players to get what you really want or need at the end. I highly admire the devs and the team for all the work they’re doing. I’m throwing out suggestions, because even if you consider things to be easy, and even if there’s excuses and reasons for the decisions, there are still valid complaints, and I would at least like to try to address them with possible ideas for compromises, or new systems.
My whole point for the original post was to defend the system as is, and perhaps add a new system that would allow us to further fall into the roll that we, as players, will decide to play as in the future.
3 Likes
in majority of the mmo’s ive played crafting skills / professions skill, have their own levelling system with different level ranks where they level up solely when you do that certain skill. then you would have your class builds you spec into healer ,tank,dps or whatever.
i think it would work better if you we was rewarded different types of experience for the tools and weapons we are using increasing the stats instead of added points into them, and then same with any type of gathering should be levels for woodcutting, mining, etc which increase the stats, and then the same with crafting the more you craft the higher level you are the more recipes available to you. its all about progression in mmos thats why i think professions and certain stats should unlocked on a levelling system rather then mix and match it all in a skill tree.
1 Like
That’s a little closer to what I would like to see, and the point I was getting at early on. As much as I agree that the current system works well for endgame, it would be pretty nice to have the basics (mining, foraging, digging, shooting, swording) be a slightly different leveling system than things that would be considered more as professions, (building, hunting, crafting, etc.) That being said, I really don’t have a good solution or suggestion. The only thing I could think of is the ability of a one time or very rare character reset to balance the side effects of going into the wrong tree.
In the end, reaching a point where you are forced to remake a character if you want to change anything because you’ve used up all your change points and you’re stuck with your character permanently, isn’t my favorite solution. That’s actually why I stopped playing ark incidentally, and one of the largest current complaints about their recently changed system.
3 Likes