I'm sure there will be mods that put respec in act 1 OR remove it completely. Seems simple enough to just put / remove the mirror somewhere in the world, or create an item that runs its scripting.

On that note, I really don't understand this logic:

> Hacking / modding the game, using cheat-codes, or even using 'easy' mechanics intended by the game is 'cheating'.

> Using exploits and cheese tactics like buying 1000 knockdown arrows / exploiting infinite turn, bad AI, broken builds and glitches is totally legit and fine.

> But not using optional aspects of a single-player, non-competitive RPG game you don't like is 'ruining my experience'.

If it's ruining your CO-OP just have a no-respec rule, and if your friends can't agree to that - find new friends!

And really, there is a fairly hunky gold cost for completely re-tooling your character. Skill-books and armor will set you back a good 40+ thousand in the late game to full re-tool someone from, say, a warrior to a rogue. Whereas being REQUIRED to have 22 wit to complete some quests and being sh*t out of luck because you couldn't have possibly known that first time around is, indeed, gamebreaking.

tl;dr:

Restraint is your friend if you don't like 100% optional game mechanics. Don't have restraint? Acquire it and don't ruin the game for everyone else.