Oh please Zanzabar. 12.50 is completely cheap to respec a character in this game. You can do it in game as well. I don't see anything wrong with them offering this as an option.They have also already offered two free retcons since the game has launched.

Champions Online has impressed me since launch except for a lack of high end content. It was by far the smoothest launch I've ever seen of an MMO, even with the balance changes.

Also the player base always goes down a bit after the first month starts to lapse. This is NORMAL.