I don't like the ideas of making respecs easily available, even with absorbant costs, but new players might feel that they wasted the two weeks or so that they might take to get the basics down. That is a lot of playtime.
I theorize that it is relatively easy to get to 25, 30 with some hard work, with any build no matter how f-ed up the build is. And the experience would give new players a hands-on chance to learn, even if they chose not to ask questions on the board. I suggest that at level 25 or 30, a one time prompt shows up that gives the player an option to respec their stats. They'd have to use it when the prompt arrives, or click cancel.
I think this idea would let new players keep their original characters, without permitting older players to create level builds, then pvp builds in their 50's or 70's.