I just want to be sure I understand what the mechanics of a respec would do:

I currently have a capped monk on Thelanis, the Devs make a change to my class (not exactly sure what that may be) where I would have to reroll my character if there were no Respec mechanism in place. A respec would essentially allow me to reroll my character without losing any XP or items, is that basicly the idea of a respec?

Thank you for your response.