I don't believe a reset is needed to fix anything in the game. TBH those players who have all the districts have been playing for quite a long time and have earned their isk. Even if it is because a current mechanic is broken, this doesn't mean that using it should garner them any special treatment when it gets fixed.

This also doesn't mean that everyone else who has been skilling for the better part of a year or more should be penalized either. Part of having a persistent game is that choices made in the past would affect your future. Not that you can wipe it clean every time some major release comes along.

I enjoyed the read but feel that resetting the game wouldn't fix anything and in time it would become much as it is now. Those players with higher SP now do have an advantage but once a person overcomes the hurdle of hitting level 5 in a skill there is no improving that skill, just the trouble in getting there. That is the grind.

If for instance all gain were passive (like Eve) then it would be an even gain for everyone. Is this the kind of balance you are talking about? Honestly, if I could log in every time my skill queue were empty most likely the way things are now, I just might do that and increase my skills as time goes on. Much like I do with Eve if there is nothing interesting to do at the time or if I am busy with other things in Real Life. Not needing to grind would make getting a skill much more of a pleasure even though there wouldn't necessarily be a way to increase your speed of training other than implants which cost aurum at the moment.

It's good to see multi-feedback threads

As for point #1:
NOPE - you must RESPEC the whole Dropsuit Command / Dropsuit Upgrades because all armors are going to have major changes, not only new Commando/Sentinels are being added, but the Logi suits won't have, for example, the self armor-repair; it is speculated all armors will have changes in their slots too.
Those who initially decided to spend their SP into an armor or another must be allowed to reconsider their choice if you completely change it and all the others.

Now I'm a Caldari, but if they remove one or slots, or nerf the shields with 1.8, I might want to move to Gallente.
Or the contrary, who knows...

As for point #3:
The idea is nice, but how would you determinate the "meta-level" of each player?
The K/D doesn't mean everything, it is a mere indicator of how long you have been playing. Same for the WP.
Neighter you can call in the alliance you belong: I could be the founder (and most likely an onl DUST player) or the new recruit.

This also affects the enemy you may want/not_want to face, because if I fight against the PC troops of some major Corp's I rightfully stand no chance to win, but if I fight against their "normal" troops I might win.
Remember there aren't millions of players in DUST...

1: While I do not necessarily need a respec myself, I would be in full support of dishing out a Dropsuit Command respec to allow those that feel a certain calling to a particular suit but were limited in one way or another to a specific type, or things got changed around that their old suits aren't "working as intended." This would placate some members of the community by allowing us an opportunity to delve fully into the race of our choosing.
1a: I would -not- be in support of a -full- respec. Dropsuit command only. Weapons and Upgrades are useful on any suit and don't take nearly as long to get SP for. People that put points into broken weapons they no longer want shouldn't be allowed to put those points into the next flavor.
1b: I would not support a Vehicle Respec. If people put points into Vehicle Command to drive tanks with pretty much no AV to hamper them, it's on them when AV comes back into swing. If you're going to spec into the All-Defeating Hammer, you're going to get stuck with it when it's no longer the king of the field.

3: We all hate getting stomped. I'm sure at least SOME of you will at least feel ashamed to admit that the reason you do it NOW is because Imperfects/Internal Error/Insert-Pubstompcorp-here did it to you. A significant improvement to the Battlefinder System would be to:
3a: Impliment a "Team Deploy" in which the "team leader" can select a specific battle type and enter the names of the squadleaders that he would like to take with him in the battle. This would encourage better Team-Play, and help to create better communities through a given mechanic rather than with the infamous Simul-Q.
3b: Implement a Meta-Tracker to the -current- battlefinder which tracks the average meta-level of your most frequently used gear, (for those that deploy solo) and a tracker for the highest meta-level of your squadmates (for those that deploy in squads)
-3bi: This would prevent pubstompers from getting into matches with people that are trying to legitimately play the game with their friends and place them with people that also consistently run proto with the intention of stomping. It would encourage these groups to face one another, rather than taking out their boredom on the rest of the games population.
3c: Impliment a "difficulty level" setting to the battlefinder to allow players that aren't hardcore gamers to play with others like themselves. If they choose to play with 'harder players' and don't like the experience, they don't -have- to play with them. This would save everyone a lot of forum QQ.

Point #1: Whatever you put into Dropsuit Upgrades is going to rollover and apply to your new suits. Whether you're an armor or a shield tanker, these are core skills that should be applied sooner rather than later.

I'm in full agreement that K/D shouldn't factor in at all.

Alright, so. Chances are, I'm going to get a lot of hate.
...
1: I would be in full support of dishing out a Dropsuit Command respec...
1a: I would -not- be in support of a -full- respec. ...
1b: I would not support a Vehicle Respec. ...

2: I don't want Planetary Conquest shut down. I want a full board reset. There's more to that as well.
2a: Were PC to be wiped clean, ...
2b: Districts should not generate ISK for "overstocking." ...

3a: Impliment a "Team Deploy" ...
3b: Implement a Meta-Tracker ...
-3bi: This would prevent pubstompers from getting into matches with people that are trying to legitimately play the game with their friends...
3c: Impliment a "difficulty level" setting...

4: Alliances. While I don't agree with a previous post that I read that DUST players should be able to CREATE alliances, I do believe that DUST CEO's should have the option of JOINING alliances. ...

5: Skill Training ...

On the 1st point, It is going to happen whenever we want it to or not. We all know that in EVE and New Edan we deal with the choices we make and having to face the consequences of the choices later. The only problem is that, may it be that DUST an EVE are linked, this is a FPS. In multiple FPS games played you could change your role without worry of the developers ripping you off when changes are made. Why you may ask? It was the developers choice not the player choice. For the 1.8 update coming SoonGäó with all the additional suits, modules and new equipment coming out, not to mention buffs and negative changes across the board, not giving a full blown INFANTRY re-spec would be a bad call similar to the 1st play fumble in the Super BowlGäó (Sorry Manning, NFC all the way).

Here is a good example. A buddy of mine upright said he refuses to be a LogiBro in 1.8 since all the equipment used by the Logi are in receiving negative changes next update. He also said of was to quit being a Logibro he would go Caldari Heavy. Based on your logic, he would need to wait 1-2 months not counting events and boosters before that could happen (this includes the heavy weaponry, switching to shields instead of armor, and etc.)

Another example would be a heavy just waiting for the rest if the sentinel suits to come out. Based on your logic it can happen however which sentinel suits he specs into also affects the weapons he will use along which shields/armor for the suit.

Vehicles already received their re-spec but will SoonGäó face the buffing of AV weaponry due to tank abuse from militia users. This would catch all the wannabe tankers off guard.

On your 3rd point, +1

I like how you brought that to the table as this has been an ongoing problem in the would of DUST. People worry so much about their kill to death ratio that all they do now is run prototype gear in ambush or against any untrained mercenary in battle. KD/R, Kills, deaths and War points now in the world of DUST only signify how long the mercenary played this game for. Want to challenge this logic? Look up 13ear on the leader-boards along with DJINN Kujo. Those two people I mentioned were playing the game back in close beta so all of their kills from close to open to now counts.

Also keep in mind that day in and day out, DUST only reaches about 4-5k players max so we are doomed to play the same players over and over again. 1.8 might be the saving grace of DUST if done properly and tested by people who actually play the game (Something tells me that CCP test the game but with bad players instead of decent players with common sense).

5: Skill training. As it stands right now, it's sort of a pain having to conserve SP for one reason or another. I do like that we generate SP in unallocated forms, but there's an improvement -I- personally would like to see. In EVE, we don't actively generate SP at all, so DUST's take is a pleasant change. However, part of what makes the 'grind' painful, is keeping all that SP in 'stock' and some of us rushing in to spend it on something because we're bored and want something faster. I have two proposals for this:
5a: Active Skill Training- open the option to automatically allocate skill points earned in battle toward skills of our choosing. This would help (some folks at least) feel like they're actively doing something with their skill points without having to 'bank it.'
5b Passive Skill Training- a similar option to A, only that it applies your passive skill gains to a given skill.
-5bi: Ideally, as an FPS, we're going to be trying to train multiple skills at once. It'd be nice if we could set the skills for both Active and Passive gain on different skills. IE: Putting your active gains toward dropsuits and your passives toward a weapon or vehicle.

OP Updated: Point 3d

"3d: Alternatively, implement game-mode variants with meta-based restrictions. IE: MLT (Academy), STD (MLT/STD gear only. Suits with Adv/Proto are blocked), ADV (MLT/STD/ADV), and of course... Sandbox. (MLT/STD/ADV/PRO)"