The whole NPE needs to be rethought as many of us know. I would prefer if the NPE was way more structured:

Player chooses race.
Player chooses suit class.
Player gets ONE MLT suit appropriate to that class with its fittings locked (i.e. you can't override the slots)
The skill tree is cut right back to the skills needed for the class
Player grinds the Academy until he/she gets certain levels in the reduced skill tree (guided of course)
Player graduates from Academy once certain skills are at the correct levels
On graduation the MLT is removed and replaced with X number of fitted "real" suits
These new suits are not locked so modules etc. can be changed.
The entire skill tree is then unlocked.

This process will produce better focused players, who have a reasonable amount of SP and understanding of all the maps/modes.

My 2 cents worth.

Talking about slight different things. Suits classes (as in Light/Medium/Heavy) are one thing, and every race needs an option for each with racially appropriate stats. However, weapons/equipment (and the "themed" fittings to be built with them) are another. Caldari are essentially long range fighters, so the RR and SR and (well, pre-nerf) Swarms make sense. A Cal Shotty wouldn't really jive with their philosophy (though I guess... dumbfire swarms!). We don't know what the third Amarr weapon will be, but I wouldn't bet on it being a shotty, either. What I guess we really need to know is if the weapons are going stop at Racial Rifle, Racial Specialist, Racial AV, or if those are even the way CCP is approaching weapon development. If we look at them:

Cal: RR SR SL
Gal: AR SG PlC
Min: CR MD Precision Rifle (.50 cal with armor piercing rounds?)
Amarr: ScR LR ???

It would appear we could categorize them in the aforementioned trifurcate manner, but who knows, things get murky. Like, is the laser a suppressive weapon or their version of a sniper? The PlC is described as being designed for "confined space combat", but a dev mentioned it as being an AV weapon in a post here (works best in those confined spaces rather than AV, ime). If the PR is the Min instance of the Sniper class, then do they have AV coming? Alternatively, none of these classifications or ideas could be the reality. CCP might be thinking every race gets three weapons plain and simple with regard for "class", or maybe they'll just give us more and more new weapons over time whenever they cook up something they like.

Hey guys since we're getting racial parity with suits, sidearms, and the like in 1.8

How would you design your empires starter fits?

Roles needed:

Sniper,
Recon,
Medic,
Frontline,
Heavy AV,
Heavy,

Rules
Has to be wearable by a total fresh off the the biomass tube noob.\
Militia only items.
Should try to emphasize or utilize empire's/races strengths.

I know there is not parity with certain weapon classes but fit best as you can where possible so if those guns ever come in we just hot drop and swap.

Hey guys since we're getting racial parity with suits, sidearms, and the like in 1.8

How would you design your empires starter fits?

Roles needed:

Sniper,
Recon,
Medic,
Frontline,
Heavy AV,
Heavy,

Rules
Has to be wearable by a total fresh off the the biomass tube noob.\
Militia only items.
Should try to emphasize or utilize empire's/races strengths.

I know there is not parity with certain weapon classes but fit best as you can where possible so if those guns ever come in we just hot drop and swap.

Really, just 1 MLT BPO Fitted Dropsuit per Dropsuit Class.
1 Sentinel, 1 Assault, 1 Scout
That should be sufficient to get any player accustomed to the major differences and if properly fitted, can make new players competitive while they find their own lucrative custom fittings.
Too many [STARTER FIT]s and you stifle the individuals' need to expand independently.

Hey guys since we're getting racial parity with suits, sidearms, and the like in 1.8

How would you design your empires starter fits?

Roles needed:

Sniper,
Recon,
Medic,
Frontline,
Heavy AV,
Heavy,

Rules
Has to be wearable by a total fresh off the the biomass tube noob.\
Militia only items.
Should try to emphasize or utilize empire's/races strengths.

I know there is not parity with certain weapon classes but fit best as you can where possible so if those guns ever come in we just hot drop and swap.

I still feel it's odd that all the heavy/light frames are retooled stat-wise, and have an even number of slots. Yet, we're going to keep the Amarr a slot down compared to other races on medium frames with the inexplicable zero low slots and two highs at MLT. Also, as mentioned, if you replaced the AR on the current Amarr Frontline with a STD Scrambler Rifle, you just capped the CPU. So, there's some other shifting required to make a MLT variant that would actually fit, barring swapping out the 2 high slots for shield rechargers or precision enhancers on the MLT Amarr suit.

Cept this can give a bad impression as well.

Academy troll call in an HAV.

Lets say our sentinel is AV armed.

This will make new players think that the only suitable to AV is heavies. Where both lights and mediums are more than capable of blowing up said tank.

By having the same suit, with two widely different fittings to fulfill widely different goals would make the new player understand that despite it being the same suit the modules are a major factor in role shaping.

True less noise is good, but lack of noise is just as bad balance has to be struck.

Minmatar Medic: 2 shield extenders, recharger.
Flaylock, smg, locus.
Needle.

Minmatar Sniper: Precision rifle, Smg, damage mod, extender and recharger.

Minmatar demolitions/Av: mass driver, Smg, remote explosives, locus.
Shield extender, damage mod(S)(L)

Minmatar infitrator(Light frame) cardiac regulator, kinetic catalyzer.
militia Assault Cr(if not, then SMG)
Nova knives, remotes.

Minmatar frontline: Combat rifle, flaylock, locus.
2extenders, damage mod.

Minmatar Sentinel: Hmg, flaylock.
(Forget militia slot layout, will edit)

These. No using Myrofibs on a medic CCP >.<'

Hey guys since we're getting racial parity with suits, sidearms, and the like in 1.8

How would you design your empires starter fits?

Roles needed:

Sniper,
Recon,
Medic,
Frontline,
Heavy AV,
Heavy,

Rules
Has to be wearable by a total fresh off the the biomass tube noob.\
Militia only items.
Should try to emphasize or utilize empire's/races strengths.

I know there is not parity with certain weapon classes but fit best as you can where possible so if those guns ever come in we just hot drop and swap.