What would you, the people, think of something other than slot-count changing when you go from MLT-->STD-->ADV-->PRO?

I just feel like the change between suits is such a meh decision, your PRO suit can only be as good as the modules you put on it, and you need a MASSIVE amount of grinding to get to a PRO suit, and then also get to several complex modules. I'm not saying there should be a big change, just a nice small incentive to use a higher tier suit.

I was thinking the all suits of the same race would get the same bonus per tier.

Gallente: +1 armor rep per tier. So that means +0 for MLT, +1 for STD, +2 for ADV, and +3 for PRO.

Amarr: +20 armor per tier. +0 MLT, +20 STD, +40 ADV, +60 PRO (Would add to base armor, so it would be affected by armor upgrades skill, +25% would make it +75 at PRO tier)

Minmatar: +0.15m/s run speed per tier. +0 MLT, +0.15 STD, +0.3 ADV, +0.45 PRO (Affected by the skill that gives +5%, so +.47 at PRO)

Caldari: +3 shield regen per tier. +0 MLT, +3 STD, +6 ADV, +9 PRO.

Of course I'm just spit-balling here, so I haven't really put that much thought into it, but I was curious to know what other people would think of this.

Hmm, Interesting.

Back in closed beta the different tier suits had HP bonuses for higher levels, but apparently CCP decided that it was too much of a bonus and poor noobs got stomped really hard.

So just the slight bonuses you suggested would work much better, save for the amarrian skill.

I'd suggest swapping that out for increased melee damage or a reduction in the speed penalty from armor plates.

Nope.
Tiercide is required, you're doing the opposite of tiercide.

And I would agree with you if for any reason at all I actually believed that CCP intended to tiericide dropsuits.

Unless you wanna link some dev quote that I've never seen before, I seriously doubt they will.

Back in closed beta the different tier suits had HP bonuses for higher levels, but apparently CCP decided that it was too much of a bonus and poor noobs got stomped really hard.