If you look at the tree that I showed during the presentation, basic weapons for all classes will be available early in the progression so you will be able to try them fairly easily (or quickly if you prefer). But yes, we are making the Progression more difficult. Right now, within a couple of weeks of play, you can basically create your ultimate Fitting and never do anything else.

Re-watch the presentation, both Progression systems are not that far away from each other.

No one claimed EVEGÇÖs skill tree was perfect and perfect is the wrong word to use in this instance. Implying itGÇÖs GÇÿdivinely perfectGÇÖ is certainly out of place. It is, however, very functional. Tweaks like taking out Learning skills were done after a few yearGÇÖs experience showed they werenGÇÖt needed. The skills were removed and attributes were increased so there was almost no net change in SP/hr. The ends (total SP/hr) were justified, the means (Learning skills vs. higher base attributes and remaps) needs work.
For Drone skills, thatGÇÖs an entirely subjective tweak being done to bring drones in line with other weapons. Drones are broken for a few reason, the UI and AI being a few, but the skill tree is not one of them.


Lastly, there is another argument people are making: "Dust/Legion should be EVE, but on the planets. And thus we should be mimicking EVE's gameplay as much as possible."
This is obviously related to the above statement, but comes at it from the angle of gameplay as opposed to the skill-tree.
As such, I'll respond to it from a different angle.

Allow me to be straightforward:
EVE is an amazing sandbox,
with battles where thousands of players led by gods tear away at each other,
filled with spying, politics and altruism,
where your cunning and ambition shape your future as much as any character stats you may have.
EVE is a glorious story-engine with one teeny-tiny problem:
It is not fun to play.

Do you want Planetary Conquest 2.0 to be a 5 hour POS grind?
Do you want PvE to be so simplistic many people bot it with trivial programs?
Do you want to have to run two accounts at once to have access to basic reconnaissance?
Do you want Dust to also become the "game you play while you're doing something else"?
Should Dust be "Spreadsheets on Planets"?

This is ridiculous. EVE is fun to play. ThatGÇÖs the only reason I play it. Also, this is yet another misrepresentation of the argument. I never said DUST (Legion?) should be EVE but on planets. I said DUST should mirror EVE as much as is suitable in an FPS environment.


If you think that sounds great then you know what? That's fine!
Only you know what you find fun. No one can tell you otherwise. :)
But here's the thing, that game already exists, it's called EVE Online.
EVE is very, very, very good at being EVE.

But if you want a sandbox/MMO/FPS, well we're going to have build that.
And since no other game has done that, we'll have to invent.
Which means iteration.

There are sandbox MMOFPSs. One example that comes to mind is Firefall. ItGÇÖs not so good. Those guys are really going it on their own. ItGÇÖs theyGÇÖre first and only IP. They donGÇÖt have amazing opportunities and experiences gained from an incredibly successful 10yr old IP. We donGÇÖt have to GÇÿinventGÇÖ a tier system that is balanced for new and old players. EVE has already invented it. We donGÇÖt have to GÇÿinventGÇÖ an economy where the goods are mainly player manufactured. EVE has already invented it.
Of course thereGÇÖs room to improve, such as PvE. But EVEGÇÖs setting and DUSTGÇÖs (LegionGÇÖs?) setting will lend themselves to massively different PvE. No one is saying copy and paste EVE to DUST. But what if instead of public contracts, we had to accept PvE, PvP, or mixed PvE / PvP missions (we could even still call them contracts) from agents in a station?


Which means occasionally tearing down the old and replacing it with the new.

Our present skill system works.
But by no means does it work well.

Let's find something that does. :)

EVE built on a solid foundation. It was never torn down and rebuilt fresh. The skill system and ship class system is largely the same.
Our present skill system DOES NOT WORK. Our present game DOES NOT WORK WELL. Being more like EVE would solve that.

Days later and I still don't like the concept of this proposed progression system for pretty much every reason people have posted. I'm definitely getting the classic CCP Dust Development vibe of "we're going to do what we want on this with the illusion of feedback."

The current skill system we have works to a certain extent but has it's obvious problems. 1/3/5 is bad. Items should be unlocked at 1 and every point after should provide a bonus. Why is this difficult?

The idea that "there's too much choice" is simply silly. Yes, at first there is a bit too much choice but this can be remedied by a certification system similar to eve's. It can give you an idea of a "vanilla" role and you can go from there.

You guys seem so ridiculously deadset on the idea that your players are idiots and it's insulting. Part of the biggest problem of NPE is that they don't know where to put their SP to make a decent build and also that weapons are incredibly imbalanced.

We want depth and customization, not progression on rails until you hit end game. Stop trying to reinvent the progression and just fix the problems the current system has and make sure weapons and suits are balanced properly.

IGÇÖve created a proposal for an alternative progression system with some mockup interfaces and a mostly complete skill tree diagram. Here is the thread. I go into more detail there. IGÇÖd love to hear feedback--especially from CCP Z if you have the time to take a look.

Images:
Skill Tree Interface Mockup
GÇ£ISISGÇ¥ Analog Mockup
Skill Tree Diagram

Since we're on the topic of Progression and it's a very hot topic from the looks of it, I have a proposal that CCP Z should read up on.

Project Legion Skill Progression Proposal - By Maken Tosch

As an alternative to respecs how do you guys feel about character sales for ISK, with an AUR transaction fee paid by the buyer?

But I'd still have to send another mail to explain the certificates....

I don't find certificates to be all that helpful in EVE myself... I suspect most new players would skip certs in Legion like they skip the text based tutorial in Dust.

A well designed system should be self explanatory... imo at least.

Certificates would ostensibly be more useful in Legion, as you wouldn't even have to take heed of the skills within the certificates. Just spend skillpoints on the certificates, and it would automatically assign them to the necessary skills.

I have seen no proof whatsoever that a lack of understanding the skill system plagued the majority of players. I believe they simply quit because the game was horrible and, by default, never got a chance to learn the skill system as a result.

Whatever exit survey Z conducted was likely tainted.

Please keep in mind that the skill tree presented here is for conceptual purposes only. This document is to examine a more user friendly presentation to the skill system to help new players understand the system better. Constructive criticism is expected and while we may not agree on everything, the purpose of this is to initial a point of discussion, so please keep it civil.