That is true but doing a little is better than doing nothing. True again that max skills will give an advantage no matter what but max skills on basic doesn't provide as much advantage as max skills on proto and officer. Max skills on a proto suit gives more CPU/PG wiggle room than on basic . Max skills on the AG-1 gives you 221 CPU and 40 PG on the AGK.0 it's 498 CPU and 91 PG and on the RAGK.o it's 610 CPU and 118PG, more than double and almost triple the fitting room just from the suits themselves. Then you throw on the weapon fitting cost reduction skills (don't forget the assaults as well as logi's equipment) and you can slap near about anything you want on it without worrying about sacrificing much. Whereas with basic and adv sacrifices have to made on some things so you can have better of something else.

Restricting gear won't completely level the playing field but it greatly cuts down on the advantage maxed out players have over not so maxed out players and offers them a greater chance to compete. However little it may be it is still a lot better than nothing at all.

Possible. That said, "unlock some awesome stuff that you can't afford to use" isn't exactly enticing gameplay. I'd rather see everyone get rich from in-game activity than see more of what we have now: the rich getting richer, and the poor being unable to afford to muster competent opposition.

I personally suspect the optimal solution would involve a blending of meta locks and pay tweaks. My two cents, of course.