From the perspective of a traditional FPS where everyone has equal equipment, it does seem to be unfair to new players, but from an MMO perspective it seems superior as a day 1 newb can kill a 1 year vet. Yes the Vet has quite an advantage, but in other MMO's a level 1 character would have no chance against a level capped character.

Also the gap between new players and vets does not continue to expand indefinitely. In DUST you could max out a role with 20 to 25 million skill points, where you could never get any better at that particular role. After that additional skill points only allowed you to diversify, but would not make you better in a single encounter. The gap would also close very quickly at first, so that a character with 10 to 12 million skill points would only be at a very minor disadvantage against a Vet.

Now if the academy went a bit longer, and new players had access to better gear before they started to face vets, they could get the feel of progression without having to face quite as large a gap when they hit PUB matches and started to face Vets.

I am also hoping that they stick with tierriside in Nova so there is only one level of suit and the strength is determined by the level of Power Supply and Processor you install in it. Then new players will not feel quite so out classed as this did in DUST warring Militia suits against Proto suits.

Ultimately this system allows characters to continue to progress for years and years without gaining an insurmountable advantage over new players.


It would work better though if there was a PVE component which would allow players to get to 20 million skill points without having to face Vets in battle if they chose not to.