I'm not as salty about the concept. Like the idea. Though I do have a question, if I play minlogi and want to use droplinks does that mean I have to play Amarr logi to get them and cal logi for nanohives? If so it would seriously diversify the playing field which is a great idea.

Well to clarify, as far as I know there is only one Logi.

I had a feeling this was the road we were going down when Rattati first said he did not want to make four of everything. It sounds like Nova will be like the beginning days of DUST where there was only 1 Scout (Gal), 1 Logi (Min), 1 Assault (Cal), and 1 Sentinel (Amarr).

So now the question that stands is : how much work/time will you need to put in order to get a full tech II and/or III for a given class. Maybe an approximate number / or an idea?

As others pointed out, being forced to play a class you very much dislike in order to make your class better is a grind no matter how you look at it. Depending on the previous question's answer this can be bearable or unbearable.
I use the word "forced" because that's the feeling someone who wants to maximize his class potential will get.

They've got to allow some overlap in the progression system for example

Drop uplinks could be considered light support
Triage hives could be considered heavy support

You would want medium support to have access to both of these but I would not expect to have to get light and heavy to tech 2 to accomplish this.

I would think the progression is get tech 1, earn WP using the suit to unlock the slots and allow you to put something else in that fits the suit profile I.e swap out the repair tool for hives

Level the whole suit to tech 2 then level up the slots again to unlock the equipment for use on any suit I.e. cloak on a heavy

That is correct.

Firmware obviously offers some variety, but I imagine that future expansion of the system would yield new classes, rather than variations of existing ones.

This is just for context here to make sure I'm following, but in this example I assume it would at best be impractical to build a squad purely for the RP value (or any other reason) of say just Minmatar suits? This is not a comparison to DUST. I just want to know if this is the foundation that NOVA is being built on. Or at least a reasonable interpretation.

Or is this one generic logi suit without racial affiliation?

The suit is tied specifically to an NPC corps/manufacturer. That manufacturer likely has a race it is tied to (Boundless Minmatar, Creodron Gallente, ect.)

To the best of my understanding, you are correct. All Logis will be the same race.

Don't you mean faction?

So if a given suit type is made by a manufacturer tied to a faction... I'm concerned an entire role will be railroaded into it's racial doctrine until it's a high enough tier to make your own changes.

I could be missing something, but that's what I'm getting from this. Are the suits gonna be more or less neutral in their attributes to prevent this?

I was just hassling you, Pokey. Everyone got what you were saying.

Anyway, coming from DUST, this is kind of a crushing disappointment. CCP definitely seems aimed toward streamlining/simplifying their FPS for the mainstream though.
Ironically, faction is a big factor starting out in EVE as an Alpha clone as it locks you only to the ships of the faction you picked during character creation. That is why it is all the more surprising to me factions have so little focus in Nova. In fact, moving from EVE to Nova or Nova to EVE, I see it really making zero sense to players. That is why with all of the streamlining being done to Nova, I am not even sure why CCP kept it within the EVE universe instead of making it's own standalone scifi FPS title.

Would be nice to know if maxing out a suit is going to be long term (years with daily/weekly/monthly caps) or if it's more short term (get to your max level for end-game, week/month tops.)

feels pretty weak to be a dedicated logi and FOTM chasers cherrypick skills and modules from the market to make you obsolete.

and lol at "make". Play your role and you don't have to do anything. Oh, you "want" another module, earn it.

Don't take those bonuses to mean much. Literally pulled them out of my ass at 2am when I was writing this. They were purely to present and easily understandable example, and not a finalized design.

I like it when you talk dirty. I miss that about you.

Actually Thaddeus Reynolds wrote up these amazing lore blurbs based off of the lore in EVE that laid out all of the design doctrines for the manufacturers/corps. Rattati already snatched it up and forwarded it to the design team.

So less focus on the 4 empires, more focus on the corporations within them, but they're very invested in making it fit the lore of those corporations.

And only 4 assault suits in Dust made much more sense?

Besides, what you're seeing are different corporations takes on the same ideas.

Corp A says "We want a suit that's well rounded with food speed, defense, and damage output" so they make the Assault suit

Corp B says "We want an offensive suit with lots of flexibility and hp even if it costs us some speed" so they make the Vanguard (which is like the heavy assault)

Corp C says "we want an offensive suit that's agile and stealthy, good for assassinations and covert kills" so they make the Infiltrator (which is like the light Assault)

In the future you may get Corp D that says "We want an offer some suit that specializes in sapping enemy capacitor to fuel his active offensive abilities" and create their own take on the idea of "Assault"

Or Corp E that says "we want an offensive suit that specializes in indirect damage with lots of bonuses to grenades and aoe weapons" and create their own take on "Assault"