If I'm going to buy a Scout Vk.0, it should be made of better materials which would grant it more HP.

Yes, the Prototype Fatboy Suit does cost more than a standard HAV, but what you fail to realize is that it costs much less than a HAV of it's own Tech Level (Marauder).

Also, they don't get anywhere near a 1.5x Bonus. They get a 20% bonus at level V skill.

That's not the point. If I'm paying more than I would for a tank for something that is barely better than a freebie suit then why should I bother? Also there isn't a Prototype tank, just Militia, Standard and Advanced, unless the Covert ones are Prototype level. AS for the 1.5 bonus, it is supposedly an implicit bonus to the mosel like the Logi's hacking bonus. Never shows up anywhere in the game, but you can find it in the patchnotes and forum posts. And just l;ike the hacking madules and skills, the Marauder skill just adds on top of that.

But we digress, this isn't something to attack tanks, so if your angle is DEFEND MAH TANK, chill.

I think the fat suit should add 50 hp for advanced and 100 more hp on proto and keep the slots the same. that extra bit of buffer is all the suit needs to make proto worth it without breaking it.

I don't think the other suits need too much tweaking. I'm fine with proto gear not being something that' you should always use it if you have access to it. I'd rather proto be saved for those really big contracts, or extremely important strategic battles that are worth the extra ISK.

That's a little bit much. +100 HP for Prototype Suits? Nah man, I shouldn't need all three of my grenades to kill a Fatboy.

So if standard gear is enough to do well in the game then why do you see such a rush to proto gear already? Do you know how many Killswitch Geks and the aur version of the proto HMG Ive been killed with already? People are spending real money on proto equivelant weapons just to get an edge on the leaderboards without even having a suit to fully support it yet! And you want to tell me theres no reason to go proto? BS. Also, if there is no reason to run proto stuff then why did everyone and their mother who could run proto do so in almost every single match they played in before reset? Because it is worth it.

hmm... something to give Dropsuits something better to work for?
The first thing that comes to mind are MTACs (confirmed - future). Even if they are vehicles, they are sufficiently humanoid to have their performance improved by using a dropsuit's neural feedback+operating system.
Thus, I think they should require at least some skill in dropsuit trees before using them.

I had a thread to this effect, but i believe it was biomassed after it fell behind a certain page (not sure how far these pages go on DUST forums)

I came across this discrepancy while reading a thread about some tank user or other whining about how militia infantry gear is too close to Standard. When I looked at it, I also went on to look at the rest of the suits, right up to proto, and due to leveling off the HP values a few builds back all are the same with the exception of a slot here or there. Meanwhile, the difference between Tank Standard and Tank Advanced is usually 600 HP, a few slots, faster regeneration, and an implicit damage bonus.

When they leveled HP, they gave nothing back, and didn't even reduce cost. So WHY should we skill into anything beyond standard unless we REALLY need a bit more PG or CPU? And even then is it worth the cost? The prototype Heavy suit, the VK. 1, costs MORE than a TANK. And you have to replace that several times a battle, plus modules and weapons, because of the pisspoor HP values when compared to costs.

To those of you who read that rant who know where I'm going, and those of you who skipped to here because you saw this: TLDR The advanced and prototype Dropsuits need to get their greater HP values BACK and get an IMPLICIT BONUS like the Advanced Tanks have their 1.5x multiplier to damage.

Currently there are two general suit types per class, a Armor and Slot version and a Shield and Speed version, to generalize.
Heavy, give one suit an HMG boost and the other type a Forge boost.
Give Logi a bonus to Repair, or maybe a greater boost to hacking to the second type.
Scout can get speed bonus, shotgun bonus, knife bonus, there are so many little niches that could be empowered by a suit that explicitly boosts them for this fellow.
As for Assault, give him a bonus with the Rifles or Sidearms, or maybe a mix of both(SMG and AR for one, Scrambler and LR for the other)

Another bonus to this is that we can see at a glance what the person is most likely to do. The guy in the Scout suit with the sharp, angular features will most likely rush you to knife your eyes out, for example.

Just add bonuses to the dopsuit skills.
Like: Amarr Heavy dropsuit skill bonus: 2% armor hp per level.

Just add bonuses to the dopsuit skills.
Like: Amarr Heavy dropsuit skill bonus: 2% armor hp per level.

well in eve online each level of minmatar frigate buffs ALL ships via ship bonuses per level. I.. um.. am not really sure why leveling up dropsuit skill give no bonus per level to al suits ...

Having scout at level 5 should even make your militia suit a little better. Just like in eve.

well in eve online each level of minmatar frigate buffs ALL ships via ship bonuses per level. I.. um.. am not really sure why leveling up dropsuit skill give no bonus per level to al suits ...

Having scout at level 5 should even make your militia suit a little better. Just like in eve.

Well that's what Field Mechanics and Shield Control are for. Skills increasing specific suit HP across the board is a bad idea because then, lets say Heavies, would run rampant in Militia suits acting as if they were running Advanced gear. We just need higher tier gear to have more HP so it would give people a reason to upgrade suits.

How is it not worth skilling into suits? You get more CPU/Grid and in some cases more slots to use. I don't know about you but I've run across players that are near unkillable since they've been wearing proto suits and stuffed their slots full of shield expanders, regulators and armour mods. Well either that or stacked damage modifiers. Hell before the last wipe I was running advanced and was hard to kill due to the tank I had in my slots. Point is more CPU and Grid is good it lets you shove more in. As for overall suit health thats for you to balance with the stuff you cram into it. It's all about how you tank it, you shouldn't have to expect more lest begin the "This suit is too OP because of it's skill we need this we need that blah blah blah". Fit smarter to stay alive and more CPU and Grid help with that alot.

I like the premise for your idea. The balancing act that must take place to get it right is another issue all together.