This approach may be at the heart of the all of the issues surrounding "balancing" that have plagued this game from as far back as I can remember. And not just as far as vehicles go.

I believe it is misguided and in this case it seems a very muddied way to go about making changes to how the vehicle skill progression works. In the case of tanks, what could that even mean? What does "fighting chance" mean? As far as I could tell new players have always had a fighting chance against players with more SP.

Is the goal for a day one player to be able to take out a starter anti armor fit and solo kill any tank on the field? Or is this meant to give a new player in a militia tank a chance against a tank someone has invested millions of ISK and SP into building? Or is it meant to give 4 new players with mics who can work as a team (even if they have never played a match of Ambush OMS in their lives) a fighting chance? What is a new player? A player in a starter fit? Or a player who has been working at the game long enough to skill AV grenades? SInce the starting bonuses and classes have been removed there aren't going to be any new players with AV grenades on the field anywhere. Will a new player even bother to go looking through the market to find more and better anti vehicle weapons if the tanks on the field are not really anything to fear or worry about?

This devalues and deadens game play for high SP level players. And is harmful to newer players as it discourages team work, and does not give them anything to work toward. Instead they are handed the illusion that more advanced gear may be of some benefit. And from experience I can say it is more and more disappointing to keep skilling up my character only to find that each higher level is about the same as the last level.

It seems like every single choice we can, or even maybe eventually will be able to make in this supposedly vast sand box is being structured to support one and only one game mode. Instant battle. Every time another wave of game flattening decisions is made, the game becomes ever more generic and bland.

Instead of flattening the gear, vehicles, and weaponry to cater to this imaginary concept of "the new player" much more effort could be better spent coming up with ideas on how to give players even more choices on what to use in battle. Choices that make a significant difference and do give players significant advantages over other players. Then give players more and deeper risks and rewards so that the least rewarding gameplay option is to take the highest possible level tank into an Instant battle to shoot at players in starter fits and militia tanks.

This (edit* giving players a fighting chance) is almost like saying that in EVE you would want to give a player in their very first ship the ability to take down the first battleship or carrier they stumble across. Solo. I don't think this is exactly what the tiericide initiative is all about.

The games that are the most fun to play long term, that are the most engaging challenging and rewarding do not try to hand hold their new players. Those games do not give them anything up front that will make it easier for them defeat the highest level opponents. Those victories are something that players have to work for. And they are much more satisfying because of that. Dust 514 would be a much better game for everyone if new players earned their fighting chance. Instead of just having it handed to them.