Making skills take years to level up will not make this game last longer
Adding more maps/weapons/armor types/vehicles/game types and so on will give this game longevity, not big ass SP sinks

But that's kind of my point, the skills are ALREADY sp sinks and don't offer players a very good sense of progression. Perhaps instead try suggesting some new numbers?

Rapid Reload: (1x) 1% per level
Rapid Reload Proficiency: (2x) 2% per level
Rapid Reload Mastery: (3x) 2% per level

This would allow for players to get a good grip on many skills instead of the sinks we have now.

I get where you are coming from but its an RPG mindset and its ill suited to the core gameplay, now skill systems do work but they need to be much more simplified and quicker to max out with the carrots to keep people going along being little bits of customization and battling for planet holdings
Things like that have worked well for other games and theres nothing wrong with copying the success' of others

Let's face it, a 6x multiplier for rapid reload is kind of ridiculous. So are many of the skills in this game which is why I propose more variety like we had in Chromosone, but better.

My proposal is that we have basic skills that have a 1x multiplier and have a few levels of that. Example:

Rapid Reload (1x) --> Rapid Reload Proficiency (2x) --> Rapid Reload Superiority (3x) --> Rapid Reload Mastery (4x)

Instead of providing a 25% bonus at level 5 each skill would provide a 1% bonus instead, with mastery providing 2% per level.

Personally I feel this system would have massive advantages and allow for people to grow VERY quickly but take years to reach mastery. Let me put it this way: Characters will either have mastery over one thing, and that will be their identity or people can spec into lots of small bonuses to allow them better chances of survival in more situations.

This type of skill system has one HUGE benefit and that is allowing new characters to feel more powerful, where the current system does not.

the way u put i have to say that i dont like this idea.

wed been through sp even faster at this rate..

take alook at the uprising skill system

splitting skills does not go well for the players sp...

all this talk of skills only makes my miss the broad ranged skills even more...
primarily light weapon reload light weapon ammo capacity and that other one wich increased damage by 2% per level...

i also miss field mechanics and shield control...

This is a bad idea because,

a. Your system costs more and takes longer to reach the same result thus defeating the purpose of your system
b. SP sinks shouldn't be nurtured; we asked for content not inflation

I don't really know what would be better. As it is now, I have become pretty close to abandoning playing because trying to earn skill points, to up my skill levels are even harder than previously. Add to this is the fact that I am having a harder time getting through the game with earning about half of the kills that I did previously.

I know that this may be whining to some, but not everyone playing this game is young, and has good hand/eye coordination. I was enjoying the game, and yes spending a few $, but they are quickly loosing me at this rate GÇô and without people like me spending the $, then they wouldnGÇÖt be wanting to continue providing a game for free.

So if they made it so I felt I was progressing, then maybe I would rather continue playing,

Read the post above.

It's not an SP sink, the idea is that overall they cost the same but the higher levels are more expensive. The multiplier is now 6x, by my math, three skills with multipliers 1x, 2x and 3x should equal the same SP. If they don't then I dunno...

Derp. Check the numbers.
Rather than one 6x skill that costs:
1865520 to Max for 25% bonus

You are suggestig four seperate skills of 1x 2x 3x 4 x
Using you system the first 5% costs 310 920 vs the 6x of 37 320

10%
2x - 621 840
6x - 149 220

15%
3x - 932 760
6x - 410 400

25%
4x- 1 243 680
6x- 1 865 520

Cost for your system: 3 109 200
Old system: 1865 520

Re-read my first post.

I'd rather have it as one single 6x skill like it is now. The reason behind this is that it doesn't add more skills (and thus keeps it from being more complex than it needs to be) and because progression is much smoother and the first points in it are much cheaper (III in the 6x (15%) is about half of what you'd need to max 1x and 2x, if you'd split it up to 1x (1%), 2x (2%), 3x (2%))

You don't need to have all skills at V to be effective with something. As a rule of thumb: If you use something sometimes, take the appropriate support skills to III, if you use it often, IV and if you really want to specialise in it, V.

Good points, thank you. How about if we reversed the numbers? Giving a greater bonus at a lower cost, then having the specialisations give smaller bonuses for higher cost?

You'd have to be close to 3% on an 1x to approximately yield the same results (as III on the 6x with 5%). And I guess many people would be put off by having to spend SP with an multiplicator of 5x for 2% per level (or 2x and 3x for 1%) which might not even be noticeable, thus probably negating any feeling of progression.

Additionally you'll have some kind of gating effect after you've brought one skill to V by having the first two levels of the next one cost almost nothing in comparison (which feels really weird in EVE - Targeting/Multitasking; (Advanced) Laboratory Operation and (Advanced) Mass Production (each level adds +1 to something)).

One way to circumvent this would be to unlock the "deeper" skills earlier (IV or maybe even III), but this too would just add unneccesary complexity and probably would feel very weird, too.

Assuming III unlocks the next skill and it's 3% for 1x, and 1% for both 2x and 3x:
Bring 1x to III, then 2x to I, then 1x to IV, then 2x to II, then 1x to V, then 2x to III, then 3x to III, then 2x to IV, then 3x to IV, then 2x to V and finally 3x to V for maximum SP/effect ratio.

Assuming IV unlocks the next skill, same % distribution:
1x to IV, 2x to II, 1x to V, 2x to IV, 3x to IV, 2x to V and 3x to V for maximum SP/effect ratio.

Unlocking at IV doesn't look this bad, but I still doubt that the effect on 2x and 3x would be noticeable enough to warrant such a change.

To be honest, if Rapid Reload stays at 6x I don't think it was meant to be maxed any time soon anyway. You'll probably only have use for the last level if you're reloading after each shot. And if you do that... well... I don't know what to say to you then. :D

I like where OP was going with this, lowering the multiplier and extending the tree while keeping overall cost the same...

But I'll have to say no, unfortunately because someone said it would add too much complexity (or more unneeded complexity?) to it. I believe 6x for Rapid Reload is a high multiplier but I don't think we need to add several tiers to our skill tree either.

EDIT: "Unnecessary" complexity is what I was looking for.

So it seems people agree that the current multipliers cause SP brick walls at times, and that more frequent upgrades would make progression feel like its actually happening.

I agree with the concerns others brought up about adding more skills, it would unfortunately add bloat.

The one idea i haven't seen suggested (perhaps for good reason?) is to consider upping the number of tiers of a skill beyond 5.

For example, level V of the current system has the following steps:

37,320
111,900
261,180
522,360
932,760

If instead there were say, 10 ranks, you might have something more like this:

(just some rough numbers to give an idea what the levels might look like)

50k
80k
110k
140k
170k
200k
230k
260k
290k
320k

More steps would let you increase your skills more often and it would keep the total skill points for the skill the same. More importantly though, it would reduce the saving you have to do, letting you upgrade skills more often, albeit for lower gains.

Personally i would much prefer a 2.5% boost now and another next week, than waiting another week or two for a 5% gain.