Even better than I could type it.

Balancing a game around the higher levels provides at least an approximation of balance at lower levels as well.
Balancing the game around the middle can result in either or both ends of the scale being unbalanced.
Balancing the game around the lowest tiers will usually result in increasing imbalances as you advance further up the skill tree.

Pretty sure balancing around the top level is the least stupid option.

No matter what you do, you either have a purely luck-based game, or skilled players have an advantage.

Skill should ALWAYS be an advantage in FPS games. ALWAYS. A-L-W-A-Y-S. Do I need to say this in more ways or do you understand where I'm coming from with this?

With a skilled player against an unskilled player, the skilled player should be expected to win more often than not, regardless of equipment. With two equally skilled high-level players, the one who has the better equipment for the situation should have an advantage. For example, if you have a great Shotgunnner against a great AR user, the Shotgunner should win if they're in a CQC-friendly environment, and the AR guy should win in open spaces. If you give the Shotgun to a total noob, and put him up against that same great AR player, the great AR guy will probably win more often than not even in the CQC encounter, because he'll be able to force conditions where he can use his range advantage in spite of the surroundings.

If the gear is balanced at the top level, scaling it back is easy, and at each tier, the gear will remain at least relatively well balanced. Balance variations from scaling down are almost always less severe than when you scale the same principles up from the lower levels.

If you start at the top and scale back, the tweaks needed at the lowest level should be less severe than if you start from the middle and work up.

Looking at Advanced gear, if that was used as the tier for initial game balance, the imbalances at Militia level are likely to be less severe than the imbalances at Prototype level, even though Militia gear is two steps down and Prototype is only a single tier above the balance point.

If the game was balanced around Standard gear, the potential imbalance at Prototype level is FAR worse than the potential imbalance at Militia level would be when balancing the game for Prototype gear.

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The trouble is that DUST can't provide meaningful progression without giving the high-SP character better equipment, and that in turn means that experienced players get a gear advantage on top of the skill they've gained from playing the game. Highly-skilled players have skill AND equipment advantages, and at the moment, there isn't much being done to help new players ease into the game without being stomped by players running full proto.

I am not talking balancing around the power of the gear. I am only talking about player skills.

Weapons and gear should be balanced by advanced level stuff and the higher level items should be difficult to master but their rewards are better. The only thing that really bothered me about the TAC was the range. It should do high damage at a good rof within a reasonable range but when no other light weapon except a SN can touch it then it is broken. This game is built around hard counters to everything and no weapon being supreme. The levels of weapons should reflect their specialization and offer a slight improvement of the previous level.