I would like to talk about 2 games with skill systems i really like, being TSW and ESO. i feel that some of these systems could fit amazingly well if there were to come some tweaks.
The Secret World:
http://www.mmochronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Pippa_picture000.png
in the bottom you can see a bar, there is theoretically no levels in the game, since that bar can be filled an infinite amount of times, every time you fill 1/3 of the bar you get an ability point and every time you fill a whole bar you get a skill point, as levels go up you need more skillpoints and ability points to increase your stats and get more abilities and quests starts to fill the bar more times.
all of the boxes have 7 skills. you need to complete the inner box for assault rifle to get the outer ones which are more abilities (who are all really cool tbh) but the abilities cost more and more, so the inner ones cost 1 or 2 AP (ability points) but the first in the outer rings starts to cost 24. 27. 31 and so on, making them expensive.
these requires SP (skill points) every weapon have a dps function and a secondary function and you can increase the stats in either one, after what fits your playstyle. but as you can see they get more and more expensive, first 1 SP, then 2 SP, 3 Sp and so on so forth.
you can see this dude have 6 points in his blood magic, so he can use up to tier 6 blood magic weapons (which is pretty high) but on the other hand he doesnt have alot in the other types, like blade where he can only use up to tier 4 blades, there are 3 equipment types in the game Head, major talisman and minor talisman, the leveling system for those works the same way.
This would explain how to use better tiers of equipment. also the system worked so you would have 2 weapons equipped at once and could use active abilties from those 2 trees.
Amount of actives: 6 normal and 1 elite
Amount of Passives. 6 normal and 1 elite
ESO:
Elder scroll onlineās system is slightly different, it lets you pick 1 of 9 races and then 1 of 4 classes.
each class have 3 skill trees which allows you to play differently, that means a nightblade which is a rogue have a tree that makes amazing warlocks and so on, so it is not totally locked but not totally free either.
other than your 3 class skills, every weapon fighting style have a skill tree tied to it with both actives and passives.
There are also skill trees for each crafting proffesion. for armors, each race also have a racial trees, then there are 3 trees 1 for mages guild, 1 for fighters guild and 1 for the undaunted. then there is also soul magic which you use to fill soul gems, and if you have completed a special quest you would be able to use either vampire or werewolf magic.
but never the less. you could have 5 normal abilities and 1 elite on your hotbar. your abilities and their skill tree gained EXP when they were on your hotbar, the more you had the more exp the abilities would get. the abilities themself could level to level 5 and then you could use a skillpoint to morph it, a morphed ability would have an extra effect which would change slighly how the spell worked
This skill is called Assassin blade. itās main form allows you to stab an enemy for magic damage (because all class skills were based on magicka and all weapon skills were based on stamina) it would cause up to 300% dmg on low health targets.
It can then be morphed into Killerās blade or Impale
Impale would upgrade the skills so you threw the knife instead. allowing it to be used on range which in turn made the skill useful for archers too.
Killerās blade would make the skill scale off stamina and weapon damage, and it would heal the person if the target died within 2 seconds of use.
so you have the ability to make it suitable for archers or to make it even better for assassins.
(this system i feel would be amazing to make people who used alot of time on a skill feel like it was worth it, without making it too op @ben @james )
Active skills: 5 normal and 1 elite
Passive skills: Infinite
So in short what i think would be cool.
You are what you wear: that you arent really forced to use any specific playstyle, if you want to be a heavy armor wearing mage then do so. if you wanna be a teleporting rogue then thats nice.
Limitation on skills: I would like to have many skills to pick from, but only be able to pick a few actives and a few passives. that would make it both easier and more strategic, it would also limit the difference on players because even though they have better gear than low level players, they will still only be able to pick and use the same amount of skills as them.
You play your way: this ties into both of the above an specifially the morphing system. allowing players to morph their spells and abilities so they dont all feel like they are just using the exact same thing all of the time. TSW was genius in allowing builds, because you had 515 abilties spread over 9 weapons, and every ability was unique which allows for some crazy builds. the entire concept was also based on synergy between your abilities, ithere were different special effects such as weakened, disoriented, vulnerable, bleeding and so on. you could make builds that tied together perfectly. i for one had a hammer and elemental weapon build. i would use a weakened state on the target which allowed me to deal 20% more dmg, i had a passive that doubled the dmg of another ability and when i used that i could cast another ability without using āāmanaāā.
Sorry for the long post xD
It sounds awesome
I kinda like the idea of having different types of smiths and stuff.