Can anyone clarify if there is any benefit at all gained from ranking up your proficiency in the various primitive armours and weapons? I saw a video once that claimed that a high rank (4/4) in primitives would make you skill up the T2 items faster just like the recipes do.

Don't you guys worry about what you are going to spend your time doing after two weeks or something like that?
I was really hoping that base character power would be increased over time by raw hour dedication.
I know that the developers seem to think that grinding is bad per definition, but I do not share that 'approach'. If the alternative is 'You're forced to explore a lot and do a lot of pve' doesn't that lock you in to a forced progression? Ok, im not sure if this is even an issue.

According to your feature spotlight 3 players should expect that 'Your character rarely becomes stronger over time. Instead, it gets more knowledgeable' and 'Whenever there’s something that makes your character stronger, that’s just for fine-tuning purposes, so that there is never a huge power gap between newcomers and experienced players'.

I worry that players will find it unsatisfying, if they feel like the hours they put into the game is wasted, as that Black bear or whatever, is still as hard to defeat as it was in the beginning. Or that a veteran pvp'er will find that his only advantage over the newcomer, will be his amassed knowledge of the game and its mechanics - not rewarded items or abilities for instance.

I totally see why you want to level the playing field initially, but aren't you worried that rewarding players with 'more versatility' instead of 'more power' is going to be a tame sensation?

Or maybe I am misinterpreting something, and the idea is that over time as i unlock more and more abilities, the various monsters become easier as I become more of a Swiss army knife and will always have the right tool for the job? Wouldn't this mean that I would constantly need to rest, to memorize new sets of skills to perform optimally in the adventure next in line?

Maybe I missed the mark entirely - if so, please elaborate on what is going to give me my sense of progression on my character in terms of power.

I am mostly concerned about the pve section of power-levels, but feel free to talk about your thoughts on pvp balance as well.