it does not feel like "skill points matter"

That has nothing to do with stat points not mattering. You're still remembering how things were before the stats matter revamp, and the power creep that the Devs let go unchecked from all the way back at the beginning of T5. Back then stat points mattered about as much as they do now...it was the power creep and then CR Differential that had you feeling OP. So to say that you feel less powerful now with higher stat points is a little disingenuous since there was never a time where those points made the kind of difference you're looking for now.

Uhhh...how much skill did it take to break a treasure box...100 treasure boxes, 500 treasure boxes??? How much skill did it take to grab a node to get exobits??? How much skill did it take to complete drop styles that you had to roll for with 1 to 7 other people for??? Let's keep this conversation honest please...the majority of skill points require very little skill, more often than not it was either a long grind or a whole lot of luck or they were easy to get. Don't sit there pretending that they've all of a sudden made getting skill points easy compared to the past. It's always been a combination of easy to get feats with some that required group effort.

it took time. time that players spent working on their characters with the intent on improving them. players that did not take the time out to work on their characters are maintaining equal benefit.

skill points do matter since the revamp but only up to a certain point. after that they don't matter so much. the low threshold needed to get to that point is whats off putting.

That could work also. And no it wouldn't lock players out, they just would have to get the feats to get further in game. Your character would have to be a certain level and strength to be able to complete it. CR should just be gear level, SP should be your character level. Other MMOs have the distinction where you have to be a certain level to do missions or tasks that get you higher level gear. It would only lock players out who don't work on their toon and want instant gratification.

Sp matter. They are part of your overall stats. Changed powers the other day from Mental to Munitions. Went to the sparring targets did a few minutes of testing and noticed that my numbers were lower then expected. Then the light went on up stairs and I remembered that I still needed to put in the stat points. After that was done the difference was about 7k per sec on the parser. So yes they make a difference. But it's there much difference between say 275 and 400. Probably not dramatically for damage, but it will add up over time. But most of all in survivability.
The dev's have a nearly impossible job of pleaseing both dedicated and the casual player alike.
I wished SP mattered a little more then it does but I also understand why it can't make a giant difference. New players would not continue to play.

Ok, so someone who is brand new to the game, just gets out of the tutorial with their level 3 character wants to run immeadiately FoS3, or Kahndaq, or go to Central City, or go to Earth 3.... They paid their 15 dollars for membership, but they are locked out of there. Your argument is they should be able to go there. Those are part of the game they already paid for but are locked out. It's no difference. This game should reward players for their effort and time invested, not people who get carried and never learned to play the game properly. That's why a majority of the people don't know how to play support roles properly, or even worry about mechanics or pickups. The feats (not all feats like the grinding ones or the collect ones), but the "do this without doing this" feats that are in the episode feat lists help refine skill. There is a remarkable difference in how someone plays with they have 350+ SP than someone of equal CR but under 300 SP. They positioning, they ability to play off others without talking, knowing when do to what and where.

SP should be calculated as part of how strong you are and if your not strong enough you should be locked out until you are strong enough. That's how every other MMO and regular game works. DCUO just sides with the lazy players who want instant gratification.

Entitled tryhards make me laugh. It’s a video game, not a profession.

But many have turned playing video games into a profession. In some cases and / or a lot of cases a rather lucrative one.

True, but I’m gonna go ahead and guess OP and Saviour Prime aren’t among them.

The only gating requirement is CR. It seems you want to change that to SP or both CR and SP.

Either way, I think it works fine the way it is, and definitely better than your suggestion.

How about getting rid of skill points altogether? Just keep leveling up with XP past 30 and get a blanket stat boost with every level. Can even make it role specific. Your XP boosts are might/prec based while in DPS, and when you change roles, your stat boost is support based on what support role you are and it changes as you switch roles. Feats could then be just like...badges, or achievements for bragging rights. This is a top of the head idea that I don't know how well it would work. But basically, we keep going past level 30 and get role specific stat increase that change when you change your role.

i think that would be a fairly good system, in combination with my earlier idea of turning pre level 30 side missions into an extended role tutorial while keeping the mark rewards. not only then would they know how to perform their role, but they'd have the stats as well to go with the knowledge, then it truly would only be a difference of skill. because the players who are going to make mistake will probably do so regardless of any tutorial or guidance, that's just people. but there probably would be fewer of them.

Kinda mentioned same thing above. We all need to get naked so there is no 'advantage' and then it will only be a test of 'actual skill'. Then we can have accolade wall posters sent via mail of our 'skilled accomplishments'.

oh lord no, we had enough people suggesting every body go nude during the summer event *slaps hand over eyes* i can't go through that again, way too many half naked styles as is.

No fair injecting reason into this thread...

Do I wish the SP had a bit more weight than they do now? Yes. Do I recognize the weight they have now? Yeah, kinda... enough to make me curious enough to go and do some of the math work behind how much of an impact they have on our actual stats and see how things are applied starting from ground zero and building up from there. It's something that's going to take a little while and should provide a few facts for this whole discussion.

Especially people that grabbed them during the AM era where they could 2 shot bosses, lol.

Well, I take that back, sometimes during AM the hard part of getting the feat was to get group members to NOT one-shot bosses, lol. (Remember No Bedtime for Bozo?)

But yeah, people calling most feats difficult makes me laugh, especially if they glitched them. The good thing is in this community, no one ever abuses glitches to get the trickiest feats.

So SP should be a measure of how skilled you are at mechanics? That's not a bad idea. Unfortunately, hate to say it, but many high SP toons would actually lose about half of their SP or more, lol.

Devs: "Hey, guys, we're releasing artifact level 160 now."

"Elite" Player: "Devs, those stat bonuses are tiny! They're not worth it!"

Devs: "Well, we think they're balanced. If players want to put in the effort to get there, they can. It's not obligated."

"Elite" Player: It's not worth it! I'm not going to spend that much Nth Metal!"

Devs: "That's fine. You don't need to."

1 month later...

"Elite" Player: "Devs! I leveled all the way to 160! And the stats are not worth it! I want you to make massive changes because I'm telling you to!"

If it means anything i see my weaker toons performing better against higher crs and sps. Conversely my top toons perform worse in the same circumstances. I wouldnt call this balance. Players who put the time into developing their characters shouldnt be the ones to suffer for it.

That would be their problem until they actually take the time to learn mechanics....Like getting the bombs in Spindrift raid. Noone ever wants to get the bombs which made it so frustrating. It would also force people to learn other ways to play than spank and tank.