Having level 3 or 4 in all classes really isn't a big deal. So that means affording top tier weapons really isn't that big of a deal. My problem is that before, the game rewarded more skill than pure xp grind. Now it just rewards xp grind, ignoring skill.
Sorry, but that seems like a blanket statement. I know what you mean, but skill isn't anywhere close to being irrelevant in KF. There was a lot of dying last night. A lot.
The game's original design did not seem at least to me something that would be so heavily level and item based. Unfortunately I enjoyed playing the game because it was a very sleek and subtle hybrid with the perfect amount of balance.
Did you play the original mod? If so, I can see why you'd feel this way. But KF has been setting the player base up for this, ever since they made the decision to have perks be a scale-able thing.
To me KF balances between difficulty and perk level. I don't *think* people with Rank 6 are intended to play Normal difficulty. Hell, I didn't think Rank 5's had any business in Normal difficulty games to begin with. I think if you want to keep skill important in KF, you have to continually play higher difficulties. TWI themselves already realized this. Normal now has more specimens per player and is generally a little harder.
I don't think that makes 'skill' irrelevant. Normally, in RPGs, leveled and scaled systems start to bore me because I feel like I know what to expect and the challenge feels directly proportional to the numbers and not how I play. But this isn't Diablo. You have to aim, you have to know the levels, you have to use your judgment and you have to be quick, regardless of what level you are or what gun you're using. That's skill, and it's still an element of this game.
So I try to look on the bright side of the whole scaled experience. There could only be one difficulty level to try, with 6 different perks, and three tiers of weapons each. Were that the case, by now I'd have already tried all the weapons, gotten familiar with how tough the game has gotten and started to get 'bored' all on the first night. Instead, I have a lot to try out, to look forward to, to experiment with and to get good at. So at least for me, the scaled nature of KF plus the fact it's a FPS means it can last me a long, long time before I feel like there's nothing left to do.