And yea, new players will be disadvantaged. But that's the way it goes on every game - may it have unlocks or not. People that will like the game, won't drive that away. I got owned by vets on every game I started to play. Because I didn't know the maps, the spots, ...
No, not every game, and not the same way.
Some games are intuitive and simple to learn. Some games are difficult to learn, but don't simultaneously give long-term players "cheats" in addition to their innate knowledge and ability to manipulate the game.
Let me make this abundantly clear. There is a BIG difference between:
(A) PLAYER skill, which comes as a result of the player themselves being better at the game, understanding tactics better, having better natural aim via hand-eye coordination, faster reflexes, etc.
and
(B) The GAME giving players advantages such as a mathematical increase in their avatar's abilities, such as faster reload speeds, less recoil, less sway, greater stamina, etc.
RO2k4 and RO:O were difficult games (well, actually, RO2k4 was fairly easy before they shrunk the hit-boxes...) that "rewarded" long term players by virtue of those players THEMSELVES getting better at PLAYING the game. There's no question that they had a steep learning curve. You had to learn to spot without the aid of nametags at distances. You had to learn to manipulate the game to get used to the sway, breathing, etc. You had to learn (especially if you came from other shooters) to deal with iron sights as opposed to using a crosshair. You had to get used to the soldier's speed and stamina, so you could gauge how fast you could cross ground, and whether you'd need to run from cover to cover or if you could make it to that spot over there without getting winded. And, of course, you had to learn the maps too.
All of that remains in RO:HoS, but with the ADDITIONAL hurdle of the longer term players being given mathematical advantages over a newbie. Not only are they (presumably) naturally better at the game because they're more familiar with it and are used to manipulating and PLAYING the game better, but their avatars are themselves "better" soldiers.
RO has, up until this idiocy in HoS, been a "RPG" where you "built" your in-game avatar. If folks want that, there are several other games out there that do this and, by the way, do it WAY better than RO:HoS does. And, admittedly, if ALL that was "unlocked" were extra weapons selections for class-loadouts, and IF the class breakdowns were more boltie-heavy and less auto-heavy, then in the end, it really wouldn't matter. If the weapons and class breakdowns still all performed they way they did in RO:O, weapon unlocks within classes wouldn't really matter much.
But with the "skill" points and with functional improvements like bayonets being "unlockables", now you have a poorly designed RPG mechanic shoehorned into a game that never needed it. You want that? Go play an MMO or Medal of Battlefield Duty. Or hell, play Space Marine if you don't mind the matchmaking. They actually do a pretty good job of balancing this stuff. But keep this crap out of RO or at least give serious servers an option to turn all thus bulls**t off and go back to REAL RO.
RO is now just an "also ran" that doesn't "run" very well. It's going to be frustratingly difficult for newbies to join due to the inherent difficulty of the game itself coupled with the idiotic design of the unlock/ranks system. It tries to make RO like CoD/BF/etc., and doesn't go far enough in either direction to really work. Basically, it tries to take two distinct flavors and blend them together and, I'm sorry, but chocolate and anchovies do NOT taste great together.
But the biggest shame about all of this?
RO was a game YOU played, not a game that played YOU.