I'm failing to see the lack of meaningful character progression. Every minute you get additional skillpoints to invest in skills to make your character better. If you consider that to be a "lack of meaningful character progression" then I think you are confusing the meaning of the word "lack" (Inego Montoya voice: "I do not think that word means what you think it means.").

I fully agree that mission rewards for higher level missions need to be tweaked. But beyond that, mechs do exactly what they are meant to. And the community complaining about perceived balance issues between mechs and robots when nobody in game has more than 8 weeks worth of skillpoints is both ridiculous and short sighted.

Exactly. Just like you don't go rabbit hunting with an elephant gun. Not only is it more difficult to hit your target, the ammo is more expensive as well, and if you do hit it, you're not very likely to get anything worthwhile. Less reward for a larger investment is never a good idea.

Can't help but agree, there are 3 kinds of players here, PvE'er PvP'er and those who like both, problem is this game needs all these groups to ensure there is a continuing desire and thus request for more content in both areas of the game, if one starts to slide the other suffers.

PvE is a major factor when new players arrive, its these players that will keep PvP dynamic and interesting else we will have a slowly dwindling PvP population with no new blood, which gets very boring very quickly, I personally believe another Alpha Island wouldnt actually be a bad thing at this point, one designed to cater to the PvE crowd ready to move past the original alpha islands. I know many a PvPer may say that would result in the beta islands suffering, but they will suffer much more if the PvE crowd dissappear.

I will be. They are cheap enough, so why not?

Ever try to hit a moving jeep with a tank?  By the time you have aligned the weapon, the target has moved.  Granted, the jeep can't do much to the tank, but his "friends" might be able to.  Same with any weapon platform, just because it is bigger and has larger armament, does not mean it is suited for all situations.  Otherwise, why do we still need infantry?  And, btw, some of those infantry do carry "tank killers". 

Stop thinking in terms of 1 vs 1, or the " I haz the biggest toy, therefore i iz imperviouz!".  Tactics, strategy, teamwork, can ALWAYS pwn a more powerful opponent if properly applied.  Mechs should not be fielded without support, and that support should have the capablitiy of intercepting smaller and faster opponents. 

As far as stEVE, yes, smaller ships could take out larger, and should be able to!  That battleship has no business being out solo without support, and if he was, he deserved to die.

Even "in our world" (and not to talk about an space traveling civilization) an modern tank can hit a driving jeep (and also a non direct hit also blows the jeep).

I fully agree to the support, team and tactics part, but not fully to your point of view. Mechs are the "pack horses" of battles (or should be it in the future of this game if there is any), there should be a lot of them on the battlefields and a "few" strategic support units (second row...third row).

But i really fear that it will end up like in EVE... 80% of all standard pvp (except bigger events) will be that vaga/wolf whatever skirmish thingies. Dozens of e-war bots and "low cost vehicles". BTW isnt it senseless that  a bot with a accu power of a few hundred is able to create a force field to slow something that has a weight of 20-25 times of itself. hmmm endless discussion.

@Annihilator
As far as i know...4 M1 were lost in Iraq...and im not sure if even one was destroyed by a infantry attack.
Light bots and assault bots are infantry? Ok, they should die like infantry when hit.

Continual "high cost" bot combat is unsustainable. Even with unlimited resources it take time to roll mechs off the line, and they die much faster than they can be produced; and no one has unlimited resources either.

If there is some game mechanic that stops low cost bot combat, then pvp will be 10-20 minutes of pew pew and 5-6 days of nothing.

Yep, you don't commit your 'big guns' for skirmishes or mechs PVP roams... not until mechs become the low cost bots that is.

Huh, well I play EVE and I agree with the other posters that this game does seem to be lacking in any kind of logical bot progression or higher purpose.

You absolutely CAN make more money in your assault bot farming L1 mission spawns. So why do L2 missions? Good question!

And what's the purpose of PvP in Perpetuum right now? For fun? To learn about PvP? I need a REASON to go to the beta islands and wade through gate gankers. If the game gives me a good reason, I'll gladly organize a squad to go bust some skulls in PvP. But so far, I haven't heard or seen any compelling reason to go to the beta islands. If I want to PvP just for the sake of it, I'll just flag myself and run around on the alpha island. No need to make a long trip anywhere.

So at the end of the day, we have a shell of a game here. It has potential, yes. But the problem is, after a month of grinding missions and AFK mining, there is nothing new for carebears to do. Go to the Beta island and grind more missions and mine more ore? Why? So I can have the added risk of getting ganked by a swarm of desperate PvPers?

So yes, please tell everyone to go back to WoW. That's an excellent way to fix the problems with this game. People like YOU need to go back to WoW, because the rest of us want a better game.

If new pilots could get into mechs, and afford to lose them, they would be the new 'low cost bot'. Then it would be boring blobs of mechs in combat.

What are new pilots? 1 week, 3 weeks, 20 weeks? Most ppl play for fun and thats for sure something individual. If it is the case, that 80% of all player have to sit in these spider bots for months and months, then for sure behind the 80% will be a real small number.

There has to be a progression for an average player (for example the ones with a real life that can play a few-some hours a week) and the target cant be to sit in a small metal spider or to say "hey, just another 7 months and i can pilot a mech. wohoo".
I personally fight in a mech on alpha...well, less dps than the assault bot and it takes a bit longer to destroy a target  but there is a pretty simple reason: its more fun.

The Mech (class) should be a big step in the middle (and a big difference to light / assault bots!). Heavy mechs (class)  are the next step youll need more time/money to get there. There can be a lot of different types Mechs (size, faction, role whatever).

A high end thing for corps could be some kind of capital class vehicles / special Mechs. The potential is big enough, even air or water units are possible (and that could really put a lot more tactics in this game) and these units should be the "not every day on a battlefield vehicles"...not a normal Mech.