my thoughts on the skill system are about the same
Also I think it's all a bit complicated now
My own experience has shown me :
the best skill system I've ever seen in a game is the UO one
the reason I totally loved DD, was because it brought me te UO feeling on a singleplayer basis!
in UO there are 700 skillpoints , which you get to divide over different skills, by using them
the higher you get in skill, the harder it gets to raise
Imo best system ever