Skills are always active, Talents are always passive.
I think what Stabbey is saying is that the way D:OS split skills into active and passive, calling the passive ones Talents
Um...
D:OS has a range of skills that they often call "stances". eg Ranged Power Stance. Zero activation cost. Lasts forever.
It's one of several passive skills.
Also, passive skills are another way to encourage investment in the memory stat. I've heard plenty of complaints about how mages get so many skill trees compared to other classes. Imagine that if you want to use fire magic (or any other skill tree), you first have to memorise a passive skill that unlocks fire magic. It makes sense, right? You have to remember the fundamentals of using fire magic before you can remember how to use a specific fire magic spell. It would be a fair way of encouraging mages to specialise.
You could also have useful high level passive skills so as to encourage further investment in memory at high levels without bloating your skill list.
