1) The current meta strongly favours Auto Rifles, which makes life more difficult for SMGs and Sidearms. However, the changes to the special ammo economy mean that having two primary weapons for different engagement types can often be worthwhile. 2) Abilities being stronger and more prevalent leads to one class being used more than the others, or one being left in the dust. It's not that using abilities is bad, but that it isn't right for the game that a player losing could mostly be attributed to their choice of class. For special, the old system could lead to players never running out of ammo and make primary weapons not a player's primary weapon. 3) That's who will benefit from it most, but ultimately, anyone can get the Adept with - as the name suggests - persistence. You could theoretically take the whole weekend to get the 7 wins on the card and still get the Adept. However, I think this will also make people realise that Adepts aren't really that good; they're more trophies than anything else, the stat increases are very rarely a difference maker. 4) I don't really think you do. Trials isn't meant for new players and the positive experience only comes from winning. If you can't win and even the Perseverance card is severely out of reach, then Trials isn't suitable without individual improvement. 5) Raids and Dungeons are endgame PvE but there aren't any entry barriers for them. Not even GMs have a high light-level requirement anymore, so I don't see why Trials should have any such system. It's one thing to not want to play because it's a miserable experience, it's another to not even be allowed to play at all. 6) That's going to be anecdotal and down to the player - what pool you're in, the server you play on, the time of day you play at, the quality of your own connection etc. Trials doesn't employ card-based MM, so that won't be a factor.