For anyone interested, Prime finally posted some info on their classes.
http://www.primeonline.com/game/classes/Devastator/
It looks like each faction gets 6 classes. Each class has a "mirror" available to the other faction, although each mirror has its own unique abilities.
Some other tiny bits of info:
http://forums.primeonline.com/index.php?/topic/128-class-info-teasers/
Sanya posted:
Teaser #2: There are no levels, not really.
Sanya posted:
It'll make sense when I explain the system. You should have seen the designer trying to explain it to me. I kept interrupting and saying, okay, so, what do you call the interval at which the experience bar fills up and you get the skill point?
And the answer is, you could call that a level. But it doesn't mean much.
Trust me, it makes sense in context. Or as John (John Kenison, co-designer) put it, FREE YOUR MIND.
Sanya posted:
Teaser #4: Each ability has ten levels. If you have the skill points, you decide how far to take the ability and when.
Sanya posted:
Teaser #5: There are a total of 15 skills per class, but you only start out with five.
Edit to add: Just said on FB, I should clarify - I've been using "skills" and "abilities" interchangeably because I'm a little fried
Each class gets a total of 15 abilities, and each of those abilities has 10 levels.
Sanya posted:
Some of the skills are functionally duplicates, thank goodness. But there's a lot of unique stuff as well. Trying to strike a balance.
Balance, get it? Ha?
Sanya posted:
Teaser #6: You will not get enough skill points to max out all skills.
I know, that's barely a teaser - kind of obvious. But I was just alerted that I gotta stretch the skills out a little longer than I thought
Sanya posted:
Teaser #7: Don't worry, respecs will be easy.
Sanya posted:
Teaser #8: Some skills at max level don't just affect you - they affect your group.
Sanya posted:
Skills you just... get. Your class gets fifteen of them. But you've only got enough skill points to max out six of them. There's quite a bit of range to the skills, as well.
Sanya posted:
I also want to clarify, now that I'm conscious, that the classes aren't exactly equivalent. There is a mirrored archetype - each realm has its heavy tank, for example. But the three classes do not have identical abilities.
The teasers were all from a writeup I was planning to share with you as soon as the skill lists were posted
Now I have to get that writeup into the FAQ so latecomers won't wonder how the heck you all know how the system works.
Sanya posted:
Oh, sorry, I left out Giant Chunk of Context.
Exp bar fills - get a skill point.
It takes slightly longer each time to get a skill point.
That's what I meant by "not really" when I said there are no levels, because "filling exp bar to get treat" is a literal level.
BUT:
Some encounters are tuned to give people with <X skill points a lump of points. Everything in the game gives you some exp, from the professions to killing people.
There are a thousand skill points to get, in total. So you can max... six of the fifteen skills? If you completely ignore the other skills? Someone check my math.
Anyway, saying there are a thousand levels is vaguely stupid, because with skill points, what matters more is how you specced them, as opposed to how many you have. Again, I know that there is a point where you will have so many more than a newer avatar that the the newer avatar will not be able to beat you. I just don't know where that point is until y'all have hammered at it for awhile in a variety of circumstances.
Sanya posted:
Six is the most you can CURRENTLY max out if you have the full 1000 points. It takes progressively more skill points for each new level.
We may decide six is too many or not enough. But we mean for "maxing out" to be a real commitment on your part.
edit:
There's also an interview here.
http://www.mmorpgitalia.it/site/content.php?1735-Prime-Battle-for-Dominus-Sanya-Weathers-Interview
I think this was the most interesting part:
"MMORPGITALIA: How you could define Prime? A pure MMORPG, a RTS, a massively TPS or what ?
An MMORPG with some RTS elements. I can't explain that until we announce our base system." 
