[Neurotoxin]

Some things are upgrades, some are sidegrade unlocks.

Things like vehicle handling or ammo capacity are small linear upgrades, and filling them all out will hypothetically make someone deadlier.

Some things are sidegrades, which offer items that are optional but often have a trade-off or compromise. 2x scope vs 6x scope, frontal armor vs side armor vs top armor, auto-repair or flares (I think that was the choice), those are sidegrades. However, effective use of sidegrades will further increase someone's effectiveness on the battlefield by giving them more versatility for particular situations.

A maxed-out soldier being 20% (it was 20% right?) more deadly than a default soldier is a rough number, but don't live on those words. It is impossible to objectively say X is some % better than Y unless all the other factors are isolated, so the whole 20% thing is a subjective balance that the devs are trying to achieve.

Remember that skill comes into effect too. If I maxed out a character, handed it off to a noob who has only played a week, and hop on a new account to battle them with... I'm still gonna kill them. They don't know how to use all the sidegrades effectively, they don't know all the maps and specific areas, they don't have the techniques and tactics and muscle memory. They may have better certs, but it isn't enough to save them from being killed across Auraxis by someone with experience and talent and no unlocked certs.

Kind of a rant.... oh well :P