[EASyEightyEight]

Why do people insist on taking every little thing and imagining the worst case scenario? How many here really believe the world would end next year?

The 20% difference encompasses the whole of everything that contributes to the "power gain." Individual advancement + outfit advancement + squad leader skills = 20% difference. An individual may only bring a mere 8% on their own, and the first 4% could be gained over the course of a the first 3 months month of dedicated training if that long, and the remaining 4% the rest of the year. And that full 8% will likely not be mere stat increases.

Most of the statistic will likely be attachments, such as:
-grips for accuracy/kick-up,
-front prongs for immobile but extreme accuracy control
-under-slung shotgun/launcher, etc.
-scopes for ranged precision
-Longer barrels for CoF control
-extended mags for extended firing sessions
-taped mags for faster reloads
-High caliber ammunition magazines.

By the end of the year, a player could take their cycler we see in the released images and it could effectively be an LMG with prongs, longer barrel, and a drum mag, but they can't attach a grenade launcher, scope, or high caliber mags to it at the same time. He's basically a stationary target while using his weapon the most efficiently. The other guy is good for long range assaults and denying the use of cover.

Then you take into consideration outfit/squad lead skills that may improve a factor(s) of the troops under their command. A rifleman outfit with squad-leads focused around rifleman combat would be required to push any individual player to the 20% increase, and as MasterChief guesstimated, it will mostly boil down to various stats slightly increasing to overall reach that 20%. Nothing is stopping a newb from joining an outfit and then a squad (in proximity of their leader preferably) in that outfit and gaining that 12% extra power as a result.

Right now in PS1, the difference between a BR1 and a BR20+ is beyond 20% easy. SOE knows what they're doing with PS2. With specialization, for it to feel like specialization, there will need to be some increase in effectiveness. To some degree there will be customization for personal play style preferences, but it can't be "okay, I increase my accuracy, but now my bullets do less damage." That's bad, because it doesn't mix all too well with outfit and squad lead skills. What's good is "Okay, I increased my accuracy, but the guy shooting at me obviously chose to increase his damage. Ow."

A player is still making a choice, but the penalization comes from the other guy making another choice which could be preferable depending on the situation. It won't be a simple matter of picking damage but now you can't hit anything outside of CQC, or picking accuracy and while very round fires in a laser thin stream behind the last one, but your shooting BB's.

I'm talking maybe 5-10% differences in firepower/accuracy here (like one extra round before bloom, or 1 more point of damage, if that,) which would contribute a smaller percentage to the overall "20%" we're all exploding over.