Firefall Senior Game Designer Dave Williams has written a lengthy blog entry that tackles the problem of balancing a progression system with the desire for skill-based gameplay. Here's Williams' main answer:

"A lot of the progression that we’ve built into Firefall is what we call 'horizontal progression.' Not an increase in health, damage inflicted, or incoming damage mitigation, but an increase to your options. An enlargement of your toolset."

By focusing progression on rewards such as more abilities, more Battleframe loadouts and more jumpjet energy, Red 5 Studios hopes to keep player skill at the forefront of combat. "At the end of the day, we want your ability to place your crosshairs over your enemies and pull the trigger to matter," Williams said.

We recently got the chance to play Firefall at PAX East. Check out our impressions of this free-to-play game and get some details on the Assault, Medic and Recon battleframes while we wait for it to launch at the end of the year.