As you can tell by my sig, i'm currently playing hellgate:london, and despite the lacking storyline, Flagship Studios being in "limbo" right now in near bankruptcy with almost no development team, i love the blend of 3D action with all the ways to improve your character, and have yet to find a good alternative. The character improvement i'm talking about are things such as attributes/stats and skills that you can improve with levels, and drops/gear that make a big difference in the relative power of your character vs. the PvE gameplay.

So, my question is, how complex is the aformentioned character improvement system in comparison to HGL or most mmorpgs that have a lot of different choices and ways to build up the overall power and effectiveness of your character?

This is a good question and to be honest i can't answer it completely. (its all in korean and i didnt play hellgate that much)

You do improve everything, Im not sure what stats there are,but you do need something to wear armors. (you cant + any though maybe through armors?)

There are 3 talents sets ,but im not sure how many you can get total. ( they are more like licenses though)

Skills are like items you pick them up and equip them. (you can change them between missions)

I know theres alot of gun/armor choices theres multiple of certain types of guns.(not just acid rocket/ flame rocket but some shoot differently like aoe or non aoe)

Theres also unique and better items but im not sure if theres sets or how "uber" they are.

I think its a way better game then hellgate london, but that has more to do with gameplay and missions.

One of my other big concerns is how much(if any) scaling content will be in this game. Scaling content basically means that as you level up, the PvE content in the instances you enter will be a higher level too. So basically, the mobs or enemies you fight will become harder just because you are more powerful.

A good example of this is the single player Elder Scroll series, including Oblivion and Morrowind. I disagree with using scaling content for the entire game like these games did, because if I enter the same zone at a higher level, it will be harder, rather than easier. It sort of defeats the purpose of leveling, because the lower level you are, the easier the game will be.

So, based on what limited info we have from the foreign beta test, do the majority of the instances have set levels for the enemies, so I can level up and run through them easier, or is there any use of scaling content, where the mobs grow in power just because I do?

(EDITED: Removed certain comparisons to other games to remain more on topic)

Traditional FPS's usually handle scaling issues very easily, and I think all games (especially RPG's) should adopt the same theory of level scaling.

In an FPS, aside from your natural progression in skill, your weapons serve as your level up's (so to speak.)  This is why you usually start out with a pistol, then progress to the machine gun/shotty, then the rifle, then the grenade launcher, then the BFG somewhere near the end of the game that will completely decimate everything in sight, but ammo is limited.

However, that is the traditional method.  New FPS's are more about ammo consumption than anything.  You start out with the assault rifle and pistol, and you change weaponry based on battlefield layout.  I like this apporach as well, however it usually means you have fewer options of weaponry.  Call of duty is a great example of how changing your weapon for a situation is important.

For an MMORPG, I would think utilizing both would be important, as the former would give your class an appropriate progression in game terms, and the second to more or less differenitate yourself in variable tactics from other players.  In other words, your classes would be sub-machine gunner, rifleman, sniper, grenadier, so on and so on.

However, there is one other thing to take into consideration.  I think it would be exceptionally cool of them to introduce new baddies in tiers of difficulty.  For instance, the one or two fiends you fought while you were level 2 are rendered creampuffs now that you are level 10.  Thus you encounter them more frequently, and can dispose of them rather easily.  i call these kinds of badguys "movie extras", since they are disposable enough to be brushed aside, but could prove to be potentially dangerous if left unaccounted for in a combat scenario.