@Jetah there is r1, r2, and r3 of each skill, so players that have r1 will be less powerful than players that collected r3.
Fractured tries to be more friendly to new players than other MMOs, by not having levels (no easy ganking lvl 60 vs lvl 10), and having a limited skill bar slots (so you cant go with 100 skills vs a player with 3 skills), but make no mistake, players that have done more, and have collected more skills and their more powerfull ranks will be generaly more powerfull than fresh players with only few basic r1 skills.
The power gap will not be as strong as in other typical MMO (and that's good) but there will be a power difference.