I think the risk of a tiered system is it encourages people to become jack of all trades; if the choice is between waiting three months to boost one trait from 4-5 or increasing one low trait and learning two or three new aptitudes a month, I'd be tempted to go for the additional skills.<br/><br/>On the whole though I think it's a relatively minor issue. I can't speak for others but I fit my character sheet around my character, not my character around the sheet. As such I play Walter fairly loosely compared to the sheet. To give a simple example (and some slight spoilers as to his aptitudes) I didn't give him any legal knowledge on the character sheet, yet as I roleplay him I imagine through his life of crime he's picked up some basic barrack-room law. As such I was intending to put some bounty in that to replicate it when I get the chance... but if a scene calls for Walter to show some basic legal knowledge (and I do mean basic) I'm not going to have him not know any because I haven't had the chance to put bounty in it yet. Walter and how I imagine and play him guides the character sheet... the character sheet doesn't guide how I imagine and play him.<br/><br/>That's not to say that Walter is suddenly going to starting quoting legal precedent or speaking fluent French or become the most charming gentleman anyone did see or become a genius inventor or the greatest horse tamer in the West. That's taking it too far and there's nothing in Walter's past or experiences as I imagine it that makes such things likely or even possible. But it's my vision of Walter's past and experiences which govern that for me, not the numbers I see on the character sheet.<br/><br/>I guess to sum it up, I see the statistical side of things as a guide rope, not rope bondage. They're a useful tool for focusing the mind on what a character is and can do but within reason I'll play somewhat loose with them as a scene and my view of Walter demands.