Haven't really noticed a difference in skill. Hard to tell in Rift (a great platform runner could quickly shutdown a team of slayers who don't work together) Connection wise lag is minimal. Only dealt with one red bar that I managed to see in different lobbies in the past 2 days. Yellow bars here and there but not severe enough to disrupt gameplay. Only thing I can complain about is joining a match in progress. I don't mind getting my arse handed to me if I start a match but I hate flying in and hearing "The enemy has the spark" followed by the 4 tones of approach. On a good note... the drops for me have been generous. 5 Scout rifles, boots and 2 sets of legs all before rank 4.