I might be wrong, but I think it would take longer to lose 1 point per day than it took to invest 120 days in a skill.I don't understand what you are saying here. We have a set UR rate and a set cost for stat and skill increase based on the curve. We don't have any kind of defined reduction rate so I don't see how we can compare them. What I was trying to express was that the rate needs to be carefully considered and that, in my opinion, the decrease rate should match up with increase rate. Not be faster in any way.
If it were that way, it would have zero value to anyone who wasn't max UE (or reasonably close), because you'd be removing a skill in return for a miniscule reward 3 years later. Giving a pittance back immediately provides incentive to keep your sheet tidy.
It has plenty of value. Those two U level skills you accidentally invested in go away. Yes, it will take you a sngle UE gain longer to reach max UE than it would have if you hadn't made the mistakes but at least you could do something abut it now instead of waiting a year hoping for a respec.
Additionally, I don't know why we should incentivize people to 'tidy up their @stats' or to make more drastic changes to their characters. I see no benefit to the game at large to 'encourage' either thing. I can, however, see some down sides to allowing rapid shifting.
ICly, people spend a lot of time learning about other people. They pay for paydata. They hire snitches. They kiss people's buts. All so they can gauge what a person can do, can't do and how competently. So I think changes to your character need to be done at a controlled rate so as to not make hard earned info become useless, or worse, incorrect to the point of hurting you.
OOC side. Some have voiced concerns that are valid in my opinion. Like slowly min-maxing your character to an insanely optimized degree or using a system like this to change a character TOO much. My suggestions are things I think might help combat this. That includes NOT incentivizing people to change things. Just my opinion of course.
Limiting Reductions
I like this. It would be cool if the game could keep track of a "Min-Level" for stats and skills based on what you raise them too. Something like "As soon as you hit D level in Basket Weaving you can no longer drop below H level - no matter what." Or maybe just adjust the reduction rate to make it very difficult and time consuming beyond a certain point.
No idea what would be fair as I don't fully understand the systems behind all this but I am confident that something could be worked out if staff decided that restrictions like this where appropriate.
Skills Only
I feel it's silly to make this skills only as, unless staff decides to remove a system that is already well established in the game, characters who seriously want to degrade their stats can (to some degree at least). Just food for thought.
Keeping to the Core
While I originally felt that this kind of slow re-write should include removing and regaining advantages, I am now thinking that, if anything is to be restricted, these would be good. After all, they tend to be selected to support the core of your character and if your use a system like the one proposed here to rewrite your character in a way contrary to their core concept there is a good chance you will no longer enjoy the benefits you once gained via advantages. Or disadvantages that didn't used to be a concern might now hurt you.