I like the clinch takedowns/defence as it means I can RP Judoka or Greco style fighters better. It's something new and fresh which could be great. If it's not then what? Doesn't really change much does it?  I don't believe it would be the final nail in the coffin for the player base as I think we already hit that a while ago and to be honest, a big part of that could be the fact that the game is over 15 years old now. There's no other game I can think of that I've been playing for 15 years on and off.  Personally I think tidying up the odds and ends of the game so nothing is broken is more important then new skills right now. You could then feel confident in trying to attract new players to the game. New players are key. The more players the better. By far.   

I could get behind that. If it's all good we can port it to the mainland, if it's not so good we can make a script or a form to remove skill points from the split skills when you take them off of the Island. If anything weird comes up from the skill transference (like the guys who got their skill points boosted in the no training orgs) it's not like an Island guy would trouble the big leagues much anyway

for me it is not about favoring which build, we already have those 2 skills and they are working just fine. we should add new skills to make the game out of the stale state, here are 2 examples of new skills that could be added: - Cage/Ring Comfort: Makes the fighters and Orgs more versatile  - Footwork: Well the basic skill of any martial arts fighter regardless of the style unless they are on wheelchair

If you truly believe it will better the engine and people may be shooting it down without understanding hoe much it will benefit the game i have a suggestion.   Do an extended Island season and add that to the island. Let people test.   Honestly i think the Island being a testing ground for game changes the same way sports leagues use the preseason for rule changes to test it in game.   Also to address this point   "Isn't that the point? We want new people and we want the game to change, so it's not stale?"   I mean in terms of ramifications of fighters builds and fight engine most new people have 0 understanding of how that works at the top level so there input is literally from a complete blind point of view in terms of understanding why or why not said changes would be good.

Crossing this post over since it's sort of relevant... The split of standup/clinch takedown offence/defence feels like an arbitrary amount of extra detail/complexity to be introducing to what is otherwise a very broadly defined set of skills, I think the only thing that comes close as of today would be punches/elbows being separate from GnP. Perhaps the takedown skills could indeed add an amount of intrigue from a gameplay and build perspective, but I don't think the game itself is crying out for a finite split like this that'd take a bunch of dev and logistics time. Not unless other things get split too, and then everything gets all complicated. I think a genuinely new skill in an area not yet fleshed out would be more appreciated, but I'd personally be happy enough taking the freed up 300 skill points from the physical split (with primary doubling) and using it to make standup/ground guys not completely stanky in their weak area, if the meta is going to remain a race to minmax elite. People have been mentioning how at the top the battle is more about sliders anyway - let's make some genuine MMA guys who have more ways to surprise