What do these dots above the skills mean?

[Billy Blaze]

I think the game told me this at the start, but I forgot it.
Also sorry if I don't use the correct terms, I play the game in german and don't know what things are called in english.
Essence Stones maybe?
Anyway, when you level these things up, they get more of these dots (ranging from 1 to 7 so far).

Is it just a measurement of how strong this skill is or is there more to it?

(PS5 btw)

[Shadowpunk]

i think is a measurement of power and how strong they are.
I think you are correct
Low and weak ones can become better if you improve them though.

[Billy Blaze]

Originally posted by Shadowpunk:

i think is a measurement of power and how strong they are.
I think you are correct
Low and weak ones can become better if you improve them though.

Ah ok.
That's kinda disappointing, since it seems there's more to it.
But it just looks like the game doesn't want that you use this starting skill (the hammer throw) and either switch it out or upgrade it, cause it just has one of those dots.

So it feels like some sort of cut content, cause nothing would change if these dots aren't there and it just hinders you mentally in using what you want.

[Shadowpunk]

Deck13 just released a video about Essence Stones :D take a look
I was impressed by some crazy ones i dont have yet :O

video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al1FIAsHzrc&list=LL&index=1&t=403s&ab_channel=Deck13

[IchigoMait]

Skill level, it's the same icon you see on the upgrades list, above (under the name) what it is, "next" what it becomes, "locked" what it can become at max (seems so far max).

[Narcissistic Cannibal]

I used to think that stones actually have 7 levels (and you have to waste resources on the "empty" levels), but, apparently, they have the same 3 tiers as armour, instantly jumping from 1 dot to 3, then to 7.

[IchigoMait]

Originally posted by Narcissistic Cannibal:

I used to think that stones actually have 7 levels (and you have to waste resources on the "empty" levels), but, apparently, they have the same 3 tiers as armour, instantly jumping from 1 dot to 3, then to 7.

Like why would you think you waste resources on empty levels, it literally says "next" to what you get when upgrading, and what you can't get yet is locked because of the previous level.
The number prolly is a representation of the level of the skill.
The same with armor, but armor does not skip levels, it increases 1 by 1, and has different base levels, but yeah limited to 0-3 upgrades, each upgrade giving 1 perk point.
Also skills don't go only just 1 to 3 to 7, they have all ranges 1 to 7, and some only have 1 upgrade instead of 2, but the cost is determined by the level of the upgrade, every skill ends up being lvl 7.

Summary:
Skills go from 1-7, have 1-2 upgrades, skipping levels when upgrading, all end up at lvl 7.
Armor have different base levels too, but don't skip levels when upgrading, upgrade amount is 0-3 (haven't seen yet anything higher) depending on armor, and each upgrade gives a permanent perk point.

[Narcissistic Cannibal]

The dots actually indicate the cost you have to pay for upgrading. For example, a non-upgraded stone with 2 dots, apart from other resouces, requires 750 dust for tier 2 (4 dots), while another non-upgraded stone with 3 initial dots requires 1650 dust for tier 2 (5 dots). Even though both receive 2 dots, the cost gets higher when the upgrade results in a higher number of dots.

[IchigoMait]

Originally posted by Narcissistic Cannibal:

The dots actually indicate the cost you have to pay for upgrading. For-example, a non-upgraded stone with 2 dots, apart from other resouces, requires 750 dust for tier 2 (4 dots), while another non-upgraded stone with 3 initial dots requires 1650 dust for tier 2 (5 dots). Even though both receive 2 dots, the cost gets higher when the upgrades results in a higher number of dots.

Yeah already said that.