Is there a reason that the test server does not contain skill injectors this time?
EVE is such a complicated game under the bonnet in regards to skills and how they interact with each other. There is no way in-game to work out properly how certain skills will impact gameplay (weapon application skills for example are not taken into consideration on the fitting window in regards to different sized targets moving at different traversals / speeds). It just shows the maximum possible with perfect application.
The test server is incredibly useful to test whether large skill commitments on live are worth it. Can a paladin be pushed to clear a C3 combat site close to the same speed as a vargur? The only way to find out is to try multiple fits/ideas / maxing out skills/ weird mod choices to see - which the test server provided us.
Pyfa can get close to giving an idea but there is nothing provided by CCP that allows this to be known except the test server.
It appears to me as an outsider that CCP see the test server as a threat to the live server whereby players get super skilled characters for free to fly around in expensive ships. It is hardly ever up, and when it is it is for incredibly short periods of time. You have to rush around to try out all your ideas before the server goes down again.
But I really don’t see why a newer player shouldn’t have the same freedom to test ideas and concepts every now and then (the test server is only up a few days each year) that a veteran trillionaire has.
I hope the no skill injectors this time was a random oversight but truly CCP, is giving us a fun free playground to quickly try weird builds / fits / combinations of ships really that negative? Surely that can only make the live server a more interesting and fun place. Right now I can only risk committing skillpoints to things I know will work for what I want to do, which is rather limiting and boring.