FPS requires skills as any other game genre. Period. It depends on the game itself and not on the type of game.
Being a good FPS player is way more than look and shoot. It requires a deep knowledge of the map, of the environment. The shortcuts. Spots to recon your next goal/mission objective. You have to know when to rush or when you have to hold back. If it’s team vs team you have to know where you need to be and take your position fast and know what to do there. Know the best loadout for each mission/map. And much more could be said. Sure PHG is not the best exemple at all, it’s pretty much a basic game, but for the most FPS online games you need all of the above to be a good player.
Fighting games require skills also, of course. Good reflexes, fast fingers and a deep knowledge of the characters moves/special moves to start with…
Rebalancing idea
Just lower the DPS then. Specializations in general is supposed to help add as utility or focus on a certain kind of gameplay like how Enraged is to aid in escaping near-death situations or Overseer incentives team cooperation and rewarded with health for it, with of course attack focus like Stalker rewards patience of striking without spending so much on stamina or Disciplined on more stealth oriented gameplay. Once you lower the damage to a non-ridiculous level, then you’ll see more encouragement of gameplay that isn’t always encouraging of taking the advantage of the insane DPS the current meta is. Add in new features like a zoom in/out for both sides, new gear and long range weapons for the Predator, better gunplay ADS and movement for Fireteam, and other better quality of life features, then you’ll gradually lose the damage stacking mindset even further.
Look at both Dutch classes for example, everyone goes for 87 because of his damage stacking potential, compared to the weaker looking passives of 25 has. Since DPS meta encourages the path of damage, you’ll see why one will be picked over the other. Switch the hip-fire perk of 2025 to mud damage resistance of 87, you’ll truly see two different classes focus of stealth tanking and slightly stronger assault tactics.
Hell, even look at Assassin spec for example, it encourages stealthy ambushes from behind but the current insane DPS of Fireteam combined with the super audible cloaked “stealthy” Predator bars this kind of gameplay. Specializations need to be refined as many are either bugged or some of its ideas have no real utility such as Focused, as there is very little to be gained from using that spec, but getting rid of entirely? I’m not sure about that one right there, not one bit.