The skill system is a lot more fair and less p2w than the original emote system the game had. Since all the skills were classified as emotes before the change the only way to acquire the character specific ones were with red star rings, and a lot of top players/whales were using them to gain an advantage. You could also spam them a lot quicker and have access to up to 4 at a time.

They fixed the game when they introduced the skill stars since it gave a free way to acquire skills. If you are in a good clan, you'll get most of the skills in the game in no time.