Blackmako, blackstaff67, please don't pursue this sub-discussion any further. It looks like it might get ugly, and even if it doesn't I can't see it being productive.
Your argument has merit. Nonetheless, in the case I decide to adopt your idea about a raised skill floor, I may need some more advice in how to organically insert it in my own revised power levels scale. Let's assume the following is my current tentative approach, after inserting your own suggestion about keeping the skill cap bolted to Fantastic (I'm going to omit anything below Submerged for simplicity, since the current topic is higher power levels, and to be honest I have very scarce interest in playing low-powered games regardless of system):
Submerged 10 35 Superb
Below the Surface 11 35 Superb
Bottom Of The Pool 12 40 Superb
Snorkeling 13 45 Superb
With The Fishes 14 45 Superb
SCUBA Diving 15 50 Fantastic
Big Fish, Bigger Ocean 16 50 Fantastic
Punched a Shark in the Nose 17 55 Fantastic
Wish I Had A Submarine 18 60 Fantastic
I Spy Atlantis 19 60 Fantastic
Swimming In Weeds 20 70 Fantastic
In A Submarine 21 70 Fantastic
Where you'd place the raised skill floor to Average (and the shift to Fantastic) in the scale, and how you'd change the skill pool progression? I'd like to extend the above scale a bit further as well, but I'm creatively challenged about it, and the New Power Levels thread offers little guidance. Unlike the scale in that thread, I going to keep Submerged as in canon, for the sake of familiarity.
There isn't really any wrong way to do it. My inclination would be to raise the floor whenever you raise the cap; I think a distance of 5 between the bottom and the top makes for nicer cleaner pyramids than a distance of 6. At least when working with point totals that are divisible by 5.
Here's my first thought:
Submerged 10 35 Superb
Below the Surface 11 35 Superb
Bottom Of The Pool 12 40 Superb
Snorkeling 13 45 Superb
With The Fishes 14 45 Superb
SCUBA Diving 15 30 Average-Fantastic
Big Fish, Bigger Ocean 16 35 Average-Fantastic
Punched a Shark in the Nose 17 35 Average-Fantastic
Wish I Had A Submarine 18 40 Average-Fantastic
I Spy Atlantis 19 40 Average-Fantastic
Swimming In Weeds 20 45 Average-Fantastic
In A Submarine 21 50 Average-Fantastic
As for going beyond the scale, I'd go up to Fair-Epic around 25 Refresh. Would probably have the skill growth relative to Refresh growth become slower over time.
Again, though, you can't really go very wrong. The worst case scenario is not very bad. There's no need to be too careful.