Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-24993958-20151118083252/@comment-26397825-20151201100123

II don't think anyone has really figured out much about how much training calssifies as going from Tier one to Tier two. I've been kind of working off Weiss; she was capable with one Glyph when she started Beacon. Then, in Painting the Town which was in the second term, she can use a second Glyph, which would count as Tier two. And now, at the end of the year (possibly, depending on what time the Vytal Festival is being held), she is making movements to learn a thrid Glyph, which puts her at Tier Three. But we haven't seen how proficient she is with the Time Dilation Glyph since she hasn't used it since Painting the Town, and we know she has major problems with the Summoning Glyph. This puts her at basically having just attained Tier Two in her Glyphs at the end of her First Year, with small motions made towards Tier Three, but not having much control of the higher Tiers.

Going by this logic, I was kind of working on high competence levels in Tier One being something all First Year students should have. Tier Two should be available for them about halfway through if they work their semblance properly, but mastery may take them well into their Second Year. Tier Three should technically be available to them near the end of their First Year or beginning of their Second Year, but mastery could take them anywhere from the beginning of their Third Year and beyond, depending on how much time they put into mastering the individual Tiers.

And that's if the semblance has a third Tier; some semblances simply don't allow for that sort of thing because of what they are. And some semblances will probably have more than three Tiers. I suppose the easiest way to look at it is the first Tier take the longest to master, as they are learning the basic semblance itself. Then after they reach a certain level in Tier One (say, 75% mastered, maybe as low as 60%), they get Tier Two. Tier Two should probably take about a year to master, or at least become proficient in it, and when they're halfway done with Tier Two then Tier Three becomes available which takes roughly a year to master as well, and so on and so forth for each Tier of abilities.

This is of course all headcanon and has no real basis beyond 'this is how long I think it took Weiss to be able to use her alternate Glyphs', but it sounds good to me.