First off, welcome to the boards, A Black Falcon! May your travels in the sewers lead you to challenge and excitement beyond your imagination [img]smile.gif[/img]
Second, no "anality" involved, Too Darkpark [img]smile.gif[/img] DW Bradley used a similar kind of trap in W&W, except that you just got to watch your thief trying the tumblers. Activating the specific tumblers was definitely much more along the lines of the wizardry series, where Bradley worked prior to W&W. W&W used a different variation of them, and DL uses yet another variation. It's all about trying new things...
You can change the setting for the right mouse button, so you could switch it to something more meaningful to you. Personally, I don't like that I can't switch my quick weapons while my shield is up (so to speak). The "Q" doesn't work until you drop your guard...
As for noticing the increase in effectiveness... I've never dropped more than a point in Shield, so I haven't seen it
Now, the thing about increasing your skill to get to the next level... in some ways, I kind of like it. Prevents you from just automatically going for the good stuff, and makes character development more interesting. Upgrade your armor skill, or increase your lockpick abilities? The questions, the decisions... [img]smile.gif[/img]
I do wish that I could see a difference with the magic skills. I don't notice much difference between level 0 and level 3...