[Drop Dead Studios] Spheres of Might Open Playtest

[Ssalarn]

You do realize that just because a ability X or Y can be purchased with feats doesn't mean that they are by their nature the same as feats right? Case-in-point Expanded Arcana, which by your logic appears to mean that every spell is equivalently a feat.

That is a false equivalency. Combat Talents are structured to build off the base system, just like feats, and include "Associated Feats" specifically to clarify that many of those talents are, in fact, full replacements for those feats.
Another poster decided to try and preempt a response because they already knew what the answer was. While talents are talents, and not called feats, the way that they work is modeled after feats. Their structure and basic implementation, as well as the purpose they serve, is the same. They're not magic. They're not spells. They're abilities that interact with your core functions as a character and build off them, permanent parts of what your character is and what they can do, presented with better equity and flexibility than exists in core feats. By intention, many of them have much more in common with feats than any system of magic, and are heavily influenced by psionic feats, which share the same structure of either giving you a powerful ability to expend focus on, or a static benefit that requires that focus.
The poster I was responding to wanted to deny that equivalency, but that equivalency exists, is easily comparable, and shows clearly in the design. The very fact that they attempted to preemptively cut off the conversation shows that.