Hi. I put progression on my server to support the goal of building civilizations. I wanted to make a criteria that requires someone to login 3 times. The reward would the the research of: rough carpentry. The rough carpentry research is required for tree chopping, and crafting of planks and sticks. However, if I right click to get out of the edit criteria(in the default tab), it will remove the criteria. If I try and get out via escape, it does the same. The only solution is to use a new tab.
Also, is it possible to have players choose what they want to unlock next? For example, if I had Carpentry 1 and Stone Age both after Rough Carpentry(these are criteria names), could I have people choose what they want to unlock next. That way specialization of skills would eventually be required...

Thanks!

Where/what is the flag you mentioned that sync's client criteria file with the server? My config looks like this:

Configuration file

settings {
B:"Add Recipe for Tile Entity Claimer"=true
B:"Enable Editing"=true
}

and under /ipaddress

{
"tabs": [
{
"uniqueName": "DEFAULT",
"displayName": "Default",
"sortIndex": 0,
"isVisible": true,
"stack": "minecraft:book",
"criteria": []
}
],
"defaultTabID": "DEFAULT",
"disableCraftingUntilRewardAdded": false,
"disableUsageUntilRewardAdded": false,
"unclaimedTileCanCraftAnything": false,
"unclaimedTileCanUseAnythingForCrafting": false,
"interfaceItem": "minecraft:book",
"displayRequirementsOnNEIClick": true

These things you suggested should all be doable in the 1.8.9 version when it's released.

Check the config file for progression; there's a flag that, by default, syncs the client's criteria file with the server's. If you're editing the progression on a server, any changes you make will be erased when the server syncs its criteria file with the client's. I would recommend editing the criteria in a single-player world and copying it to the server when you're finished.

As for choosing a profession, I looked into doing something similar on my server. You can make two or more criteria conflict by clicking on the first, and then control-clicking on the second. This allows you to prevent players from picking more than one path. By making different requirements for each conflicting criteria, you can effectively make a class or profession system based on what the player chooses.