Air carrier captain reported misunderstanding the meaning of a revised clearance to fly direct to et...

Narrative:

While climbing via wevic 3 hve; [ATC stated] cleared direct etalk; delete speeds; M FL230. Mistakenly believed etalk at or below 16;000' still applied because of climb via clearance. Leveled off at 16;000' a few miles prior to etalk ; ATC then said climb unrestricted to FL230. After reviewing climb via/descend via quick reference guide; I realized the altitude restriction at etalk was deleted with 'maintain FL230' clearance. It seems that there is still mass confusion on new rules for 'climb via' clearances; and with 'descend via' clearances; as some procedures are becoming more and more complicated; especially when one or more 'except' clearances are issued. I'm sure someone thinks these new rules are an improvement; but my opinion is that there are often too many complications for too few benefits. The email type messages I have received on these new procedures have not been effective and I have received virtually no formal training.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier Captain reported misunderstanding the meaning of a revised clearance to fly direct to ETALK; delete speeds; climb and maintain FL230 after initially being cleared to climb via the WEVIC 3 HVE. The altitude at ETALK is honored and should not have been.

Narrative: While climbing via WEVIC 3 HVE; [ATC stated] CLEARED DIRECT ETALK; DELETE SPEEDS; M FL230. Mistakenly believed ETALK at or below 16;000' still applied because of climb via clearance. Leveled off at 16;000' a few miles prior to ETALK ; ATC then said climb unrestricted to FL230. After reviewing climb via/descend via quick reference guide; I realized the altitude restriction at ETALK was deleted with 'maintain FL230' clearance. It seems that there is still mass confusion on new rules for 'climb via' clearances; and with 'descend via' clearances; as some procedures are becoming more and more complicated; especially when one or more 'except' clearances are issued. I'm sure someone thinks these new rules are an improvement; but my opinion is that there are often too many complications for too few benefits. The email type messages I have received on these new procedures have not been effective and I have received virtually no formal training.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1201481
Time
Date	201409
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZLC.ARTCC
State Reference	UT
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	SID WEVIC 3
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Undershoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance

Air carrier captain reported misunderstanding the meaning of a revised clearance to fly direct to etalk; delete speeds; climb and maintain FL230 after initially being cleared to climb via the wevic 3 hve. The altitude at etalk is honored and should not have been.