Guys, how do you decide where to allocate your skill points?
This is something that I'm not getting in many games - it seems virtually impossible to figure out which option is better without trying, and even with trying it's not always obvious. And you are not free to experiment here, since respects cost.
In DQ the respec costs are very low. I'm not sure if they go up with repeated use (they just seem to go up with number of points already invested, or level, not sure which) but whenever I wanted to respec I just did it, the cost was so low.
My choices were not so much based on which stats were getting what but "what level am I likely to boost this character to in a battle?" For some, that answer is 5, and in general it seems fairly well balanced so that points put into higher-level abilities have more payoff assuming the character can actually use them, so I'd prioritize that max-boost ability.
For others, that answer is 3, or at least "3 until way later in the fight when I've got psi to burn", so I just buff up that ability.
More generally, the passive effects (that help from the start, no boost needed) seem less potent than the ability skills, which makes sense. But some passives are very important, as you find out through experience.
The above mostly goes for the damage-oriented classes. For the others where the non-damage parts are more important it's a question of which of those abilities is most important to you from experiences. Slowing effects are rather important, etc.
So for example, for me:
Slak - max the 3rd-boost ability skill and also the skill that boosts the crit rate on that skill. Later on max bleed because it really makes it easier to kill the big things when they're taking 20+% more damage from everything else.
Ketta - for the first part of the game, max the 3rd-boost ability, but also put a lot of points into the range-increase passive and the all-crit-chance-increase passive; later might respec to 5th-boost ability but it depends on where you're hurting (burst dps or sustained)
Baral (I forget his name) - just max the first ability since I never boost him, until later in the game where the light damage one becomes pretty critical and then put points into that. Much later can boost the 5th-boost ability since it can buff attack of all characters in range.
W-whatshername - first max the skill that adds more chill to her 1st-boost, then max her 3rd-boost ability (aoe chill), then max her 5th-boost ability for lack of a better (and it's pretty cool)
Marcus - max the skill that increases the armor-removal of all his attacks, since that's basically the whole point of the class. Later on, focus on the 4th and 5th boost abilities for the insane single-target damage to be found there.
(forgot the name, the last one) - since the 3rd and 5th abilities clash with the chill from the other person this whole character got kinda neglected by me. But the aoe stun 4th ability is quite nice, and the damage on the 1st and 2nd abilities is respectable, so points can go there
Main character - early on all points into frenzy, and when pushback all points into that. With both of those maxed you can really buy some serious time (in one case literally, and with frenzy by "compressing" more dps into a given period of time) when a level's getting crazy towards the end.
