You are correct... one of the appealing parts of the game to me is the ability to customize your character's skills (which makes it a lot more interesting trying to create well-rounded groups for quests) and work out a, for example, spear/shield-preference warrior who is hard to hit, or a black arts vampiric healer summoner that doesn't draw attention til its too late. Those players who only know the "typical asian mmo" where you "pump everything into one stat" and there's basically "one set of gear" can be in real trouble here
But it will be the rarer player who doesn't end up using a "water" or two to respend talent/skills or attributes.
There's quite a selection of garb as well for the fashion-minded, so you don't necessarily have to look like a moving garage sale to max your stats.
So do you fall into the "everything into luck" faction or something more complex? I've been bell-curving my primary stats with luck at the top of the curve... (e.g. with a melee - more luck, but then expertise/finesse, and then strength, watch the percentage change to dump a few in other stats). The attribute discussions get pretty "religious" on zone chat so not much to glean from there.