Questions On Raising Skills/Mastery

[DwayneA]

Some questions about raising skills or the mastery bar:

-When an important damage skill becomes available (such as Call of the Wild), a skill that improves the damage of said skill (such as Strength of the Pack), or reduces resistances of enemies to that damage (such as Susceptibility), should I max the skill first before continuing to climb up the mastery bar?
-How do I know when to climb up the mastery bar instead of raising skills?
-When should I invest in defensive skills?
-How do I know if a skill should only have one point when it first becomes available?
-If playing a warrior using weapons, when should I get skills that inflict percentage-based damage such as Onslaught, Thunder Strike, Calculated Strike, or Psionic Touch?

[Medea Fleecestealer]

If you're playing a Petmancer then maxing wolves base skill is something you do immediately since they will be doing all your damage. 

Onslaught, Psionic Touch, Calculated Strike you can max more slowly by putting a point each time you level up while putting the other 2 points into mastery bars or another skill if you want to use it.

I usually climb the mastery bar putting a point into each skill I want to use in general. 

[DwayneA]

What about other flat damage skills across the other masteries, such as Distortion Wave, Poison Gas Bomb, Ring of Flame, Squall, etc. Should those be maxed as soon as they become available? What about the buffs that increase their damage by a percentage? Should they be maxed as soon as possible? What about skills that reduce enemy resistances to those damage types? Should they be maxed as well immediately? All before continuing to climb the bar?