I think a lot of this disagreement is fundamentally from your (Angelius's) opinion on the power of certain specific talents (Mnemonic and Far Out Man in particular). Neither talent is particularly amazing in my book. They're solid, but not the overwhelmingly mandatory choices. The only mandatory talent for any build is backstabber for rogues, which we all agree should go.
The game is not so hard that you cannot pick certain talents that will simply be fun, while still being fairly useful. Say, you get Warlord on a mage instead of Far Out Man. Far Out Man will provide constant benefits, while Warlord will provide power swings. Even something like Savage Sortliege could compete with Far Out Man if you use rage. Far Out Man and Mnemonic are good, safe talents to choose if you don't know what else you want, nothing more.
