There is some truth to this, in that it makes sense to "dip" for miscellaneous abilities that don't compete with our current abilities for actions (e.g. a "hide" action enhancer, something that lets us set traps out of combat, something that can be used to boost rolls out of combat, etc). However, this is a narrow restriction; you are unlikely to find it just by asking for arts by element.
There is also some truth to this, in that it makes sense to "dip" for arts that give passive bonuses we find useful. However, once again, that does require some more narrow restrictions than just picking the elements.
And most importantly. There is some truth to this, but do note the qualifier: "as arts get more and more success expensive". Dipping to get a cheap art requires at least 2 actions, probably 3; 1-2 for the meridians and another action for training. If we can get an upgrade to one of our current arts for 2-3 actions, that strikes me as a strictly superior strategy most of the time - and we currently can upgrade our arts for 2-3 actions. Once that stops being the case, I wouldn't object to picking up more arts, but we've still got at least a couple of turns until we can get through the current, not-too-expensive level of the arts we have.
We've seen absolutely no evidence of this. That said, if it is something you are worried about, a FAR better action would be to take Elder Ying tutoring, since she could actually advise us regarding this (and probably suggest an art) if it was actually the case. In fact, I would push for taking such an action next week (once we've had a week to hang out with our spirit on our own).
Maybe. If so, is there any benefit to higher-floor arts at all, at least before you need to get them to upgrade your 1st floor art? I would find it somewhat strange if this was the case, though I don't discount the possibility.
