I've had some time to think of the new mechanics reveals, and I'll share some additional insights, because why not

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Here is a somewhat vague but still informative guess of our final max-level ability point placement:
1. The mandatory choice -abilities at levels 15,25,30,45,55,60,75,85,90 and possible hidden unlocks from them are all likely very good. Some of them don't have 5 ranks or unlocks though, and the first ranks are free.
15-40? AP
2. The super abilities between levels 90-100. Don't know if these have ranks, but I'd guess they don't unlock any hidden abilities.
10-30? AP
3. The highest scaled abilities between levels 60-90. These will be better than the lower level abilities, and their unlocked hidden abilities should be the best, so they get the most points.
30-75 AP
4. Some carefully selected abilities from levels 15-30 and 45-60. These most likely have to be either really special abilities like the taming one or the social one, or hidden abilities like 'TWotADF', to enter the competition.
0-15 AP
I'm doing this to show that the abilities we get now only matter if:
1. They unlock a special role (scouting, taming)
2. They unlock and guide the possible mandatory abilities and the later classes.
3. They unlock hidden abilities and combination abilities.
This means that we should put our ability points in:getting some key skills to rank 5, unlocking some few new interesting possibilities, and making sure we guide our mandatory-ability possibilities to the directions we want. We should not A. unlock everything, B. spread our points evenly. Getting the best early abilities to rank 5 as soon as possible is paramount, because the later we wait, the more likely it is that the points will be spent on new, better abilities.
Fortunately I think we are doing this pretty decently.