I remember in playing Titan Quest(LOOOOVE IT!) a common tactic was to ‘quick-max’ your mastery points to allow for wearing higher level gear as quickly as possible… in Grim Dawn, is that still ‘a thing’? If it is, is it more of a tank-y deal?
Still wrapping my head around all the cool combinations in GD - I am currently leveling Kluga’s “Bleeding Conjurer”(lvl 16) and “Ch’thonic Necromancer”(lvl 20).
I tend to go fast, by level 50 I have one mastery maxed and the other close to where I want it to be (which sometimes is not 50, could be as low as 32).
Probably slightly below 2/3s of skill points go in the bar up to that point (slightly more in the beginning, then slowing down a little)
It seems I vary rarely run into anything I can’t wear, or maybe it’s only a few points in cunning or physique till I can - I guess that is ‘more balanced’ that way? Then again, the farthest I have gone is (spoiler alert?) fighting the transformed prison warden dude…
Well, I am not strictly doing it to equip gear, never did that in TQ either. I do it for the bonuses from the stats and HP 
Unless you twink, you will not run into stat requirements you do not meet that easily (in both games)
Rule of thumb for GD:
~2 mastery points + 1 skill point per level (up to you how to distribute really but this tends to work out pretty well). Focus attributes on physique for most builds. If you need spirit for a caster build, then focus on that but don’t neglect physique. You don’t do damage when you’re dead, so heavily investing into a damage stat is not recommended unless you know what you’re doing.
I max out a early skill soon as possible.
Soldier: Force wave and transmuter
Demo: BWC and transmuter
Nightblade: never start as this class
Arcanist: OFF
Occultist: DEE and transmuter
Shaman: Devouring Swarm
Then I’ll start pumping my mastery bars and picking up support skills.
Having a maxed out skill by level 8-10 makes the game a breeze until you can start getting decent gear around level 40ish