Yes it is a sad truth. Much thought should be put into talents to make it seem less like a set talent spec to make you good and more like a individual choices. Any suggestions? I got nothing 3:

The problems are inherently tied with game balance issues. One solution is to have an open access to all skills and talents and let the players develop classes. Here, the Devs have to pay close attention to what skills are being used more often and continually adjust other skills to be more relevant. The problem with this method is it's a continuous cycle of nerfing and redesigning... alot of players quit when you take their OPness away ect... Another option is to align the level cap with mastery in everything... players just keep leveling and eventually get all there is to get. The problem here is at max level.. everyone is exactly the same. In the end I think we need to stop looking at specialization as a bad thing. I think we need to understand playstyles and roles. I personally don't think a single class or player should be able to have all the bells and whistles. That's just lame.
I really enjoyed the class/character creation in Champions Online (CO). But there you're creating a personalized super hero with a bunch of powers. That would be difficult to do here.

I wouldn't like to see talents again. Well, at least not in the classical way. Spending 1 talent point to gain an increase in 1% damage done seems so inconsequential.

I would like to see something more in the line of perks. Once you reach a certain level you could be able to choose a perk. Available perks could be based on your gameplay. Lets say the player has killed X# of enemies with flamers, now he can pick the Flamer expertise which grants him the ability to set the ground on fire. (increased damage would be dumb, "now your fire is hotter!") Or maybe a perk based on accessories. If the players has become able to equip or has acquired a Battle-Standard and killed X# of "elite" enemies he can pick the Rally! perk allowing him to inspire party members for 15 seconds every time you kill an enemy with a critical/headshot/special-kill.

I hope you get the idea. Something new and based on what you have accomplished.

World of Warcraft's new system is to choose between three special abilities every fifteen levels. Rather than have talents where you get a new ability every once in a while by choosing them in talents, it skips all the filler talents and just gives the abilities. This makes a lot of sense, and although it does simplify it a bit, the result is far, far easier balance. And we all like balance.

That alone is similar to the perk system, so it wouldn't be a far stretch to go either toward yours or toward WoW's. I'm mostly fine with any system that allows me to choose my own play style more than just "Frost/Fire/Arcane" type stuff. I'm tired of rotations and "correct" responses to situations.