Haven’t played Primalist, never will since the archetype is one that has never interested me in any game, but this topic of niche nodes and support is an interesting one.
Personally, if there’s a skill node for it, I want the direct passive tree support or some means of utilizing existing passives through skill nodes (such as conversion).
The way I see builds is you’ve got your skills, your passives, and your items. When a build isn’t being supported by one of those three, it just really kills the excitement from a psychological perspective. It’s like supported builds get three shiny toys to play with while unsupported ones only get two.
Having to pick between cool passives that could both enhance your build feels great. Having to pick a passive because it’s the least crappy choice you have doesn’t feel great. It’s like picking one of the “skill tax nodes” or “pre-req passives” to get to the actual good stuff, except when something is too niche, there is no good stuff to pick.
Not saying ever skill should be equally viable, but even the niche skills need something they can excel at (like CC, mobility, QoL, looking cool AF) that makes picking them up worthwhile or you end up wondering why the option is even there because it becomes a non-option.
And while the devs may have thematic directions, if they’ve included an option for it, it sounds like it’s a part of their vision for the class at least. Maybe not the primary one, but they see a primalist that does fire stuff as a thing. Not sure that’s a reason to not include more robust support for it somehow eventually at least.