I don't know about you, but I absolutely read ahead skill trees. They're all there right from the beginning; you can see every talent in each tree and plan accordingly. I will grant that Dragon Age: Origins was not exactly transparent in explaining how each stat actually affects your character (for example, they never properly explain the relationship between attack and strength or spellpower and magic), but they have addressed this in Dragon Age 2 on the attribute distribution screen.

What they really need to do is include the ability to respec in the actual game. They added an item that cost about six gold in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening that allowed you to redistribute all attributes, skills, and talents. Mass Effect 2 also introduced a way to respec at a slight cost. I would hope there is a way to do this in Dragon Age 2 as well.