The other poster is right, alcasthq.com is a great resource. You could copy his allotments for your class until,you get the hang of it. However, to get you started let's try some basic advice.

Diminishing returns: the first point you spend in a line is about 10x as powerful as the 100th in that same line. You get less and less per point as you spend more in the line, so spreading them out a little is advisable. For each color, think about 2-3 passives you want and spend in those as you earn.

Consider frequency: the most powerful passives are ones you'll use more. For example, "increase the damage of any magic attack by 5%" is more powerful than "increase damage of your light/heavy attacks by 25%." Some of the specialized ones sound good, but aren't because there are other options that give you more assistance in the long run.

Direct damage: the game has a couple of damage types, direct, AOEs and DOTs. In short, direct damage is anything that's not the other two. Longer explanation, its damage that occurs when you specifically target a single enemy and proc and ability that damages them in a lump sum. Examples: The destro ultimate is an AOE...I don't target anyone, I just rain down a ridiculous amount of fire in an area. So it doesn't get any boost from direct damage buffs. Snipe (bow) IS direct damage. I pick a target then hit them in a lump sum. It would be buffed. Some abilities are hybrid, like bow's poison inject or templar's reflective light. These abilities start with a targeted direct damage lump sum, then deal addl damage over time. If I have a buff for direct damage in the CP tree, the initial hit would be buffed but the subsequent DOT would not.

Elemental defense/offense: in the game everything falls into the magic or stam category. Phyisical, poison and disease is stamina based. These are boosted via physical penetration and mitigated via physical resistance. (Or by CPs that specifically mention physical, poison or disease). The magic counterparts are magic, flame, frost and shock damage, boosted by spell penetration and mitigated by spell resistance.


Some general advice in the trees:

Green: this line is largely about recovery in the lover. You'll be spending a lot in health, stam and magic recovery, with your focus on your fighting resource. This is where you can focus for your first 300ish CPs. You can get up to 15% more regen in each...I tend to max my toons at 75 CPs, where you get 14% regen. I don't tend to find it helpful to spend another 25 just for 1% more magic recovery. Use this line to boost your fighting resource, health, then the alt respircemif you need it. Invest in the other two trees down the line, in whatever is useful for the toon.

Red: defense tree. Hardy and elemental defender are superstars here. One mitigates incoming magic attacks,,the other is for stamina. Level these together, with a long term goal of 50-60 in each. If you're a stam toon, you're definitely working toward Unchained. The third super passive is Ironclad, reducing direct damage. This is any hit that's targeting directly at you...so most damage in the game. Work this up with the other two. Thick skinned can get a few points to reduce DOT damage. I generally mostly avoid the armor weight passives...they aren't as valuable as the others listed.

Blue: damage! Magic users look to the apprentice, stam the ritual. They're counterbalanced so I'll list the two variants...you'll pick one or the other based on the toon. You're going to focus on elemental expert / mighty to boost all your outgoing damage, looking for 60+ points here in the long term. Level this with elfborn / precise strikes to boost crit damage...the more of a critical build you're dealing with, the more you can put into this. Magic users will want to focus on working toward arcane well, especially melee close quarter fighters like magplars and mag DKs.

You'll also put some in Master at Arms and Thaumaturge, depending on build. Thaumaturge boosts DOTs, which is self explanatory. The more DOTs the toon uses, the more you'll put here. Master at Arms boosts direct damage...that's any hit where you specifically target an enemy. That's a lot of abilities, so you'll be spending 40+ points here for most builds, ultimately.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have questions.

Ahh, the jump points. I get it. THAT's very useful.