Passive skill tree is underutilized: Solving defensive issues

After playing through the first half of the campaign on multiple characters and watching just about every streamer and youtube video out there run the endgame I have come to the conclusion that the passive skill tree is being used as not much more than a waypoint system to go from damage cluster to damage cluster. All of those interesting sights on the way there are simply being passed over to get some damage making the tree look like a twig. I have a proposal to get gamers into those defensive clusters without adding to the ability to do more damage.

The game appears to be balanced to pathing to damage nodes at this time. Any time that you do not go directly for damage clusters, you begin to lag on clearing levels and they become a slog. This change allows you to kind of leave that current damage balance in place, let the players have more agency in choosing a defensive setup, and provide a much richer skill tree system experience because, let's face it, right now everyone is just beelining straight to those damage clusters and they are struggling because they can't afford defenses. I don't think that turning the game's damage down is the "fun" solution. In fact, once you add defensive skill points, you may need to tune it upward a bit. But this will engage players with the defensive and utility portions of the tree more. Without giving them more damage nodes.

Proposed Solution: Defensive Skill Points
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These points can only be used in defensive clusters. They will not work for pathing or any other node. The player will still need to spend regular skill points to get to defensive clusters.

They can be awarded periodically, say every 10 levels you get one point. You might also award them through monster drops as mission rewards in certain places putting a skill barrier up to acquisition. Something similar to the way the current skill points are awarded, just much less frequently.

I would also make them a different glow on the skill tree, maybe blue or something.
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Once players are able to spec some defensives, the beginning of the game will be less odious to new players. Even getting only one point for defense by level 5 or so (you might even award this just after the tutorial in the first area and then begin one point every 10 levels) would be a huge survival boost and make playing the game less frustrating on the front end while providing a much richer experience in the end game as far as build variety goes.

Something to mull over.