You probably raised speed to like 50 or 60, then raised agility, then raised some vision, strength or tackling, then went back to speed and agility, then back to vision, then strength, etc. You probably also invested in SAs early which will never help any build.
If you raise your attributes in a more direct path, and get them high early, you will receive automatic level gains on the attribute when it's higher. If for example, your attribute (major) is 68, and in another scenario it is 35, if you level, the one that is 68 gets the same bonus, assuming you're the same player level, as the one that's 35. What makes it better is that in order to raise an attribute that is already 68 you would have to train it (which takes very long) or use SP (which costs a bunch of SP just to raise it once.)
You have to use each factor to your advantage:
Training: the lower the attribute is, the better it is to train in terms of quick gains. The closer the attribute is to its next successive 'cap', the worse it is to train in terms of long term gains.
SP: The lower the attribute is, the less it costs to raise, and the inverse is true - the higher the attribute is, the most it costs to raise.
Automatic level gains(ALGs): The higher the attribute is, the more value automatic level gains have. Majors have precedence over minors, and minors have precedence over other attributes. This also means that attributes need to be high sooner so that the attribute can get the better ALGs sooner, in order to accumulate more long term gain.
When you put that all together, you can draw a few clear cut conclusions, though some remain vague:
1. You want to train/SP and subsequently receive ALGs on majors first. Presumably you want your most important attribute to be the first you raise, because late build it will be the highest.
2. The faster you get to the cap you intend to stop at for an attribute (be it 68, 73, 77, etc) the higher that attribute will be later in your build, which gives your build more numerical value or higher "effective level."
3. SAs and other attributes (non-majors, non-minors) should be raised last, because they don't get any ALGs. They will only be as high as you raise them, so make sure to account for this by the end of your build.
4. It is better in terms of training efficiently to train a low attribute instead of using SP on it. However, getting to caps faster means better ALGs. You need to find a balance throughout your player's lifetime of training low, and capping fast.
The older your player becomes, the less important it will be to cap quickly because ALGs diminish after a point, so the rules change. Training becomes more valuable, SP comes slower, and so it becomes more important to thoroughly train attributes before capping them.
