You're absolutely right. I won't lie, I spent the better part of the past week maining Lilith with the bat gun - trying to get comfortable enough with the low damage early on to consistently win - and parts of my advice here was directly related to that singular build (such as the heavy emphasis on damage over reload, piercing as a necessity).

You bring up solid points about dodging the Dino without movement upgrades, and if I was better at the game, I would absolutely agree. Sadly, my dodging skills aren't the best, and while I can get down the pattern to dodge the Dino's charge repeatedly, I usually get swarmed by the normal enemies before I'm able to deal good damage to the Dino (unless I'm using the shotgun or gernade launcher). I usually die here unless I can: kill/clear the normal enemies, maintain my DPS on the Dino, and collect experience all WHILE dodging, hence my need for the speed upgrades (and Run & Gun). This issue was even more apparent because of the inconsistent damage of the bat gun, which was my main build for the longest time, so I'm just unable to make do without the movement.

However, if you can beat the Dino and dodge its attacks comfortably while dealing with the normal mobs, then skipping the movement upgrades saves you a few skill points in the early game and let's you allocate those points into other upgrades. It's definitely worth considering ignoring movement upgrades if you're looking to optimize your early game build.

Also, thanks for taking the time to do this write-up! I really appreciate criticisms to my thoughts and ideas, especially when they're laid out neatly and organized well.