I've now played 3 different PFS scenarios with a level 1 halfling hydrokineticist.
I chose cold blast and slick for my talents.
I chose point blank shot for my feat.
In order played, the scenarios were:
6-06:Hall of the Flesh Eaters
4-15:The Cyphermage Dilemma
5:11:Library of the Lion
My major concerns with the initial build were extreme lack of skill points and the inability to get precise shot at level 1 with anything but a human.
I'll discuss the skill issues in each adventure, but at level 1 the kineticist favors humans to an almost absurd degree. I never felt like using a blast was a viable option against anything in melee, given the penalties to hit.
I do intend to continue to play this character and am interested in some of the benefits that halflings will get at higher levels, so I chose to play a halfling despite my concerns regarding my ability to hit things in combat.
I also had a hard time choosing a wild talent for level 1. Without precise shot extended range didn't make much sense. Pressurized blast infusion looked okay, but as a small character I'd still be taking a penalty to the CMB check for the bull rush. Icewalker had very limited utility, while Kinetic Blade and Fist were unappealing to my character build. The burn cost of Kinetic healer seemed a bit too much, which left the choice between Slick and Kinetic cover. I decided to go with Slick for general utility with the thought that I'd take Kinetic Cover at second level.
I'd suggest an option to spend a wild talent to get a combat feat, as per the rogue's combat trick talent.
Hall of the Flesh Eaters was played fairly combat heavy and I felt reasonably useful doing it. Slick proved useful in situations where I felt my chance to hit combined with my relatively low damage output made blasting unwise.
I'm told that the Cyphermage Dilemma is normally more balanced between RP, skills, and combat, but it was run fairly combat heavy for us. I didn't have much I could do in terms of helping with any skill checks, but again I found myself reasonably useful in combat, and slick proved useful to disarm certain opponents in an attempt to get them to surrender.
The GM took a look at my character sheet when I sat down to play the Library of the Lion and told me that I would be completely useless. I have to agree; I had nothing that I could do to help with any of the searches, my Int and Wis were low enough that I felt it to be poor RP to help with some of the puzzles, and my group avoided any combats. I rather liked that scenario, however, but I'd have been vastly better off playing a bard or investigator in it.