I figured that since this issue was brought up multiple times in multiple threads, that I would attempt to condense its discussion here.
As you are aware, you can put your points into combat skills as you level up. What you might not be aware of is how hard they are to raise outside of this scenario. A few of the tests we have run as a guild (DHoV) have revealed that there is little to no combat skill gain given for attacking other players or animals (I've personally killed around 13 bears over the past few weeks, and have not gained a single skill point in clubs). There obviously should be, so this issue needs some light shined on it.
Perhaps it just needs some balancing, but I like the idea of slow skill gain for combat skills. At least with slow gains, not every person running around will have uber fighting skills.
Yeah, that's the issue right now. It does need balancing, very badly. The way it is currently, you would probably have to kill upwards of 200 bears for one skill gain. This is not only ensuring people will not be running around with uber fighting skills, it's ensuring that no one will.