Kunra wrote:
Tell me a Crafter trying to defend himself out in the wilds actually has a chance to, then I will change opinion. All games I have ever played force Crafters to be gimped in combat skills. Is that the case here?

Really, what this post is about is survivability ingame for Crafters.
As far as we know right now, nothing stops you to level your combat skills even if you are a crafter. You will be able to defend yourself if you want to.