I remember one time logging in and finding that two guys on horse back were raiding my town and I got cut down more than once trying to defend it, I was incredibly underpowered and couldn't do anything. (Although I was new so If I played a bit more I probably could have defended myself better.)
Not really. Combat skills in Wurm are the same as all the other skills. They are extremely grindy and there is a huge power gap even if you're just a few combat levels below the enemy. Which is another reason to not really bother with PvP in Wurm.
(Of course combat skills don't really matter all that much since pvp is usually either a gank fest or a mob fest, anyway. Kind of like Eve, actually.)
Uuuhhh.. not sure what you mean here.. you can have 70 fight skill in under a week, you get 50 weapon skill while getting your fight skill, 40 shield skill while getting 70fs AT THE LEAST. Thats enough to get in on pvp. Theres people on Elevation who go to PvP events with sub-50 fight skill. The only parts of fighting that are grindy are if you're going past 70 in any related skill for some stupid reason despite no true benefit because its all on the curve. I've managed to put long time veteran super elitist pvpers on the ropes many times in spars with my account that I've been half-assedly playing since late December, whereas theyve had theirs since the opening of the cluster. This isn't Wild anymore, this is Epic.
And as for crafting skill, you can get 50 skill in anything in a day.
Also Re: Mob Fest
One of the last HotAs I attended saw this:
[00:57:25] Selturas slain by Kings Olloch
[02:22:41] Awakening slain by Kings Olloch Cndo
[02:22:53] Watkins slain by Jaycz Sparkytaco Amberain Azog
[02:23:21] Rrajk slain by Exor Sparkytaco Tryfaen Curv Amberain Terrorist
[02:24:19] Kings slain by Gary Hellfang Chriz Savagescholz Awakening
[02:24:32] Morrowen slain by Exor Vessa Azog Jaycz Jondm Sparkytaco Kirtah Tryfaen Olloch Curv Terrorist
[02:25:04] Daredevil slain by Jaycz Sparkytaco Tryfaen Terrorist
[02:26:50] Tryfaen slain by Rrajk Ezalor Daredevil Ownage Smeagain
[02:26:59] Chriz slain by Exor Kirtah Olloch Cndo
[02:27:33] Hellfang slain by Exor Kings Vessa Cndo Jaycz Kirtah Olloch Curv Amberain Bagsecg
[02:27:58] Smeagain slain by Jondm Exor Sparkytaco Kirtah Tryfaen Vessa Azog Terrorist
[02:28:01] Amberain slain by Hellfang Gary Rrajk Savagescholz
[02:28:16] Savagescholz slain by Jaycz Exor Kirtah Kings Vessa Curv Amberain Cndo Bagsecg
[02:28:38] Vessa slain by Gary Hellfang Ezalor Savagescholz
[02:28:39] Ezalor slain by Jondm Sparkytaco Tryfaen Azog Terrorist
[02:28:46] Gary slain by Exor Kings Vessa Cndo Jaycz Kirtah Curv Olloch Amberain Bagsecg
[02:29:15] Ownage slain by Sparkytaco Tryfaen Azog Terrorist
I know those names mean nothing to you, but thats a mix bag of 12 Mol Rehan vs A mix bag (and in terms of pvp ability equal footed with MR) of 14 Jenn-Kellon. JK pulled out a big win despite many names having this being their introduction to PvP. This isn't an elitists battlefield, new people matter. There was many sub-50fs people there.