"The only reason you notice the Repair icon change but not the Skill and Trait icons is because of it's location. You've trained yourself."
Exactly. IMNSHO, an auto save reminder should have a similar style and location as the damaged equipment symbol, since they both require relatively urgent attention. The skill/stat buttons change so you know there are un-spent points, but it doesn't really matter if or when they get used (though there is not much reason to save up many stat points).
