Yeah, civil abilities aren't very exciting and easy to access. If there weren't item bonuses galore for civil abilities it'd be slightly better, but even without items, you'll probably have all but one or two abilities maxed out between all your characters. Sneaking and Telekinesis aren't very good, so that's not much of a loss anyway. We'll see if they add a crafting ability or anything else, though crafting is tough since it's probably just as amazing as it was in the first game and basically mandatory.
Combat skills will have slightly higher ability requirements for certain skills, at least up to 3, but hard to say how much higher they will go.
