Regardless, I personally would like to see combat become more deadly and skill-oriented, but I can definitely see how this would cause the game to go away from its RPG roots.
I think that's what a lot of developers/fans think, but I find it to be quite the contrary. ie, if you die in two hits, there's not enough "number crunching" it's just an action title.
A fully armored knight with with high STR and END would probably not think twice about starting a fight to the death, and he can probably best most opponents. Even if he takes a dozen hits, his armor protects him very well, not to mention his blocking skill.
A lightly armed assassin or ranger however, would probably want to start from a distant, get an arrow or thrown weapon off to even the odds. Or sneak up quietly and do a backstab (we have gotten these, but they rarely took out Goblin Warlords)
Magicians would have to rely on spells such as levitate, invisibility, paralyze, sanctuary.