You don't need many more points than what can be gained in the first few hours for things to not feel cumbersome. Everything after that is just a bonus.

I didn't die much, but that meant bigger losses because the penalty scaled as a percentage of your total XP. But I didn't care one bit. I was just content to know that they were more inclined to rise rather than fall if I didn't give them any attention. Not once did I feel like any form of setback came down to a lack of skill points. They are nowhere near the game changers that food and gear are.

It would take an impressive amount of deaths to never be able to keep hold of those first few hours of XP.