The word we got on the Skill points is that they are times a specific un-named multiplier that gets added to all of your final boosted stats - then there is the "random" multiplier added or subtracted after ALL that.
For argument's sake: Say your boosted Attack is 50k going up against someone with a boosted defense of 50k.
The attacker has say 90 to attack skill points and lets say the defender has a defense skill point accumulation of 110.
For our example - lets assume the multiplier is 500 - so ADD 45,000 to the attacker and 55,000 to the defender - so NOW the battle stats are 95k attack against 105k Defense
BUT WAIT: Now there is this TOTALLY RANDOM percent wheel that spins independently for each player - so for our example - lets say the attacker gets a -10% and the defender gets a +25%
So for the first battle - the end result is 85,500 attack against 125,125 defense and the defender WINS!
On the second battle - the RANDOM spin yields a + 30% to the attacker and a -20% to the defender for a final battle result of 123,500 and the defender ends up with 84,000 and this time the attacker wins.
THIS is the way i comprehended what Mark told us and my math is off the top of my head so forgive me if I'm off a little - but you get the point that the Skill points DO matter - but there is this "random" multiplier with each and every attack independently for each player that can totally change the end result.
Wheww - now chew on that for a minute and lets see some 5000 character analysis