CoQ has a steep learning curve with the combat. There are some things to learn that are really not obvious. Building a new character is a complicated process and it's easy to mess up and make a character that seriously struggles in the early game. It took me about a hundred hours of play before I got a quasi-win (reached the end of the quest line as they've written it so far).

You can play characters which avoid combat to a large extent, in quite a few different ways. You can get so good at talking to people that you can get some extremely powerful allies to do all the fighting for you. You can also tinker up some really powerful automated turrets that will clear enemies no problem, and use force fields to protect yourself from attack. You can also avoid combat to a considerable extent by picking up some wilderness lore.

Having said all that, combat is a major part of the game, just as it is in most roguelikes.