At what level would you consider a PC's starting skills to be compared to an NPC? By this, I mean, is a 0 day warrior PC moderately skilled at all or are they at the bottom of the barrel?
I think it would be unfair to compare yourself to an NPC.
The NPCs have been there longer than you sometimes.
I mean, just because it's an NPC doesn't mean it isn't a hard as nails Lieutenant with 30 years of rough desert and combat training...
I think there are a lot of people who want to play the veteran but not play getting to be the veteran.
First off, NPC skills can certainly vary greatly. A senior noble's NPC body-guard is probably going to be more skilled than many veteran warrior PCs.
If you mean compared to an absolutely un-skilled base NPC, then yes, a PC warrior is going to win. A 0-day PC warrior will also beat a 0-day PC of any other guild in combat, all other things being equal.
In the scale completely unskilled character to maxed-out warrior, though, PC warriors still start very close to the bottom.