I've been using Skritter and Anki as studying/learning tools since August which have been very helpful by way of learning character and word definitions (and of course everything else this site offers).

A problem I am running into however, has been that though the comprehension and proper pronunciation of the characters is there, I am still unable to communicate with other people (I can semi understand what they're saying, but cannot think of a response). Is there any conversational books/methods other people have used that they may be willing to shed some light on for me?

Any suggestions would be great and much appreciated,
Thanks!

Of course there a tons of learning materials, from "oldfashioned" textbooks to modern online classes.
Skritter (or any other Spaced Repitition tool) can never replace conventional learning, it "only" supports learning vocabulary. It will never teach you grammar and listening & pronouncation is just more efficient to learn another way.

For online resources u might wanna checkout hackingchinese.com, there you can find many links sorted by levels and types, some free, some not.

However to any beginner I'd always recommend taking actual classes, because i think most people not used to tonal languages need a (native speaking) teacher to learn pronouncation properly. Bad habits will carry on and are hard to adjust later on. At least for myself i can't imagine how i should have learned this without a teacher.

One of the best things you can do is talk with a native speaker. I often make friend dates to drink tea and talk, and even go over Skritter stuff- they can let you know how to use the words correctly or even if Chinese people actually say them often. Usually if you ask nicely, most native speakers will be happy to help you learn!

Vocabulary accumulation is only one facet of language learning. Knowing words is one thing, knowing how to use the word (and form sentences in general) is another.

You can extend this notion to the four major areas of language proficiency: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. You may initially believe (as I did) that if you can read and listen well, then you will be able to write and speak well. You really need to practice all four areas. If you neglect to practice in one area, you cannot expect to be able to do it well just because you have ability in the other three areas. This has been my experience, at least. I would also like to recommend the new blog article that was just posted, as it outlines the potential problem of focusing too heavily on vocabulary accumulation: http://blog.skritter.com/2014/11/tending-your-vocabulary-garden.html

Thank you everyone for your helpful tips and advice! Sdstefan, that is definitely true, I have quite a few friends from mainland China, the biggest problem lays more so in forming sentences to converse so that they can help me rather than the words singularly.

You can try chinesepod or popup chinese as well to try to get familiar with spoken chinese, and also as someone said before it is essential to take classes with a native speaker (specially in the beginning).
Good luck !