What role did the players weapon skill have in combat. It seems that people put a lot of emphasis on it and choose a race based on the weapon skill racial. Does having a +5 sword specialization really give human warriors that big of an advantage over other races? From what I understood, having a high weapon skill just meant that you missed and parried less and made contact more.
What about PvP? in BGs, I don’t think weapon skills mattered right? only in world PvP?
Ultimately, do you think that weapon skills provide a big enough advantage to where I should play a race that I don’t necessarily want to play just to get that +5 advantage?
Thanks.
Edgemaster’s Handguards
Item Level 49
Binds when equipped
Hands Mail
201 Armor
Durability 50 / 50
Requires Level 44
Equip: [Increased Axes +7.]
Equip: [Increased Daggers +7.]
Equip: [Increased Swords +7.]
BiS Fury Warrior.
Weapon Skill really only significantly matters at level cap. But once you are there, it really matters. More hits = more chances for just about every good thing to happen.
But keep in mind, weapon skill does not matter for casters, or druids.
To put this in the simplest of terms:
You get 5 points per level. That includes defense and your weapon of choice. If you have 10 points in swords and are fighting a mob with 10 defense, then you’re on “equal” footing. If your race gives +5, then that means you can attack a mob as if you were a level higher. At 60, this determines how much damage you do relative to the enemy’s defense and such. It’s the same with the defense skill.
I tried to oversimplify and still make sense. You’re swinging as if you’re a level higher with every 5 points 
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For melee damage classes, a 5 skill bonus is incredibly valuable. Rogues get 5-10 handed to them on a plate, but warriors must work for theirs. You’re either going to be human/orc, or saving up for an edgemaster. Some weapons, like maladath, can provide skill, but you won’t always have these. The glove is never obsolete for someone with no skill bonus.
For ranged, skill is just a perk, not something you really need. Arrows do not glance/dodge, so all skill does is buff hit/crit, and not by a huge amount. You can already hit cap without any skill, so you don’t need it. It’s nice to have, but you’re not going to downgrade your weapon for it. Gun skill is pretty much worthless at 60 due to the absence of guns. Bow has a few good options, but sometimes the best weapon (including the best weapon of the game) is a crossbow.
you should take a look at the glancing hit mechanic, which is mostly affected by weaponskill
not sure on the numbers(!), but it makes up about 40% of your white hits and will reduce the damage to 70% or so.
also effects hit (maybe even parry/dodge/block of your enemy and crit of you, not sure on this!)
if you google it you will find the info you are looking for
PVE is all that matters.
The game was made off Pve, only reason pvp even exists was players dueling outside Tristram in Diablo ll. Like it or not, I’m right.
Except WC2 and 3 had excellant PVP for the time and they wanted to bring that into the game.If wow was only supposed to be a pve game they would have never had 2 factions.
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The game was made off both Pvp and Pve at the same time… blizz has always made pvp+pve games and all the best mmo’s have been PvP mmo’s so to say an MMO was made of PvE first is wrong. The PVenvironment might have been made first but the PvP was the driving force.
Once WoW lost it’s PvP scene (tournaments every week/month) is when the game shifted more heavily towards PVE.
There was a periodic statement early on that would make its way into blue posts about wow being a PVE game first and foremost and that they do not balance classes for 1v1 pvp. The main reason the vanilla pvp rewards were as they are is they didn’t believe an arena style pvp game was a fair test of skill due to how unbalanced classes were.
It’s a huge deal. I clearly remember in Vanilla (I cleared every raid 100%, Naxx included) Non human melee players cursing their choice not to be human because I as the Human Fury warrior and the human rogues were always on top. If you are human swords/maces you need 6% hit to never miss a yellow attack on a boss, non humans need 9%. In addition, humans get fewer glancing blows. If being a purple Trix Rabbit or ugly Midget is that important to you, just know you will never be as good as a human in melee. Even if you use Edge Masters, you are still at disadvantage because a human can be wearing gloves that give more AP and crit or hit.
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It depends how competitive you are. If you absolutely need to be at the top of DPS meters, then yeah, it’s probably a big deal. However if you want to just play the game and have a good time, it shouldn’t even be considered when creating your character.
How did they affect combat?
Well when you hit level 15 and suddenly found a new weapon that was a different type than you used to level up, you have to spend 30 minutes leveling that weapon skill up so that you could use it!
It was great!
I remember my 48 Druid tank missing a lot of attacks with my new 2handed mace I got in the instance. My skill was very low in it.
Seems like the logical solution would have been to shapeshift into bear so your weapon skill was not a problem anymore…
i was in bear form… I also remmber my old one broke and i was not doing much… Maybe that was my issue,.
So glad I am playing a druid and dont have to worry about.
Wand skill needs to be leveled as well