Forum poster Exodeus has made a suggestion that I heartily endorse: abandon the weapon skill mechanic for a universal weapon mastery system. It's not just for the reasons he suggests that I'm on board. His examples (of a hunter having to go AFK on Dr. Boom after getting a new gun drop because he's always used bows, or a rogue having to mindlessly slaughter low level mobs to get that dagger skill up) resonate for sure... we have a talented DPS warrior in my guild who had to go buy a green 2h axe because he hadn't used one since the old Arcanite Reaper days and he was supposed to be using the 2h legendary in the Kael fight, so I know how ridiculous the skilling up process can be... but because his suggestion makes sense in light of all the other ways the folks at Blizzard are unifying things like spell power, hit rating, crit rating and so on. His point about how the introduction of Expertise effectively made the whole system obsolete is dead on in my eyes.

I personally even like his proposed mechanic, but adopting it wouldn't be necessary: I'd be fine if they simply abandoned weapon skill entirely and just based everything on your character level to start with (so that if you were a level 80 paladin and you got a new hammer, you'd automatically hit with it as if you had a 400 weapon skill, no muss, no fuss) if you're dead set on keeping things simple. No matter how they go about it, since training dummies still don't provide weapon skill on use, I'd have to believe that some change or revamp of the system would be a very nice improvement to the gameplay. Getting a nice drop shouldn't send you into the Blasted Lands to find Servants of Razelikh. Those poor guys -- not only are they cursed to be unable to die, but they get smacked in the head by guys way higher level then they are all day. It's a hard life being an unkillable mob.

If Blizzard was a pixie one could make wishes to, this would definitely be one of mine. Also, I'd try and keep them safe from Captain Hook.

If you play a melee or physical damage class or spec that is not a Feral Druid, you have probably experienced this most excruciating of mechanics that is the leveling of class weaponry skill.

We all know the tale: You find a spiffy new weapon, you go out and use it, and find that your damage is abysmal. Then you realize it. Your skill with this weapon is 1! Thus, you're forced to go trudge off to find some grey or green mobs to solo and thwack mindlessly for a few hours until you can finally get some decent damage out of the supposed "upgrade" that you were so pumped to get a few minutes prior.

One of the ways people have made this strange little grind somewhat bearable is by using the servants out in the Blasted Lands. Because they can't die from normal weapon strikes, you can simply set yourself in front of one and swing away. If you're max level or if you have a self-healing proc or ability, you can spend a long time just wailing away mindlessly at the guy, leaving one eye on the screen while you do other things. Some people have even been so ambitious as to drag one of them to Stormwind for a skilling up free-for-all in the trade district.

Unfortunately, it looks like the ride's over. People are reporting that the Servants are no longer giving skill ups, even after 10 minutes of wailing away on the mob. There's no blue post confirming or denying the change as of this writing, but if it's in, it would seem to be deliberate.

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Having the right weapon can make a world of difference in a players leveling experience. Last time on WoW Rookie, we looked at the types of weapons that each class can use and where to train the skill for them. Now just because you can use a weapon, doesn't mean you should. This week we'll examine what to look for in a weapon.

It's pretty important to keep your hands full. You have a four weapon slots at the bottom of your character sheet: Main Hand, Off Hand, Ranged, and Ammunition. Two handed weapons take up both the main hand and off hand slots. The off hand may hold a weapon if your class can dual weild, a shield, or an off hand item that either adds to your attributes or looks cool (such as Bouquet of Red Roses or a Dark Iron Tankard.) I recommend something useful when adventuring, though it's fun to see what folks come up with when roaming the city.

I am a terrible leveler. I started playing back in January 2007, and in all that time have managed to produce a single 70. Admittedly, I think she's a very good 70 and she stays busy, but you would think that nearly 1 1/2 years would be a sufficient period of time to level another class to the endgame. Guess not.

Lately I've been trying to fix this and have gone back to leveling a few alts. While talking to a friend last night about his propensity for leveling alts at the approximate speed of an SR-71, it occurred to me that I have two warriors, only one of whom has leveled quickly. The other just can't seem to fill up the XP bar. Obviously there's no class difference to cite as a possible reason, so I started thinking about what affects the leveling speed of an alt, and why I've got so many unsuccessful ones littering the character selection screen:

Mania posted about a tip from Lienna about spamming Wing Clip to powerlevel weapon skill, and I've confirmed that yes, as long as you wait for the global cooldown (obviously), you an spam Wing Clip and you'll receive weapon skill ups for those hits. Though I didn't try it with any abilities, I'd assume that it works for any instant melee hit (Sunder Armor jumps to mind). Of course, you not only have to worry about hitting whatever it is you choose to hit, but you also have to worry about killing it-- I did have to step back and finish off the mob with my hunter's bow.

So it seems hunters can level their weapon skills a little faster than other classes. And why shouldn't they? They have a lot more weapons to skill up, and it's not like melee weapon skill matters much to hunters anyway, except at the very limits of min-maxing. A melee hit is a melee hit-- if hunters get to hit more often, then they get to level weapon skill faster, too.