... what the deal is with Weapon Skill? I realise this is dangerously close to "Waaahhh the gaem is to hard!!1!", but I honestly don't understand why this mechanic is still in the game.

We are, for all intents and purposes, heroic warriors. We've been trained to be the best. At level 80, we get into small groups and annihilate entire armies. We kill Gods, slaughter Dragons, and generally tear s**t up.

See that Warrior over there? The Night Elf? With the two huge swords? The guy that's holding a weapon that you can barely lift in one hand? Well, he's just got two new axes! They are HUGE. But hey, it's all good! We know he's strong, we know he can wield two blades better than most people can wield one, and well, you saw him parry that giant's attack and then cut him open didn't you? Imagine the damage he could do with those axes! Let's watch him destroy that group of Scourge over there, it'll be awesome!

Oh wait.

Suddenly, for no reason whatsoever, this slayer of Gods, killer of Dragons, the Immortal Night Elf, has become mind-numbingly incompetent. Drool has started leaking from the corners of his eyes, he barely has the strength to stand up, and he appears to be flailing his arms around like an epileptic at a strobe lighting show. All he did was pick up a new weapon. And to look at him, you'd have to assume that he either suffers from sort of cerebral palsy or has never ever been in any kind of combat situation before today. Despite having just picked up said axes from a giant testicle covered in teeth, which, by the way, he got the killing blow on.

Surely I can't be the only one who finds weapon skill to be a bit stupid?

Again peoples asking for something to be removed from the game...and its weapon skill, such a simple thing and easily maximized, you can get from 0-400 in one heroic run to be honest, but peoples will always find something to QQ about.

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Q u o t e:
It is somewhat unrealistic to the point that if you pick up a new weapon you can't hit ANYTHING with it.

I mean, I have no weapon training whatsoever but I could take a pickaxe out of the garage and split a skull with it.

Having said that, it all depends what you're fighting against.

Fully trained soldiers? Sure. They'd be able to avoid every swing in one way or another. But a boar? Seriously?

*Sigh*

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Said boars carry purple swords and copper pants, I don't see why you should be able to hit them.

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Q u o t e:


Fully trained soldiers? Sure. They'd be able to avoid every swing in one way or another. But a boar? Seriously?

*Sigh*

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They are fully trained boars.

Just think about it: one boar from Northerd could kill all Lakeshire guards for example (who are trained, I guess).

all i would ask is that we can level weapon skills on training dummies - thats what they are there for right? you know, training

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Q u o t e:
It is somewhat unrealistic to the point that if you pick up a new weapon you can't hit ANYTHING with it.

I mean, I have no weapon training whatsoever but I could take a pickaxe out of the garage and split a skull with it.

Having said that, it all depends what you're fighting against.

Fully trained soldiers? Sure. They'd be able to avoid every swing in one way or another. But a boar? Seriously?

*Sigh*

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Remember this level of realism next time you rub your hands together for a few seconds and teleport to another city. Or carry 20 stacks or ore, two sets of gear, loads of bandages and potions without it affecting your movement speed. Or come back to life.

Seriously are you complaining about lack of realism?

In a game where cities fly, gnomes tank Ragnaros, the dead walk, mages fart fireballs... You choose to pick down on weapon skill?

Needing to skill up weapons is needed in the same way a 5000g price tag is needed on 280 mounts - without the required effort things would get boring even faster in this game!

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Q u o t e:
It is somewhat unrealistic to the point that if you pick up a new weapon you can't hit ANYTHING with it.

I mean, I have no weapon training whatsoever but I could take a pickaxe out of the garage and split a skull with it.

Having said that, it all depends what you're fighting against.

Fully trained soldiers? Sure. They'd be able to avoid every swing in one way or another. But a boar? Seriously?

*Sigh*

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If we are talking aboug what makes sense, then boars is bad example, a real boar would not stand still and fight. It runs around and charges a lot.

Regarding not being able to hit anything at first? Well, to start with in the game, you get the skill points VERY fast when you are beginning a new weapon, it doesn't take many minutes before you are able to use it properly. It just takes a bit longer to master it. It all seems logical to me.

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Q u o t e:


Because auto attacking something for 10 minutes is fun.

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No I meant that we need to feel we have put effort into something for the reward to mean anything.

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Q u o t e:
Again peoples asking for something to be removed from the game...and its weapon skill, such a simple thing and easily maximized, you can get from 0-400 in one heroic run to be honest, but peoples will always find something to QQ about.

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Oh, I'm not saying it should be removed. It just makes no sense as it is. As other people below you have said, any idiot can pick up something sharp and hurt someone, but when a fully trained combatant can't hit the local wildlife, well... something just isn't right is it?

As someone else has said, you should be able to level it up on training dummies.

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Q u o t e:
Seriously are you complaining about lack of realism?

In a game where cities fly, gnomes tank Ragnaros, the dead walk, mages fart fireballs... You choose to pick down on weapon skill?

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That's irrelevant, really. Yeah, cities fly. It's magic. That's what the game is about, more or less. I can suspend disbelief enough to accept a Gnome tanking; it doesn't say anywhere that their strength matches their size. But it seems illogical to give us these amazing characters that can do anything, and then say "oh yeah, but if you think you're hitting anything with that there sword, matey boy, I've got bad news for you".

There are plenty of other things that seem a bit off with WoW, but none of them affect the enjoyability as much as Weapon Skill.

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Q u o t e:


We are, for all intents and purposes, heroic warriors. We've been trained to be the best.

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This.

How exactly are you trained if you have no skill?...

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Q u o t e:
I don't like drawing comparisons from the real world in order to justify something in a fantasy game, but I'm merely going with the theme from your post. :)

The worlds most skilled swordsman are not so skilled when it comes to wielding axes in combat. They would have to hone their skill to become competent at wielding axes in combat effectively.

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While I fully support your point, I was under the impression that one of the news heard during last Blizzcon was that Weapon Skill is going to be removed/changed in Cataclysm.

Am I wrong?

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Q u o t e:


This.

How exactly are you trained if you have no skill?...

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I know what I'm thinking but I can't put it into words. I'll give it a go anyway. The thing is, when you're trained/skilled in a weapon, it's sensible to assume that you have some proficiency with weapons as a whole. Like, using a sword, while different from an axe, is similar enough that you'd be able to use an axe if/when it comes to it. You wouldn't be very good, but you'd still be able to hit stuff, albeit badly.

Something that would make it a bit less... niggling, I suppose, is if you gained 5 or 10 skill points in every weapon as you levelled, provided you had skill with another weapon of the same type. So if you have skill with one handed swords, as you level, you gain passive skill with one handed axes. Not enough that you wouldn't have to skill it up to max manually, but enough that it's obvious that you aren't someone with no hand eye coordination.

In case you're wondering by the way, I'm writing all this crap whilst skilling up my 2 handed maces in Hellfire.

I'm not bitter.

To me it doesn't matter much whether it is realistic or not. On one hand it makes sense that one has to train with a new weapon type to use it effectively. On the other hand we already have precedence for instant ability training with our skills; if I can 'master' the ability to bash people with my shield with one mouseclick and 10 silver, it makes sense that I can master one-handed axes with a mouseclick and 10 silver as well.

Realism is malleable, and the real concerns IMHO are more about game mechanics. To me weapon training is a quality of life issue; it is not very hard, but it is really annoying and takes some of the fun out of acquiring a new item.

Come patch 4.0 where our abilities will supposedly improve instantly as we level instead of having ranks at the trainer, it would be nice to see the same happen for weapon skill.

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Q u o t e:


While I fully support your point, I was under the impression that one of the news heard buring last Blizzcon was that Weapon Skill is going to be removed/changed in Cataclysm.

Am I wrong?

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You are yes. Nothing has been said about weapon skill.



Anyway, I personally also don't see why weapon skill remains. There's nothing exciting or interesting about having to level your weapon skills. There is no challenge to it. It just takes time, and until you get with ~15 of the cap, you're also pretty much completely useless if you're a weapon using class. Basically, I always level it by myself because I'd feel bad about getting dragged along by a group just because I need to level my weapon skill.

People also always go through trouble to find places where they can level weapon skills with the minimum amount of interaction needed. It's also silly that the speed you train weapon skills seems to be a class based, some classes seem to get their weapon skills up extremely easily, yet others get it up very slowly.

The fact of the matter is that even the explanation Ancilorn gives doesn't really hold. If you've mastered one type of weapon, you typically at least know the basics of using other weapon types. In WoW though, you're always completely useless with the weapon until you've used it.

The biggest, most important question though: Where's the fun in weapon skill?

What about paladins not being able to weild a dagger, or even hold a staff. A hunter doesn't even know how to pick up a mace even :)