I recently built a "Generic" 7x warrior-type figure to illustrate how different skills can enhance your damage output (or damage avoidance). I ran each character through a relatively predictable environment (North Newbie Dungeon (Ettens, Ogres, Trolls, Orc Captains)) for 1-hour and used the Damage Tracker to record my results. While testing, I always had a mob on me, usually more than one, so I was pretty much constantly swinging for the full hour. Each template starts out with a fresh weapon and armor (since weapon damage degrades with their durability.) I used only GM Iron armor and weapon (plain lumber for the staff weapon). I chose a 2-handed weapon because the Lumberjack enhancements only adds damage to axes and I wanted to keep the templates consistent in their weapon choice.
Base Template: Axe Warrior
~ Build that includes only the basic, "complete" combat elements of Anatomy, Arms Lore, Tactics, Parry, Healing, and Weapons Specialty (7th skill for base was Hiding, which I switched out for the "Enhancement Skills."
Enhancement: Lumberjack
[size=medium]~ Increases damage with Axe weapons against creatures by (20% + (Lumberjacking Skill / 100))[/size]
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Enhancement: Camping
[size=medium]~ [size=medium]A player visiting a secure campfire site that they created themselves receive a melee and spell damage bonus against creatures of (20% * (Camping Skill / 100)) for the next 20 minutes[/size][/size]
[size=medium][size=medium]~ I set campfires every 15 minutes to ensure the bonus was always in effect.[/size][/size]
[size=medium][size=medium][/size][/size]
Enhancement: Forensic Evaluation
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When a player carves a creature's corpse, they will gain a Slayer damage bonus and Slayer Barding bonus against that creature's Slayer Type for the next 12 hours
~ [size=medium]The maximum Forensic Eval Slayer damage bonus that can be achieved against each Slayer Type is (15% * (Forensic Eval Skill / 100)) which is equivalent to a Lesser Slayer Weapon[/size]
[size=medium]~ All creatures in the test were of the same Slayer Type. It took 14 minutes to maximize my bonus (from 0% to 15%), after which I started the timer.[/size]
Enhancement: Tracking
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Players receive a (20% * (Tracking Skill / 100)) damage bonus against their Marked creature target
~I had "Hunting Mode, Current Combatant" active, so the damage bonus was always applied to the target I was currently fighting.
The final "enhancement" in this test is Mining, which increases damage output on Mace weapons. Since it is a different weapon type (with a different "special" attack), I ran a baseline first.
[size=large]Base Template: Mace Warrior[/size]
~ I opted to use a Staff in keeping with my "2-handed weapon requirement." By Outlands design, Mace weapons have a "narrower" window of damage. Where the axe base damage ranges from 13-40, the staff base damage ranges from 18-38. More info on weapon damage consistency can be found in these patch notes: http://forums.uooutlands.com/showthread.php?tid=450
Enhancement: Mining
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Increases damage with Macing weapons against creatures by (20% * (Mining Skill / 100))
One final item I was interesting in testing during this run was the impact of Parry vs No Parry.
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Chance to parry a melee attack is (50% * (Parrying Skill / 100))
~ [size=medium]Successfully parrying an attack from a creature will reduces its damage by 75%[/size]
[size=medium]~ It should be no surprise that I found Parry has a significant impact on how well a person can tank, there were times it was difficult staying alive. Over the course of one hour, I absorbed nearly double the damage without Parry.[/size]
[size=medium]~ Additionally, because I was getting hit much more often, I fatigued more quickly, which slowed down my swings, resulting in less overall damage to mobs.[/size]
Base Template: Axe Warrior, NO PARRY
PARTING THOUGHTS:
~ "
Harvesting" enhancements (Lumberjack, Mining, Forensic Eval) can be tedious and time consuming, and take a very long time to master, but you receive tangible returns for your investment (logs, ore, hides).
~
Camping is essentially "free" in that you just need to have a hatchet to supply yourself enough kindling to level and use the skill. Camping also allows you to Hike to destinations in your World Atlas base on your skill. Camping is also a "community" skill, in that others in your party can benefit from your campfire (at a reduced percentage).
~
Tracking is completely free, and can be fine-tuned based on need (i.e. it can be used to locate other players, or Paragon creatures, etc.)
~
Mace weapons seem to consistently deal more damage. This is most likely due to their "special attack." Special attacks for specific weapon types (Macing, Swordsmanship, Archery, Fencing) can be found in the skills summary entry here: http://forums.uooutlands.com/showthread.php?tid=368
~ The importance of
Parry should not be overlooked if you plan on building a character that will be face-to-face with an adversary.
One Final Inclusion: LOOT!
Exactly 8 hours spent killing Orcs, Ettins, Trolls, and Ogres left me with the following haul:
- 19,861 Gold
- 50 various gems
- 2 Expertly Drawn Treasure Maps
- 3 Magic Spellbooks (Charged Might, Charged, Simple Ruin)
- 2 Wands (Harm of Lesser Humanoid Slaying, Harm of Lesser Construct Slaying)
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Weapons:
-- Surpassingly Accurate Quarter Staff
-- Ruin Short Spear
-- Substantial Ruin War Fork
-- Substantial Accurate Ruin Double Axe
-- Ruin Broadsword
-- 2 Hammer Picks: (Accurate, Ruin)
-- 2 Bows: (Ruin, Durable Accurate)
-- 3 X-Bows: (Ruin, Accurate Might, Durable Accurate Ruin)
-- 2 Heavy X-Bows: (Accurate Might, Durable Accurate)
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Music Instruments:
-- 2 Lutes: (Durable Melodist X2)
-- 2 Drums: (Melodist X2)
-- 2 Harps: (Melodist X2)
-- 2 Tambourines: (Melodist, Durable Melodist)
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Armor:
-- Head: (Durable Defense Ringmail Helm, Defense Platemail Helm, Defense Studded Cap)
-- Neck: (Defense Ringmail Gorget, Defense Bone Gorget, Durable Defense Bone Gorget)
-- Arms: (Defense Bone Arms, Defense Chainmail Arms, Defense Ringmail Arms)
-- Hands: (Defense Chainmail Gloves)
-- Chest: (Defense Bone Chest, Durable Guarding Leather Chest)
-- Legs: (Durable Guarding Bone Legs, Substantial Guarding Leather Shorts)
-- Skirts: (Durable Defense Leather, Defense Ringmail X2, Defense Leather)
-- Shields: (Durable Defense Buckler, Defense Bronze, Durable Defense Bronze, Substantial Defense Metal)
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From Forensic Eval:
-- 1157 Leather, 12 Dullhide, 4 Shadowhide, 4 Copperhide, 8 Rosehide, 3 Valehide, 609 Raw Ribs, 4 Raw Ham, and 1 Raw Meat Shank
Hopefully someone finds this information helpful for making decisions while building their characters. Thanks, and have fun! 
I don't mind the slow climb though. Also, I picked lore over tactics I suppose because I felt I needed the boost to durability-loss resistance. Durability is a real factor, and I needed to save as much gold as possible (having to buy less equipment is a plus!) It increases the chance for me to cause bleed, so it was a fair deal I thought. 
