So with the removal of weapon skill as a itemization stat, has their been any change to the miss rate vs mobs of higher level?

Previously it was:

Lv 70: 5%
71: 5.5%
72: 6%
73: 9%

This was due to the complicated weapon skill formula, and its wierdness when moving from 10 weapon skill below the target's defense to 11.

Does this still work the same as before or not?

I observed a miss rate of > ~7.2% last night when tossing an Avenger's Shield at Veras Darkshadow with Precision and 58 hit rating, and missing. So I would presume it's still 9% for boss mobs.

A warrior in my guild was noticing misses on bosses with his two hander with 9.2% chance to hit.

Then again, he also said he was getting parries while attacking from behind on Mother (when she wasnt turned to cast something).

Has anyone done any research on how much hit rating warriors need to not miss taunts?

from the 2.3 notes:
I would assume the same as normal missrate (being 8.7%?), but I havent seen any conclusive tests on it.

This sounds doubly wrong. Unless I'm missing something or just flat out wrong myself, what your warrior guildmate claimed shouldn't be happening.

Unless of course he was debuffed or the mob/boss was 'special' somehow and has higher defense or a higher chance to be missed, etc. And noone else has noticed getting parried from behind unless the mobs turn around to do something.

This can have been a combination of him repositioning himself and lag. I have seen a backstab parried in our WWS logs aswell a few times in the past.

It's my understanding that:

1. Weapon skill still has the same effects as before, but since you can no longer increase it past the current cap of 350 via any items or talents, the only possible effect it can have is if your weapon skill is not maxed out.

2. Taunt/Growl/Righteous Defense has been changed to be affected by hit rating, which means it has a 9% chance to be resisted by a level 73 mob, the same chance to miss with a white attack when wielding a 1H+shield or a 2H weapon. The Precision talents (Paladin Protection, Warrior Fury) can reduce this chance by 3%.

It'll be interesting to see if Improved Faerie Fire has an effect on it as well.

Are you sure on that? All that was said was that Taunt is affect by melee hit now, not the cap for it to land was lowered. Still could be a 16% miss rate, but affect by melee hit instead of spell hit now.

I'll try to test it further when I have the time, but I spent a couple of hours using RD while wearing my hit-capped Ret set and never got a resist (it's really confusing whether I should say "resist" or "miss" now).

It seems unlikely that they would retain the old resist/miss rate, given that the spell hit mechanic would still leave a 1% chance to miss, and the whole point of changing it was for encounters like Nalorakk, where the strategy revolves around seamless tank transitions via Taunt, and a single miss can prove disastrous.

Theoretically, Taunt should now behave identically to Sap: because it does no damage, it cannot be dodged or parried, the only possible outcomes are miss or hit.