One man's "magic" is another man's engineering.

And I should have looked into this particular magic a long time ago: at level 40, in fact.

I've finally succumbed to the temptation to swap professions. From levels 1 to 40, leatherworking was great, because I could gear myself well with items I made. But the drop-off after 40, when I began to wear chain mail, was precipitous. I haven't made anything personally useful in ages. When I can deck myself from head to toe in epic gear with PvP rewards alone, there's just no compelling reason to keep leatherworking as a profession.

I want stun bombs and rocket launchers. I want teleporters and goggles. At level 60 I think I've more than adequately demonstrated the viability of melee-only hunting as a levelling path. I'm hungry to grow my repertoire beyond the handful of attacks I have now. Engineering won't pave my way from 60 to 70, but it might keep me entertained enough to actually get there.

For the nonce I'll keep skinning, but trade leatherworking for mining. The skinning/mining combo should enable me to make a nice profit from materials as I level mining. Once my mining is levelled up adequately to power level my engineering, I'll drop skinning and complete the transition.

This presents an interesting problem in terms of roleplay, too. How can somebody not dexterous enough to use a gun negotiate a gyromatic micro-adjuster? I may need to find a sympathetic gnome willing to craft a handicapped-friendly version.