I was looking at templates for a merc (not too costly) and I ran across one that had capped stats/resists/+11 dw/+11 parry/ but only +7 weapon skill. If I decided to use that temp, I would just switch out the weapon skill with either parry or dw (so I'd have +11 weapon, and either +7 dw or parry). My question is, which skill should I drop down to 7? dual wield or parry and why? and how much would only having +7 skill versus +11 hurt me (if any)?

If i where u i would drop parry skill... 4 skillpoints are appr. 2% parrychance which isnt too much since merc is an offtank.

Lowering weapon/dw would slightly decrease your dps. dw cause it would reduce the chance to hit with offhand and weapon cause your weaponskill would be lowered which would make it harder to hit enemys and lowering your base dmg (if u dont hit 50/51 weapon with your spec..when u have slam spec for example).