Well, it was my understanding that weapon range doesn't directly relate to perception. Meaning that you can use a long range weapon with help of a scout. Unless I'm wrong ...
Weapon skill does also now contribute to hit chance, but only at half the effectiveness of dexterity. Weapon skill also contributes to crit and dmg output, as you say.
That, combined with the rest of the posts in this thread, is about the gist of it.