About the Dire Maul North; You may kill the king and still raise your weapon skills.
Just don't get the king-debuff, so mobs will remain red to you.
However, You can't attack them and they won't attack you anymore. (Only a few exceptions, some Gordok Reavers under the ramp still have bad feelings for you, if they attack you, just slain them)
Then find a pack with Gordok Warlock, and you can go level your weapon skills to his pet, Doomguard. It won't lose any HP, and resets in like every second when you stop beating it. Rest of the pack just doesn't care what are you doing there ^^
edit: Gordok Spirits doesnt increase weapon skills any longer, though Doomguards does ^^