After countless gold spent on respecs and re-glyphs, I have achieved Dual Spec harmony. In my quest for Patch 3.1 enlightenment, I have chosen to leave the troubled ways of Beast Mastery behind. I struggled with my inner doubts and questioned my devotion to the Tree of Nerfitude. In the end, I unlearned all of the teachings that I once held sacred and stepped boldly into worlds that were largely a mystery to me. As a result, I have re-awoken on a higher plane of Huntery existence…
Alright, lol… enough of the celestial roleplaying. I kicked the BM Tree to the curb.
It was a tough choice, but not a difficult decision to make. Although it was rough for me to give up Beast Mastery, I am a Hunter first and foremost, not a Beast Mastery Hunter.
I’ve always chosen Beast Mastery for my primary talent tree, but no more. While I respect those that keep the BM fire burning and play the spec to its fullest, this Hunter has had it. Well, as I’d said before, at least until they fix what’s wrong with it.
Shortly after my full circle journey through various talent specs, I wound up coming back to what was familiar, Beast Mastery. I’d thought, who am I kidding… I love this tree and it’s the only one I want to dive deep enough within. However, during those experiments with MM and SV I’d seen some things that made me long for something more. For instance, being a winner.
I don’t care how you slice it, right now Beast Mastery flat out sucks. There, I said it. This saddens me, because it’s the tree I’ve always held near and dear. Sure there are players, like myself, that can go into a BG, arena or Raid and show people that BMs can still dish it. Yet, no matter how well you play your BM spec or how hard you try, chances are I’ll smoke you in DPS as MM, and melt your face in arena as SV.
Beast Mastery is fantastic for solo questing and farming, but at level 80, that eventually becomes less important as you get closer to endgame. Because BM is not really ideal for either of my endgame pursuits, I had to abandon it, along with one of my cherished pets. 
Since I am our guild’s only actively raiding Hunter, it seemed silly for me to remain BM, instead of going MM or SV and contributing loads more needed DPS. Secondly, after receiving countless head shots in Wintergrasp from SV Hunters, I figured… if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Usually I could be a force in most BGs as a BM, but vs a skilled SV Hunter, they would win. Beast mastery Hunters are unable to provide the necessary burst needed to be truly successful in PvP, nor are they capable of bringing as much muscle to a raid.
Since I’ve gone MM, I have broken through the 5k DPS threshold more than a few times in 25 mans. My gear is pretty decent, but not great (only 2/5 T7 and still using a crafted gun), and my glyphing and shot rotation still have room for improvement. I would need tons of upgrades with my previous BM spec in order to even come close to the numbers I put up as MM.
As SV in PvP, I am capable of nuking opponents in nothing flat, while also being pretty durable. For PvP, BM has almost become a pesky type of outlast spec. Without the necessary burst to burn opponents down, you’re sort of forced into this role of using your limited snares, big red pet DoT, and you’re 18 seconds of freedom to try and outlast them. It can work a lot of the time, but again… with skill being equal, SV is much more efficient at taking down other players than BM. In my opinion, of course.
Why Marksman and Not Survival for PvE?
Survival has been shown to potentially outdamage MM, but the DPS difference is fairly negligible. I prefer Marksman for PvE for a few reasons. First of all, I just like the tree better. Marksman packs a huge punch when it comes to long boss fights, but it also provides the highest AoE damage of the three trees (if specced that way).
Bringing an extra 10% attack power to your raid is very sexy. Melee and the other Hunters in the raid will love you for your Trueshot Aura. Just don’t be a noob like me and forget to activate it on occasion. I have a Power Aura set up that alerts me for a few seconds when I don’t have TSA on, but sometimes I don’t catch it. I’m getting better about it though. 
The shot priority is easier to follow than Survival, and Marksman is just more comfortable to play – at least for me. Survival has more shots to worry about, a random proc which you have to manage, and a buff that requires you to be stationary for 6 seconds. Marksman just seems smoother to me.
Survival For PvP
On the other hand, I prefer SV over MM for PvP. SV has more tools available that lend themselves better to PvP. Also, the shot priority that I consider to be more of a hassle in PvE, is not a problem for PvP. SV does not require an additional shot to frontload its damage like Chimera Shot does. Also, Black Arrow is not really utilized much for PvP. Traps provide a guaranteed Lock ‘n’ Load plus a snare, so you typically don’t want use that cooldown for Black Arrow.
Survival provides huge armor-ignoring burst damage with Explosive Shot. Being that two of the most difficult classes to contend with (Pallies/DKs) are both plate wearers, it makes sense to go SV. My decision to go SV for PvP is based in large part to 2v2 arena succes. BM can actually be decent in 3v3 and 5v5, and so can MM.
I’m not an authority on what it takes to win in arena, but I’ve been around long enough to know what can work best. There’s a reason why the bulk of successful Hunters in arena are specced SV. While I’ve enjoyed doing arena as a BM Hunter, and have had moderate success with it, I’d like to attain a title higher than Challenger at some point. :-\
My Specs
My MM PvE spec is: 7/57/7, and my SV PvP spec is 0/15/56. I’ll elaborate on them in a follow-up post, but I’m starting to lose steam right now. The effects of having had too many adult beverages last night is taking its toll on me, and I need a nap. 
Rather than leave you hanging, I’ll at least link my armory so you can have a looky.
Be back in a bit, after I recharge the battery.
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. You missed something VERY important in the MM spec (raiding): Aspect Mastery. You *must* find a way to get it. Also, Silencing Shot in raids is just useless 
