I have tried to get into Survival but I just can’t do it. It doesn’t at all feel Huntery and it’s a spec that should totally feel Huntery – Like I’m out there living by the skin of my tusks, scavenging and eking out a living by fighting tricky and with guerilla tactics. Instead, it’s like a Warlock managing DoTs and procs.

Of course Marksman feels like a clunky Mage but it’s at least got the whole gun-and-run thing going on which is handy. Not very Marksman-like though (odd that Survivalists get Sniper Training and Marksmen get Readiness but what can you do. I believe this is the same logic that gives my cat and wolf Spider’s Bite and my spider Roar Of Recovery).

BM really is the spec that most feels like a Hunter and it’s the one I’m the absolute worst at playing.

The Tree is making good progress, she’s gone from early-level-73 to over halfway through 74 in a couple of days.

Actually, I think when you get the knack of the other hunter specs, and are rewarded with big, fat crit numbers, the like of which you rarely ever saw as a BM, you’ll get a charge out of it like when you tried 53/11/7 for the first time, and found it Good. Your Tree could start to feel neglected.

That’s been my experience for the last two weeks. I’m seeing 6K Chimera crits, 12K Kill crits, and I’ve even had a couple Kill Shots crit for 18K. That’s just sick.

I think those of us BM Hunters who’ve stubbornly kept to the spec while we progressed through WotLK raids have gotten very, very good at getting maximum damage out of our spec. There are a lot of “average” Survival hunters out there, and I don’t find it difficult to beat them by hundreds of DPS on Patchwerk, even when I’m comparatively undergeared. (I love giving the impression to non-Hunters that BM is OP.)

But take that skill, and put it into Marks or Survival, and I think you’re going to see a whole new level of performance. For me, MM was the way to go because I didn’t feel like restacking my gear for Agility. And it turns out the MM shot rotation (or priority) isn’t as difficult as I’d feared.

I’m afraid my BM raiding days will be limited until Bliz fixes the pet scaling issues. In the meantime, maybe my Devilsaur and your Tree could arrange a play date…

I doubt you should have too much issues soloing (I have no idea what Mazil was talking about. I leveled as a MM – which was since 2005, mind you – and compared to her, my BM, but especially my SV, hunters struggle with keeping the aggro on my pets!) as long as you’re patient enough to let your pet get a growl off and keep all the heavy-hitting shots for when the mobs reach about 50% health.

That being said, what a great idea! It’s not too different from what I’m doing. I’m slightly OCD about not changing my characters’ specs… ever (though I did got dual spec for Watermist; the second is BM because I don’t expect to run any instances until 80 and I”m not going to raid. That being said, in BC I had many awesome adventures where as a newly minted level 70, I would successfully solo level 67 elites. Lot of fin) so hence my level 30 BM and 30 SV hunters (haven’t played them in a while; I’m busy with Watermist and my 70 Fire mage).

What I’m really trying to say? Have fun! I bet you’ll learn a lot and maybe even enjoy the different challenges those specs give you! (What am I saying? It’s obvious you already are enjoying yourself! Lol. )

@ the people asking if I spec’d my pet – yes, I did! I’ve swapped specs too many times in Naxx to forget by now. *nod*

Every Hunter I’ve seen running heroics or raids with me has always at some point whispered to me “why BM?” They then explain that SV does more DPS than BM blah, blah. I’ve always replied “because I love my spirit beast.” Yesterday I joined a Naxx10 group and they were up to Sapphiron. This was the first time I’ve ever done Sapphiron. The other Hunter, a SV Hunter, was much better geared than me, in mostly Valorous and ilvl 213 gear. I’m in mostly Hero’s and badge rewards gear, 2 crafted epics, and 3 pieces of Deadly Gladiator pvp gear. I out DPSed him and was second in DPS in my raid (everyone had better gear than me actually), only getting edged out by a DPS warrior. He /w me, “lol you’re making me look bad.” Makes me feel happy inside.

I am not going to try and give you advise on how to play a SV Hunter (My spec BTW) you have to figure that out yourself.
I spec’ed a guildmate with the same spec as mine we both hit the training dummys and 30 min later she had quit and gone back to her old spec. cursing me saying that I was holding something back LOL.
Then a week or two later I did a run with her and low and behold she was using my spec and her DPS was even better than mine.
You see it takes time to unlearn play styles, you have to get in the head of a SV or MM hunter and really think about what you are doing. You control your DPS not your pet.

Darkwood