Hunter: and the Art of the Spec

Escada has been a beastmastery hunter for as long as I can remember. At level 10 I received a talent point to spend, and boy was that ever a decision! :) I picked the beastmastery tree after much deliberating and never looked back. I didn't pick the spec because it was the best at the time; hell I didn't know much about my class at all at that time, I just learned as I went along.

I did notice that I really enjoyed having a strong pet that could hold its own against almost anything. My pet even outlived me sometimes in instances...a little embarassing but it did really happen. My pets are my protectors. We

With the drop of patch 3.0.8, our world was rocked. At first I don't think I paid that much attention to what was going on with hunters, I had actually been looking forward to the patch for other reasons. But reality started to sink in. I ran an instance and my dps was next to the healers. Granted the other dps were higher level than me and better geared but I still felt bad. Then the survival flood came in...everybody was buzzing about survival and that wave didn't take me out with it. I was determined to stay a bm..I had just gotten Endymion and to retire him to the stables in the name of survival made me feel horrible.

I got pretty depressed about the whole situation. I was worried that groups would only want survival hunters now..and nobody would want me. (wrong I know but the thoughts were spinning in my brain). And so I started doing some research reading blogs and forums out there about how hunter dps was doing. I parked at some test dummies and tried out macros and new shot rotations...just toying with everything. I vowed that I would make Escada the best bm hunter she could be once she got to 80 and that is still the plan. In a way the patch was a blessing in disguise. I had read blogs before but I had never delved so deep into the numbers of it all before, and made sure what the caps were on certain ratings and things. I have become a bit more technical about things, and know my class better then I ever have.