Hunter tips

I recently posted a bunch of tips for my guild's hunters on how to improve their performance for DPS race fights. Since I'd intended to post a few hunter-related discussions, this seems like a good place to start.

Shot Rotation
For Beast Masters, it's easy: Steady Shot between every Autoshot. Don't bother with the rest unless you're moving (in which case replace with Arcane Shot), but Steady Shot has a MUCH higher damage per mana used ratio (DPM) compared to the others. Aim for a 1:1 ratio between Steady and Auto on the WWS performance meters.

For MM and Survival, it's a bit more complicated. Steady Shot between every Autoshot, but add in Multishot/Arcane every other time for something like:

(auto) Steady - Multi (auto) Steady (auto) Steady - Arcane (auto) Steady ....

You won't be able to fit in two specials between every Auto without clipping, so don't bother trying. Steady should always be your highest priority, however. Once again, aim for a 1:1 between Steady and Auto and a 1:4 each between Arcane/Multi and Auto.

Other Shots
Don't use Aimed Shot, it resets your Autoshot timer, so actually causes you to lose DPS. Stupid, but that's the way it works.

For now, also skip Serpent's Sting. Its DPM is lower than Arcane and Multi and it could theoretically push another debuff off (it's one of the worst compared to warlock and mage debuffs). (Note: 2.3 is buffing Serpent's Sting, so we'll see if this changes things.)

Scorpid Sting is good, however, and someone should be in charge of keeping it up.

Spec
For our current gear level, if you can use your pet well, Beast Master is far and away the best DPS. If you're not good with your pet, it's still pretty even (Serpent's Swiftness really is that good). Sadly, Survival has the worst personal DPS until we hit Tier 5/6 gear. The Expose Weakness buff is nice, but it's debatable whether the DPS tradeoff is worth it. A second Survival hunter, however, is a net loss of DPS.

I'd actually recommend that all but one hunter spec to either MM or BM (the loss of trapping abilities will matter less once we're out of Karazhan). It should result in an increase in your DPS, although your mileage may vary. (Jezele's spec is not the ideal BM raiding spec, BTW. Something along the lines of 41/20/0 would be better - Efficiency and Imp. Hunter's Mark are interchangeable, as long as SOMEONE has it.)

Other improvements
The rest is just typical mechanics, which it looks like our hunters have down. Keep your +hit close to 9%. If you're not there, focus on that first. Use Rapid Fire every time it's up. When using pets, try to send them to the rear of the boss to avoid glancing blows (2.3 should improve their AI to make this automatic). It's not worth spending a lot of time repositioning, but if it only takes a second or two, it's worth the effort (especially for BM).