I think this article is being specious about the real difference between dps specs. Granted min/maxing is not necessary to enjoy or even complete the general content, the difference between BM and MM/Surv dps at t 7.5/8 levels is very noticeable. As a capable and experienced player in a casual 10 man setting, I can gain a fairly consistent 25% increase in my dps output by switching specs from BM to Survival, on boss fights: from 3.2k-3.5k to in excess of 4.2k dps.

As highlighted by players, before the initial raft of WotLK BM nerfs (later reverted) pet scaling with static AP buff values artificially inflated the scaling of the spec for low gear options. Should BM be a low gear spec? I don't think so. Clearly we're going to have to wait and see as Blizzard advance their pet scaling plan, before they make any serious interventions.

I'd also like to point out that associating "BM hunters" with MM/Survival denigration during TBC is disingenuous. The fact is that the majority of BM hunters in TBC were BM because they wanted to min/max. In classic WoW BM had received similar treatment from players of the MM/Survival spec, who were also driven by min/maxing.

If there is something that marks out BM hunters who are not FotM rerolls it's a love of their pets: everything else is pretty incidental. We'd like the spec to be interesting and viable and have the group celebrating our companion, who we're attached to in a sentimental fashion. Back in classic wow it actually was that, but extremely hard to play because it required excellent pet control, a good deal of theorycraft and positional awareness. It's dps output was extremely competitive if you could keep the pet alive and attacking: I topped dps charts in BWL and was BM spec at a server first Cthun kill, all I assure you on merit. Even if you were not BM it was perfectly possible to have your pet alive and assisting you on most boss fights, with just a modicum of awareness; it's a sign of the social disinformation/a certain type of player that so many did not even bother trying to themselves.

All BM needed in TBC to make it a good spec was to make it more accessible through making the pet easier to keep alive and Blizzard completely jumped the shark by doing just that (making Mend pet insta cast on top of AoE mitigation and select immunities was actually ott imo) and also giving the spec perhaps the most insanely overpowered talent in the game: Serpent's Swiftness. It led to the state of affairs in TBC and I said as much in Beta, for what it's worth.

The social climate for hunters was, somewhat unfairly, poor back then (classic/TBC): really ever since the early pet pathing issues, "hunter weapon" syndrome, lack of clear group synergy, unreliable CC, variety of tools that could easily make or break fights and extremely weak pre 1.7 raid dps (epitomised by the tranq shot gimmic fix). Consequently, a number of hunter players turned towards finding ways to slam players of their own class, in an elitist fashion, by way of distancing themselves from the generally hostile climate: "90% hunters are bad" ...but not me.

Most genuine BM spec fans that I have come across tended to support improvements to the other specs, because they had just been in exactly the same position, socially, for classic wow; finding it almost impossible to raid without any form of community support.

I have been a deep BM hunter since patch 1.7 and it remains my favourite spec not because of how it plays, and I like a challenge, but because of what it is about. Having said all that, I raid as Survival in Ulduar10 because I am a team player and the spec is far more powerful and brings greater utility to the group as well, in a way I could not even compensate for as in classic wow. It's a decently fun spec, but I don't see why I shouldn't also be able to have a powerful pet and an effective and interesting playstyle as an option too.

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