That's what it seemed like GC was saying, and honestly, I'm a bit put off. My hunter is BM-specced, 'cause I couldn't see her as anything else, and I didn't know that BM was pretty much the worst endgame spec until she was already in her 70s. I really don't like the idea of BM only being competitive with the other two specs if my hunter's in absolutely top-of-the-line gear, which is something that won't happen - I'm not a raider, and I'd have to quit my job and dedicate myself to WoW full-time to even think of seeing ICC-25 before Cataclysm comes out.

Grr. Arg.

For BM to compete in bleeding-edge content (ICC hardmodes), you'd need really kickass gear to make up for the fact that gear here tends to have a lot of armor pen on it, which is a particularly good stat for marks but not so much for BM; but at lower levels of progression BM is still competitive - at least, that's what I got from the statement (I would hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that).

Personally, I'm in emblem-purchased T9 gear and ICC-5 stuff, and I'm able to consistently match equally geared SV hunters in nonheroic normal-mode 10-mans. We're usually battling for #1 and #2 on the meters. (A marks hunter might kick both our butts, but I can't say since we don't have one in our group.) So in non-heroic normal modes, at least, you should be able to do fine, although admittedly it will be a bit more difficult than it was in BC. :)

(I like parentheses.)

@Dreyja: Sorry to crush, but this is what has happened in every previous expansion;

1. In the first raid instance everyone complains that hunters are doing too much damage.

2. Hunters get nerfed. To the ground, baby.

3. Over the course of the rest of the expansion they slowly get buffed back up, until by the end they're top of the dps tree again.

4. A new expansion is annnounced.

5. Go to 1.

@MutedMoose: If you're not the kind of person who's likely to be in top tier gear, then don't sweat it. I'm a BM hunter and I'm frequently at the top or second in the DPS list when I'm doing heroics. This who number-crunching which spec is best game is a game for those who are going to be getting that top tier gear. For most of us, it really doesn't make that much difference. All three specs are more than viable for anything but the very bleeding edge of raiding.