Dual Spec: PvE/Pv... E?

I'm going to come right out and say it, before more than, like, five people stumble across this blog: I'm terrible at PvP.

I could blame it on being left-handed and bereft of Nostromoness. I could blame it on playing on a laptop and having no numpad. I could blame it on playing the Hunter class. But, no, it's really that my AAAHHH RUNAWAY! It's gonna EAT ME! /panic instinct is just too strong. I do pretty well on Damage Done in the BG-meters, sure, but I die a lot. ...And Arenas terrify me - I'm pretty sure I'd die a lot there, too. Dying is still bad, right? I'm relatively certain you're supposed to avoid that whole Spirit Healer ordeal.

And, seriously: Why can't I Misdirect the stupid Paladin to the Warlock? Hm? Why? /grumble

SO. Dual Specs for me will not be PvE/PvP. PvE/PvE, though? Now we're talkin'.

On the PTR right now, Nadie has a Beast Mastery spec and Raid-Survival spec set up, and that's pretty much what I intend to do for her when Dual Specs go live. Why spend 1000g on this? Malygos, Sartharion, Maexxna, Heigan, and Gluth. These five are examples of encounters for which one spec will perform significantly better than the other.

Malygos: Favors Survival. During the Vortexes of Phase 1, instant casts are still available, meaning that Lock and Load procs can be taken advantage of during the time when the Beast Mastery pet would be out of commission. Furthermore, when the Vortex drops the raid in the center, a trap can be dropped before running away from Maly, allowing for another LnL opportunity. Phase 2 is Survival-friendly as well, since the last of the scions will be in the air, leaving Fluffy to lick his fur for a while (unless you're really good with Eyes of the Beast...?).

Sartharion: Favors Survival. This one is less clear-cut, but the extra six yards of range from Hawk Eye make staying out of the Tsunamis while still pew-pewing more realistic. Calling a Beast Mastery pet back when the Tsunamis rise, and sending him back in once they've passed also takes a large chunk of DPS-time that isn't as painful when your pet is 15% of your damage, rather than 45%.

Maexxna: Favors Beast Mastery. The role of ranged DPS in this fight is to not only DPS the boss, but also, and more importantly, to pull people from their Web Wraps on the back wall. Spec'd for Beast Mastery, the hunter has an advantage no other ranged class shares: 45% of your DPS gets to stay on Maexxna for the entire fight.

Heigan the Unclean: Favors Survival. While it's fun to keep Fluffy alive during this fight as a Beast Mastery hunter, the number of GCDs spent on making use of that Improved Mend Pet is stupendously high, and Fluffy's tiny, tiny brain will send him to the back of Heigan, right into the plague waves every time. Survival, on the other hand, can take advantage of LnL procs during the entire Dance Phase.

Gluth: Favors Beast Mastery. Stick with me here. This is one that may actually change with 3.1 and Resourcefulness becoming part of the Survival raid build. For now though, the most common Survival and Beast Mastery raid builds have the same cooldowns on traps, so, for kiting the Zombie Chow, the build choice is pretty inconsequential. The advantage for BM, however, is that Fluffy can fight Gluth while the hunter kites mobs around. As one of the kiters, you're not going to show prodigiously on the meters either way, but a BM pet will still rack up some reasonable numbers. On a side note, Tauren are the best.

Then there are plenty of fights where the spec won't make too much of a difference: Patchwerk, Grand Widow Faerlina, Thaddius, The Four Horsemen, etc. Each has a few supporting arguments one way or the other, but they're pretty even at the end of the day. It's a good thing, too, because that 30 minute cooldown on Call Stabled Pet would be cumbersome, were it otherwise.

All told, I'll be speccing... EvPet/EvPewPew!