4.45 DPS from 7 Spell Damage...I can see this as a problem.

Going from Tier 4->Tier 5, A Hunter will gain 102 AP
Same thing for a mage will net them 46 more spell damage.

A hunter will go up by 25 DPS whereas a mage would go up 29. I know this might seem trivial, but you can probably understand that this is only 5 items. Chances are it becomes even more problematic the more gear you compound.

I don't care if you think Mages should do more DPS then Hunters or Hunters should do more DPS then Mages. It doesnt matter. Classes should all scale the same so as to not create some huge non-reclaimable gap between two DPS classes.

We should all scale together.

Where did you get 4.45? Those talents and crits would increase it from 2.3, but hardly that much.

I was going raid buffed.

Assumptions

30% crit
+15% from Imp Scorch
+5% from Misery
+10% from Curse of Elements
+10% from Firepower
+3% from Playing with Fire

Crit Damage = 1.5xDamage + 1.5xDamagex.4(Ignite)

+7 Spell Damage.

It gets worse as a boss is less then 20% as well due to +20% from Molten Fury.

One thing that should be mentioned in the context of hunter PvE DPS is the fact that hunters have increasingly moved from being a 'pure dps' to 'dps & support' class. In other words, hunters are a hybrid class in TBC more than ever before.

Via TS Aura, Imp Hunter's Mark and a wolf with Furious Howl hunters are making a very substantial contribution to party/raid melee DPS (235 AP and +45-57 dmg on next attack every 10 sec). Added to this is the fact that many TBC bosses appear to be designed with hunter's Misdirection in mind (Nightbane landing, Gruul OTing, Doomwalker charging).

So, in response to the OP, while there is clearly an issue with hunter DPS/mana/etc., it is also important to assess hunters not merely on their dmg output.

Sigh, I have heard this argument countless times. Hunters are no longer a DPS class, "They are a hybrid class"

Its not true. If that was the case, Rogues would be a "hybrid class" because they can give the raid Hemo, Blade Twisting, Improved Sap and such. Warlocks would be a "hybrid class" as well.

The point is, prior to this next patch, it was often considered that you lowered overall raid DPS by inviting a hunter. The only reason to bring one was Misdirection and to soak up loots.

Also, every single thing you just said can be done easily without the hunter. Nightbane - Tank Bandages and hits nightbane with specials, the HKM can still be pulled without a hunter, Doomwalker charging is easily fixed by using Paladin Taunt (40 yard range FTW).

Even Blizzard's own description of us calls us a DPS class.

Every DPS Class brings some amount of Utility; whereas, it seems Hunters were the only ones punished for it.

But we will see how it goes next patch in relation to the other DPS classes.

It's kind of silly to bring arguments about utility in the context. I think the only class in the game that can be argued to have less utility than hunters are rogues, and that hasn't changed since day one, despite the new more utility-minded expansions hunters got.

Also it really does appear that Blizzard wants a rather flat DPS distribution across classes, even hybrids. A shadow priest or feral druid doesn't have to be shy about their damage and doesn't take the supposed "utility" cut the way it used to be.

Or to mana issues do affect our utility role but of course that's a silly argument because no class comes to raid to just use mana to apply a debuff.

Locks still provide lots of utility just as before and the trade-off argument doesn't apply to them. Their DPS is competitive and that's a good thing. Hunters should too.