For myself with my gear inserted into the spreadsheet (sockts changed to AP) I get
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?hunt...&version=9551# coming out with about 100 dps better than the one you linked.

What shot prio have you set up?

I am using the following shot rotation in the spreadsheet:

Kill Shot > Bestial Wrath > Rapid Fire > Arcane Shot > Multi-shot > Serpent Sting > Steady Shot

With the spec I posted (53/11/7), I get 6129 dps; with the spec Azurion posted I get 6121 dps -- not a lot of difference between using Survival Instincts or Mortal Shots, as I pointed out earlier, but Survival Instincts is slightly ahead.

I think there a couple reasons why my results are different than Azurion's, other than what Trevvy posted. One is that our stats are different: he has about 4% more crit and 500 less attack power than I do. Obviously, the more crit you have, the more you are going to benefit from Mortal Shots.

A problem with 52/14/5 is that in order to steal an extra point from the BM tree, the spec is forced to take 4/5 Frenzy and 2/3 Cobra Strikes (rather than the more ideal 3/5 Frenzy and 3/3 Cobra Strikes) to advance to the top of the tree. This is where the dps loss comes in.

I tried going 0/0 Survival Instincts and 4/5 Mortal Shots while leaving the BM tree with 53 points and got 6133 dps, which is actually a 4 dps increase over the spec I posted previously. (I swear that every time I try this, I get extremely close results, but always a different one on top!) The thing that swung me towards using SI over MS is that without Multi-shot in my rotation, SI was somewhat better (6075 with SI; 6068 with MS). I was trying to plan ahead for the possibility that the changes in mana regen coming in 3.1 might keep me from using Multi-shot regularly.

Azurion has made me think, however, that I should try to get more crit -- and if I do, I should check again to see if MS is looking better. One of the points that I was trying to make is that the relative value of Mortal Shots vs Survival Instincts vs Imp Arcane Shot does vary depending on your personal crit and AP totals. The question is, which will scale the best and which stats should be stacked for the best result. I don't really have an answer for that yet, but I hope we can figure one out.

PS Using V68e of the spreadsheet.

Personally when talents are that close I always look at other factors to see which is better. In this case I would prefer SI due to the 4% less damage taken. Just like the old Aimed vs Multi fight, tohugh that isn't a talent vs talent.

I use the (53/11/7) talent build posted by Rosamonde with a slight variation. Instead of investing 2/2 in Improved Revive Pet and 1/2 in Improved Mend Pet... I put 1/2 in Improved Revive Pet and 1/2 in Spirit Bond and 1/3 in Thick hide...

I rarely use Mend pet in an instance or raid, either cause a healer in the group heals the pet, or "lick your wounds" does the trick and if worse comes to worse, "Heart of the Phoenix" can be used to quickly bring back your pet with full HP in those boss fights when it gets taken down. Those are the reasons for not investing the 1 pt in Mend pet.

As for thick hide, over the 2nd pt in Improved revive pet... well an armor boost seemed logical..

In regards to IMP / SB - IMP is only useful if you actually cast it - otherwise SB will be better since the increased healing recievd affects all heals incoming - and decursing (etc) should be done on pets anyway. (I run with 2/2 IMP if I go to solo tough quests for the cleansing, but apart from that its too unreliable to be of use in raids)

If the spec I posted shows a point in Imp Mend Pet, then that is an error, as I use 2/2 Spirit Bond and 2/2 Imp Revive Pet: 53/11/7

Well I was mainly trying to point out that any points in Thick Hide was fairly useless seeing that it only reduces Physical damage and not spell from what I recall. But depending on the play style of the hunter Spirit Bond or IMP Pet Mend can go either way. IMO Spirit Bond is way more beneficial in raids for the healing buff and periodic heals.

Reference to the 3.1 thread for those who overlooked it:

http://elitistjerks.com/f74/t52682-r...mastery_3_1_a/

I raid as survival - but with Loque in the bank, will definitly pick up BM as my "alt" spec for solo farming. He's actually phenomenal for getting initial aggro and holding mobs.

I've seen a lot of posts for raiding BM.. but does anyone have a suggested spec for solo farming or pvp?

A spec for solo farming is a waste of time, or rather, everything is so straightforward that you can figure it out. Solo farming is so easy that you could get away with a sub-optimal spec anyway. In fact, there have been times after talent point resets where I've started farming and didn't realize that I hadn't respecced until I was well into it.

PvP, however, is another story. There hasn't been a whole lot of discussion about a serious BM PvP spec (as opposed to simply using a PvE spec like 53/18/0 for it). A "pure" BM PvP spec might require a lot of sacrifices that people aren't used to making. The spec I have been testing is the following: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft.

Advantages:

Aimed Shot
5% health
10% healing received
9% less damage taken in Dragonhawk
+20% dodge in Dragonhawk
41 yard range
10% movement speed
10 second duration on Master's Call
CC immunity Bestial Wrath/The Beast Within

Disadvantages:

Fewer instants
No trap talents
Significantly lower RAP (no Careful Aim)
Comparatively lower burst
No shot-based CC
No Cobra Strikes (but there's less opportunity to stand around proccing it in PvP)
Not as much armor-ignoring damage as the other specs

I chose the BW glyph for obvious reasons, Aimed Shot to increase the chance of being able to refresh it before it falls off, and the last one was open, but I went with Raptor Strike because in the absence of burst damage, I want to focus on damage reduction and mobility. That could easily be replaced though, perhaps with the disengage or deterrence glyphs. The Minor Glyphs are also flexible, with the exception of Revive Pet.

The pet I use for this is a chimaera, specced into Bullheaded, Roar of Sacrifice, and Wild Hunt.

Overall, while people tend to think of BM as a burst cooldown spec because of BW/TBW, it more often plays like a survivability/outlast/harassment spec, because of the damage reduction, fast but smaller hits, mobility and resistance to crowd control. The chimera gives a ranged snare on a very short cooldown, especially with longevity.

I'm not sure it's helpful to argue why another spec would be better at PvP if the question is just what you should do if, for whatever reason, you decide to PvP as BM, and what things you should consider. As I said before, if you choose to PvP as BM, you are giving up burst damage for unparalleled mobility (which, incidentally, is one of the things that arena SV hunters claim was gutted with the most recent patches). If you play BM like the other specs, you likely won't do well, but if you play to its strengths and have the right partner it's better than people think. It's a toughness spec (in PvP), not a damage spec. Many people have a hard time getting used to that.

As for the glyphs, I also said that the minor glyphs are flexible, with the exception of revive pet, so if people want to use scare beast instead of feign death that's fine by me. I almost never need to use scare beast, and when I do, I don't have problems getting the cast off due to pushback. I personally find myself needing to interrupt a cast with feign more often than I need to get a scare beast off with someone hitting me, so I went with the CD reduction. It's certainly not to the level where any one choice is wrong (except for skipping revive pet) so saying what people "should" use probably overstates things.

That said, I revised my BM spec to forego Survival Instincts to get Careful Aim. It was just too much of an AP loss for the extra 4% mitigation. That leaves a floating point, which I put into Imp. Arcane, but I am considering Cobra Strikes for that as well. I need to collect some more data first.