The easy answer to this is to model your dps as BM and MM on the spread sheet without Steady Shots. If BM is already higher dps then we know for a fact it is better. If it is close then it may be better because you will still get some steady shots off as BM. If it's no where near then it is not likely BM will exceed in dps. I have done this, and am going with BM for Yog.

Not to doubt the value of BM on phase 3 (and phase 2 if you can keep it in the brain room) but is MM really the best spec to be comparing it against for Yogg? Setting the sub 20% to 2/3 of the fight, with a typical survival spec and the kill shot glyph, I'm seeing some pretty good results in the spreadsheet.

You are correct. I am still toying with the spreadsheet and live results, including using Kill Shot Glyph as BM. Keep in mind that I am specifically focusing on what would be best for One Light in the Darkness and Alone in the Darkness. My guild just got Heroic:Firefighter down so we will be doing Hard Mode Yog in the very near future and I have short time to be prepared. As of last night we ez moded Yog and I was able to keep my pet in the room only 1 of the 2 phase changes. Until I can get 2 good ones in I won't know if we can skip a brain phase by doing this (or how many hunters it would take). Also if hunters have to pull adds away from the tanks during P3, would BM not to produce better dps since you are out ranging Yog to do your job?

Also did you make sure to take away Improved tracking since it has no use on that fight? You also get nearly no steady shots off as Surv in this situation as welll, esp if you drop below 20 Sanity reaching a real danger zone.

Oh I guess they fixed the bug where your pet simply despawns when you put it on yogg in phase 2 brain phase and phase 3. And I thought BM was useless for this fight...

Next week it's gonna be my glyphed aspect of the pack with 2/2 Pathfinding in the brain phase!

I had completely forgot about Pathfinding, what an excellent suggestion!

@ Esoth
I made the change of using kill shot 2/3 of the fight and see a dps gain of Kill Shot over Hawk for the BM build (this makes sense). Do you have any other suggestions on how to better model the dps loss due to turning around for gazes? Also do you think it is possible for Glyph of the Beast to find it's way into the build? Here is what I'm going with atm: 55/16/0

I've been playing around with the PTR version of Shandara's sheet (standard 53/13/5 - like Shandara's BM template but with one less point of frenzy and an extra point of mortal shots).

Basically, by switching out the gems in Shandara's default gear for AP, switching to Spiced Mammoth treats and speccing the pet BM with the 4 extra points. I've been able to get to within about 70 DPS of the out of the box MM template. (7042 vs. 6974)

Can someone confirm I haven't just screwed up, and if the MM template in the spreadsheet is anyway correct please?

This would work a little better and wouldn't force you to change targets. It could also be inserted into any of your shot macros.

/petattack [target=Corruptor Tentacle]
/petattack [target=Constrictor Tentacle]

That is not true. While I do not have the Pocidon macro imbedded in my shot rotations, I do have it on a button which i press when my pet's current target is dead. It works perfectly, without any errors.

GC said in the following thread:

World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Hunter Q&A Thoughts

Are there any updated spreadsheet / DPS analyzer / simcraft data that'll put the 3.2 BM changes into consideration so we can theorycraft a little how BM DPS will be like in 3.2, whether it'll actually like what GC said, "beat the ArP focused MM hunters for max dps"??

It is a boost, for some it is good, for others not so much. In my case it doesn't change all that much. Something like 100-150 DPS. That is still way too far back considering the other disadvantages of BM (including fun). But others have mentioned 400-500 DPS increases, that is a lot better, but still nowhere near MM/SV, and not even comparable to great ArP MM builds.

I can only say that those results does not come from here or the spreadsheet. It's not that I inherently think he is wrong, his results could be from actual observance on the PTR, I don't know. But I doubt the theory support his claim.

Your first question is one that doesn't have an easy answer -- you'd just have to plug the gear in question into the spreadsheet and see what happens. Pawn strings like the one you quoted change based on the gear and stats you already have.

The answer to your second question is probably not. MM hunters don't just drop arcane shot because it's not benefiting from ArP. They drop it because of a few other MM-only mechanics that make it worthwhile to do so if they have a lot of ArP. One is that steady shot can proc Piercing Shots, but Arcane can't. Once steady shot reaches a certain damage threshold because of ArP, a Steady Shot + Piercing Shots bleed starts to compete with Arcane Shot. But that's not the end of the story. The other part is that the Improved Steady Shot talent gives a damage boost when it procs. Dropping Arcane Shot from the rotation not only increases the opportunities for one of these procs (because you're adding a Steady Shot) but it also keeps the proc buff from being "wasted" on Arcane Shot. It will instead always be used on Chimera Shot or Aimed Shot, both of which do more damage at those levels.

Those factors combined are what cause MM hunters to drop Arcane Shot, and none of those will ever apply to BM. It seems very unlikely that Steady Shot can outdamage Arcane Shot for BM without those factors.