Can't Have It Both Ways
I absolutely love my Paladin. But leading up to 3.2, I would run out of things he needed to do and turned my attention to my Alts.
I have two level 80 alts, my Hunter and my Warrior.
My conflict with them is that I seem drawn to the 'wrong' tree. My Hunter's proper tree is Survival, yet I seem to enjoy Marksman. The Pet of the Month is the Wolf, but I got tired of being 'another Hunter with a Wolf'. So I went out and tamed a Dragonhawk. Yes, a Cunning Pet! I dig me some Roar of Recovery when I can't give myself Replenishment.
My Warrior has been less of a conflict. I seem to like Arms and Fury about equally, but I do seem to prefer Fury just a bit more. The problem, of course, is you're supposed to be Arms until you get almost Best in Slot gear.
Well these are just alts, it doesn't really matter what I do with them. I should play whatever I want. That's all fine and dandy, until this other side of my personality comes to the fore.
That's my competitive side. See I want to be competitive DPS even though I've made these 'wrong' choices.
I can't have it both ways. Either I spec 'properly' and can really compete on the meters, or I play what I want and have to tell myself I'm doing the best I can with what I've chosen.
My inner Johnny and my inner Spike battle it out.
I have two level 80 alts, my Hunter and my Warrior.
My conflict with them is that I seem drawn to the 'wrong' tree. My Hunter's proper tree is Survival, yet I seem to enjoy Marksman. The Pet of the Month is the Wolf, but I got tired of being 'another Hunter with a Wolf'. So I went out and tamed a Dragonhawk. Yes, a Cunning Pet! I dig me some Roar of Recovery when I can't give myself Replenishment.
My Warrior has been less of a conflict. I seem to like Arms and Fury about equally, but I do seem to prefer Fury just a bit more. The problem, of course, is you're supposed to be Arms until you get almost Best in Slot gear.
Well these are just alts, it doesn't really matter what I do with them. I should play whatever I want. That's all fine and dandy, until this other side of my personality comes to the fore.
That's my competitive side. See I want to be competitive DPS even though I've made these 'wrong' choices.
I can't have it both ways. Either I spec 'properly' and can really compete on the meters, or I play what I want and have to tell myself I'm doing the best I can with what I've chosen.
My inner Johnny and my inner Spike battle it out.
Comments
I happen to really enjoy Survival, but I might try marksman if I can stomach another 1000 g to dual spec. I say play what you enjoy, especially on an alt. As for pets, unless you're BM spec I don't think the damage difference is that huge any way.
If you look at (http://elitistjerks.com/f74/t42519-best_possible_dps_shandaras_wotlk_spreadsheet/) you can see that Marksman comes out on top compared to survival and beastmastery when each spec has the best available gear.
I'm not sure where the three specs stand in average gear, but there should be no reason you can't pull respectable dps as marksman.
The pet, while perhaps suboptimal from a min/max perspective is still only a small portion of your dps, so that's not going to lower your dps too much. If you want to use an unusual pet, maybe try a wasp, tallstrider or a moth. All of which are dps-type pets.
You might compare your spec to the marksman spec on elitistjerks and tweak your shot rotation/priority system to try to maximize your dps.
Good luck!
Of course, I'm not raiding or pushing content, so I can afford to play what I like.
Dax
Most of the trees are close enough now that just playing a spec better will come out on top. If you are more comfortable and better at MM then Survival then there is a good chance you will have higher dps as MM. Atleast assuming you have a good priority rotation.
Armory Calrit, Marks of Hunter of "Conquest" on Vashj
- Honorshammer (the copycat >:) )
Just my take.
I first picked up Soul Link waaaay back in February '05 - the day I hit level 40. Back then it was an activated ability instead of an aura. I played Demonology as much as possible, even going so far as to raid MC / BWL / AQ40 in a horrible, horrible build that would get me laughed at today.
The build I have now IS a raiding build. But it still isn't "optimal" - I could get more DPS out of EITHER of the other trees. But I don't care!