WotLK Talents !

Browsing the new LK talents brings up some interesting questions. Is BM too over powered? Will MM be viable in PVE? Are the 51 point talents worth a damn?

Well, in short, yes. Here's why.

BM
The beast mastery tree is getting a slew of new buffs that benefit raiding in a tremendous way.
The best part about the BM tree is the fact that pets get their own talents now. This means that each pet is unique and viable in any situation. Of course there will still be higher dps pets, or more tanking oriented pets, but on the whole pets are getting buffed out the wazoo.

The talents in the BM tree specifically target the new pet talents. Invigoration for instance, avalible in the 8th tier, regenerates mana each time your pet scores a critical strike with special ability. This means that claw, bite, rend, lightning breath etc etc, will now result in returned mana.

The ninth tier gives two new talents. Longevity reduces the cd time of your BW, intimidation, and pet specials. This provides more DPS all together. Cobra strikes is going to increase DPS and mana regen by a crap ton. You gain a 60% chance (with 3 points) to cause your pets next three specials to critically hit, which gives back 6% total mana, when you crit hit with arcane, steady, or kill shot.

Again, mana regen is a big theme with the 10th tier which is aspect mastery. maxed out it gives 10% more mana regen with viper, and 50% more ranged bonus from hawk. Yay!
The final talent may seem a little dumb and useless, but it isn't. Right now the way the pet talent trees are set up you only get 16(17?) points to spend. With the 51 bm talent that bumps up to 21(22?). If you take a look at the pet talent trees, you'll see why this is an amazing talent.

MM
Marksmenship is getting some great PVE and PVP buffs.

Focused aim was stuck into the first tier of talents and is amazing for areans and soloing alike. No more major dps cuts from melee in pvp!

Piercing shots (7th tier) is a nifty little warrior/pally pvp compensation. Not much, but it helps.

The true pve/pvp blurred line of talents begins with Rapid Recuperation. This talent (8th tier) deduces the mana cost of all shots and abilities by 60% while under the effect of rapid fire. More damage, more haste, less mana? awsome.

Wild quiver may not seem to "leet" but now that steady shot no longer clips auto, you have a 10% chance to hit the target 3 times in 1.5 seconds. *drool*
Improved steady shot is a great way to work arcane shots into your rotation, more damage, less mana.

Marked for death is a nice talent that gives more reason to mark the target. Now you get bonus RAP and crit chance. It also boots the crit chance of aimed, steady, and kill shot by 10%.

The final talent Chimera shot is a hot debate right now. Good or bad? useful or useless?
I personally think it could do wonders in pvp, not so much pve. It is however a situational talent making it hard to be the most optimal for raiding. I can definetly see rogues cursing us out in battlegrounds though.

Survival
Survial is more and more all about crit and agility. I can see this tree working for PVE late endgame with enough agi, but undergeared it could severly gimp your dps.

The two talents that are really useful are hunting party, which restores mana, rage, energy, or runic power for every crit shot. The other talent is Sniper training.

All in all the survival tree is about targets below a certain percent health, and raid buffs.


Killshot is a new skill that deals extra damage to targets below 20% health. The best part about this skill is that it has a 6 sec cooldown, but is an instant cast. Perfect for escaping targets or on the going.

All in all the new hunter talents are making raiding and pvp look to be a bright future for the most unloved and disrepected DPS class.