I am still getting to grips with and looking to optimize my new MM spec but so far I have been able to put out more DPS and be more mobile in fights with the talents and shot rotation I use compared to my SV spec and shot rotation.

First, I wanted to point out that, like every class/spec combination, results can (and will) differ depending on the individual playing the toon.
Even with identical spec/gear/talents (ie - identical toon) and same basic shot priority you can get varied results depending on your play style, what you do when procs come up etc and how you handle your cooldowns. I belong to the 40+ club in BT and my reactions times are obviously not as fast as they used to be in my CounterStrike days so all these things factor into your total gaming capability.

I mention this all because I wanted to make it clear that if you switch from BM or SV to MM as your main spec be aware that you may not see an immediate DPS increase as it may not be suited to your play style. On the other hand, you may find it suits you better. I know of at least 1 fellow hunter who has been MM (much) longer than myself and puts out much better DPS/gear than me, maybe they have some tips !!

So, back to the reason for this post.

As we all know searching for hints/tips/macros etc can be daunting and result in many headaches so here is what I have learned so far:-

ARMOR PENETRATION
WOW, if you are feeling joyful, relaxed etc right now go and read up about ArP and you will soon have a pounding headache !!
Suffice to say there is a lot of math and soft and hard caps and lots of penetration (can I use that word here ?)
Anyway, I have not bothered with it yet but may be shortly so I have not considered ArP in anything I have done so far.
Here is a pretty good explaination if you want more info
http://itisatrap.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/demystifying-armor-penetration/



GEMS
AGILITY - you could put +20 AGI in every slot but personally I like to use all the set bonuses so AGI/Crit (yellow) and AGI/STA (blue)
As wilh all specs you should put the +10 all stats gem in your blue helm slot.
Forget Armor Penetration gems, you will not be thinking about going all ArP gems until you have around 900 ArP (unbuffed and ungemmed) see article above for more info.



TALENTS
Here is my talent spec - http://www.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Dragonblight&cn=Mackranger&gn=Benevolent+Thuggery

I picked the most common "cookie cutter" spec to start with and most people have the same with a few variations in the talents below -

Marked for Death - at least 3/5, extra points put in here usually when other talents below dropped
Improved Hunters Mark - if you want max dps and no other hunters in your group then you really need at least 2/3. If you only run 25-man with other Hunters who have 2/3 or 3/3 then put points elsewhere.
Improved Arcane Shot - until you start to get involved in Armor Penetration and not using Arcane shot inyour rotation I think everyone should have 3/3
Rapid Killing - need more info on this as I see the benefit in reducing the cooldown by 2 min but not at expensive of other talents.


SHOT ROTATION
Here is my shot priority. Essentially I will select whatever the best shot available is.
The key is that you MUST shoot Serpent Sting on the target 1st and then you do not need to shoot it again as Chimera re-applies it.

Kill Shot
Chimera
Arcane or Aimed Shot
Steady Shot

So is a typical boss fight you shoot SS at the start and then Chimera whenever it is up and then Arcane or Aimed shot when they are up and if nothing is up use Steady Shot.
Once boss gets down to <20% then you shoot Kill Shot whenever it is up over all other shots.

There is a variation on shots and spec which I will go into later once you have around 400 passive ArP but I have not done this yet..

...heading home now so please add your comments and experiences here

As far as boss fights go I have 1 additional thing to add as far as rotation. I would also use Rapid fire, Kill command, then readiness so when they are expired you can automatically use them again. This is also helpful for an extra MD which i am sure the tanks will appreciate. The nice thing about readiness is that it is only a 3 min CD as well as rapid fire so u can get 2 more rapid fire times since the boss fight will most likely last longer than that and will give u the extra dps from that as well. Hope this makes sense. Just something I have learned from my experience as a MM hunter.

For me this only works if you put it alongside Rapid Recuperation, so that each time you use Rapid Fire, you regain Mana ... less time on Viper to me translates to more DPS. Yes, a fully stocked raid should have someone giving you mana regen continously, and I have yet to raid with Kaertil seriously, but I see the value of this.

Nice K, yeah, I usually pop Rapid fire at the beginning as soon as my ring procs and then after 15sec hit Readiness that resets Raid fire cooldown and hit that again

I also have a macro that does Aimed Shot, Kill Command and Silencing Shot all in one click depending on what is ready

RESPECCED
Anyway, as I am at 600 passive ArP I respecced to the "no arcane shot" spec shown on wow.com and will take Arcane Shot out of my Boss shot rotation although I will still use it on trash.

Read the article I linked early for a description of why you will sometimes still use Arcane Shot

So essentially I moved the 3 points in improved Arcane Shot and 1 point from Improved Hunters Mark and ADDED 2/2 Rapid Killing and increased Marked for Death from 3/5 to 5/5

some macros I found, will edit this as I find more:-


#showtooltip Rapid Fire
/cast rapid fire
/cast call of the wild
/use <trinkets name>
/use <trinkets name>


Change all of your shot buttons to macros

#showtooltip XXXXX Shot
/cast silencing shot
/cast kill command
/cast XXXXX shot

XXXXX = Steady or Aimed or Chimera or Aracne

I have been using this macro and it works really well and gives you more Rapid Fires per fight (assuming you are talented into the shorter cooldown)

I am also now gemmed into ArP (approx 900 passive with a trinket that procs about 600) and have taken Arcane shot out of my rotation.
When the ArP trinket procs I concentrate on just shooting Steady Shot and Aimed Shot as they are the only shots to benefit from ArP (and kill shot if available)

My problem is I still think that I am missing something somewhere as my dps isn't where I think it should be for my gear, talents and shot rotation..... any suggestions, especially from those who have played MM for a while and kick butt at dps (ie Kaywinnit)

macro update for Sheri ( and others) on what I use:-

#showtooltip
/cast Rapid Fire
/cast Call of The Wild
/cast Readiness


#showtooltip Aimed Shot
/cast silencing shot
/cast Aimed Shot
/cast kill command


/cast [target=focus] misdirection