Soloing old content because it's there

I have dualspeced BM for old dungeon running. I haven't gotten much of a chance to do it (because figuring out end game loot is complicated and um, the loot gods love me this week), but I figured I would share the resources I've found. And if I ever find good video walkthroughs, I'll be sure to let you guys know. There are great wotlk videos over at tank spot, and your group will be impressed if you have some clue as to strategy your first time in.

That's my current BM spec. I mostly just took talents that looked good, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm currently using my trusty warp stalker Boo, because I love him. I'm not glyphed yet, but I know I'll be looking for mend pet, feign death, and mending.

This might be better with this as a tenacity pet spec.

Any tenacity pet will work for easier content. If you want to solo heroic Magister's terrace or Onyxia or AQ 40 you may need to do some careful thinking (and gear selection). A turtle's armor bonus would come in very handy for that, especially if you're needing to do the complicated pet tanking (aka passing off aggro between you and your pet). I have never done complicated pet tanking, but as I understand it, you pull aggro off the pet, use deterance, then misdirect back onto the pet. That's a bit more than I'm willing to handle atm, but it apparently works quite well.

Your gear selection also becomes important. If you know that you're going to be facing a ton of fire damage, fire resist gear. I generally equip my alchemist's stone trinket because of the extra stamina it gives me. And of course, bandages, potions, and buff food are all really useful things to have. I don't hit a dungeon without them, personally.

Probably the best thing you can do is hit wowwiki or wowhead and read up on the dungeon you're planning to go into ahead of time. Make sure you know what types of damage you're likely to run into, and have some vague sense of boss strategy.

Elitist Jerks has a really useful thread on this subject, complete with boss strategies and gear suggestions. Me, I may try to convince the holy priest (and mount and pet collector) that she and I should duo things I haven't seen before. Say the raid with the red tiger and the raptor mounts, for example.

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it....
If you are like me and fail at pet management, grab a wolf. There's some lvl 80s in the Storm Peaks, and furious howl goes off even in passive. So even if your pet is glued to your side, they're still giving you a nice buff. Last night my dps increase from that completely offset the loss of pet damage.

Holy Wall of Text, Batman!

So, my hands no longer hurt much, but they are randomly trembling (tired muscle sort of thing). Sadly, this means I've not gotten much done. All alts are at level 5 or above, and they're all parked at inns. Garetia is 73% through level 68, with enough rested XP to get her halfway through 69, but I just can't play her for long. Trembling hands are not good when you're trying to keep up precise shot rotations.

I did take down Gutripper by myself (okay, with Boo the tanking warp stalker), and I am insanely proud of that. (Gutripper is one of the Nesingwary elites in Nagrand, and the last time I took one on (with a warrior partner), we both got squished. I think it's the new gun and the level I've gained since then).

But I've been doing a lot of reading (I really don't idle well, and have to be doing something), and I started thinking about this new dual spec thing. First, the cost. 1k. I'll be over here laughing my arse off. I have 4oo gold spread out over 10 characters. I've been saving up for flying training (and a griffon, but not the elite kind). I could start selling herbs rather than using them to level alchemy, but I don't really want to do that again. I don't buy things in the auction house (okay, so there were those two stacks of iron bars a week ago, but I just finished mithril on Llonya and I couldn't face going back for more iron ore, again). Perhaps I should rephrase to I generally don't buy things on the AH, with occasional profession leveling related exceptions.

Now, I've been told by a friend that if you save all the gold you get from quest rewards, equipment drops, and dungeon running from 60-70, you'll have enough for flying. That's 900 gold total, or 800 if you're just buying the skill Now, I'm thinking she did this before they sped up the leveling, but I could be wrong. I'm hopeful I'll have the gold by 70, but if not, no loss. I can't use flying till 77 now anyway. But that's the drawback to the increase in leveling speed (not that I'm complaining about it). Less quests per level means less quest rewards and less gold. Yes, I could go run dailies, but I need to level. Gold is secondary to the leveling thing. But if I hit 77 and can't buy the cold weather flying, I may be doing a ton of dailies. And do I have to buy the Outlands training before I buy cold weather? Cause if not, I'll just be putting the Outlands one off for a bit.

So 1k is just out of my reach right now. And then there's the second thing...

What good is a dual spec to a hunter? When am I likely to use this?
I thought about it for a little while, and this is what I came up with.
If you can't find a tank for an instance, respecing BM, and respecing your pet (probably a gorilla) to tank. Now, Boo is already speced to tank, but the lack of BM talents means that he's nowhere near strong enough to survive against a boss. I had enough trouble keeping him up against Gutripper. And yes, I pull threat off him on occasion. I should probably figure out what my DPS is.

Respeccing for crowd control or maximum damage. You could also respec for PVP, but I am massive levels of suck at PVP, and thus have no knowledge of the subject. (I have never seen the Alliance win in any battleground I've been in, ever. I'm not sure if it's my battlegroup, just when I go into them, or if I am just massive bad luck)

Now, when I get the shammy and the pally to 40 (if I do), I will be seriously looking at the dualspecs on them. I'm thinking ret/holy for the pally and elemental/resto for the shaman. But that's a long way off and by then I'll have Garetia all the way to 80, running dailies and gathering herbs for cash. Hopefully Llonya (dk) will also be at 80, and I'll also be using her as a cash cow.