What makes one hunter spec better?

[Paratroopa]

i'm sure there is another forum about this, i dont know. i didnt feel like looking through 100+ pages of hunter forums. but the other day on my druid i was doing LFR with a few of my friends, one of which was a hunter. now my friend plays the BM spec, shes incredibly attached to it and her pet to the point of NEVER using a different spec except once in wrath when her guild made her, threatening she couldnt do lich king if she wasnt MM. i've heard MM was the best spec for hunters in pve, pulling the most damage, being more mobile, and keeping steady dps. but she does pretty good dps as a BM, she keeps up with the top dps for most of the fight. but while in LFR she said some hunter whispered her telling her BM was the shittiest spec and in so many (mainly rude) words couldnt understand why she played it. it didnt seem to upset her, but it did raise some questions for me. what makes the BM spec so shitty? i also play a hunter, but mines just pvp so i dont think i have that great of pve knowledge on the hunter except basics. most of my pve experience is with her, and as i said she keeps up with top dps in fights. but like her, my hunter is also BM. and it does just fine in pvp. i often out live the other MM and surv hunters.

so in short..what is it that makes one hunter spec better than another? i mean actual information not "because ___ is just shitty". that doesnt really answer my question. im honestly curious. maybe we just play with shitty MM and survs, but the BM spec seems just fine to us.

[Lyaral]

The maximum calculated dps potential normally decides which spec is best, but realistically it hardly matters if your not at the cutting edge of progress as the player's ability will determine how much dps you will be able to do.

There is more which could be explained but if your not hitting an enrage or lack a utility required for an encounter the spec you play doesn't matter.

[Donkeywing]

A good raiding hunter should be able to play all specs at best. Atm Survival puts up the best numbers, but if you play BM with optimal preformance, there is not much difference between BM and SV DPS (if ST fight). This patch brings the 3 specs closer together than ever.

The guy saying BM sucks probably says more about himself than the spec itself

[Arhippa]

In 4.3 bm is probably the most viable it has been this whole expansion. What makes it "bad" though is the fact that you rely so much on your pet. Pets have various bugs here and there with pathing, not attacking X, unable to attack if the boss is being moved due to latency and whatnot. Probably the latest major bug was the tendon killing our pets on deathwing's spine.

Target switching fights are real issues though. Your pet requires melee range just like all the other melees, and any time spent running is less time spent attacking. Also, any target that isn't reachable by melee also lowers BM's dps by a lot, as you can probably imagine. In DS I don't think there is a fight like that, or at least I can't think of one right now.

In any case, if your friend isn't doing much more than LFR and some normal modes here and there maybe, BM works just fine.