So after largely ignoring my hunter in Wrath due to the 'into the ground' BM nerfs, and relegating her to barely-played alt in Cataclysm, I have finally and fully re-embraced my shooter of guns and bows in Mists. Gone is the 'lol3buttons' BM spec that I knew in BC... it is now an active system with a huge selection of spells, talents and abilities/cooldowns. I go through at least... 18-20 buttons in a given boss fight. I've had to create new hotkeys, new modifier key combinations, and in general move my hands in ways my hunter has never, ever required.
And I freaking love it.
For those unfamiliar with my (older) posts, I am a huge fan of the protection warrior gameplay, because it has A: a ton of buttons, B: a highly active playstyle with a bunch of procs and abilities to manage, and C: a general sense of just beating the crap out of whatever she's tanking.
While the 3rd doesn't much apply to hunters, the first and second very much do. There are so many abilities and cooldowns to track, a general rotation that finally has some depth, and just a ton of utility in general. While, yes, it did border on overwhelming the first few days of being level 90, I did some research here and spent just a ton of time on training dummies - it finally clicked, and to a degree that I've been able to help several other BM hunters drastically improve their damage.
I know that different strokes are for different folks, and the talk about having so many buttons = less damage per button, but I am utterly in love with the hunter playstyle that Mists has given us. I didn't think anything could break me of my addiction to warrior tanking, but lo and behold... my hunter has. I am genuinely excited not only for WoW again (almost quit, twice, in Cataclysm) but to play my hunter, which I haven't been since BC.
So yeah, it would actually sadden me to see the playstyle simplified any. I know its certainly not for everyone (and I absolutely see why, holy full spellbars Batman) but it is absolutely for me.