Imp. Hunter Mark vs. EfficiencyFollow

So I respecced for level 70 BM becoming pretty much the cookie cutter BM spec, however I really felt efficiency would be better for me than imp hunter mark. I thought that hunters generally concluded the AP bonus from imp HM wasn't that great. Am I wrong? I'm going to be doing nearly all 5 mans for a while, I don't know when I'll get around to getting kara keyed much less actually going to kara since its my third 70.

Ok, this confuses me. Doesn't using Imp Hunter's Mark give your pet a big increase in AP? As a BM hunter I want my pet to put out as much damage as possible. Is the AP my pet gains really that small to warrant taking efficiency?

Speaking as SV spec, I wouldn't invest into this talent just because of the fact it doesn't scale like the normal hunter's mark does. The more you hit the target with ranged attacks the AP adds up on the hunter's mark only for the ranged, but not for the melee.

110 added AP is nice, especially when combined with our already great Expose Weakness, but I personally prefer Efficiency over Imp. Mark. We may not go through mana as fast as the other spec's, but we definitely go through it. Efficiency combined with Thrill of the Hunt just makes it easier on us.

Imp. Hunter's Mark is more of a raid talent then anything else, and only preferred when you have a lot of melee within the raid. As it stands my raids have more casters, making Imp. Hunter's Mark a bit of a waste. Would it help? Sure, but I'm not about to sacrifice Efficiency for it, especially when I do other things aside from raiding.

*Edit* Just a quick note to add, Efficiency reduces our cost of shots by 10%, but Thrill of the Hunt gives us back 40% of the mana cost when we crit with one of our shots. However this is the BASE cost of the spell. Meaning if Aimed Shot cost 200 Mana normally, Thrill of the Hunt will give you back 80 mana. With Efficiency though, this makes your Aimed Shot cost from 200 to 180, when you crit with Aimed Shot you still receive that 80 mana back. Within 2 crits you've just received 160 mana back, 20 short of another Aimed Shot. If you crit a third time you've just spent 540 Total Mana, and received back 240 of that mana.

This works particularly well with Multi-Shot, because if all 3 shots crit, you receive mana back for all 3 shots. So again, taking the same math, Multi-Shot costs you 200 (Base), so 180 (w/ Efficiency), if you crit you get back 80 mana, if all 3 crit, you get back 240 mana (in otherwords you just gained 60 mana back).

Edited, Jan 30th 2008 5:24pm by Joobishwun

Like Joobishwun said, I think consensus is that Imp HM is a raid buff. It does help your pet a little, but it's really more for raid melee dps. If you have the talent points to spare, it's not necessarily a bad idea to put points in Efficiency and Imp HM, but if it's an either/or situation then I'd say go with Efficiency. 10% mana cost reduction really adds up in longer fights.