The Burning Crusade Hunter Changes Part 3: Survival Talents.

My least favourite tree, I have to say. I've tried playing with a Survival spec a few times, but I've never found it suited my playing style.

Monster Slaying and Humanoid Slaying: Good damage versus certain types of monsters. Not deal makers or breakers, but fun in and of themselves.

Deflection: Up to 5% added to your chance to parry melee attacks. Great if you're PVPing, or if you end up having to be closer to a mob for longer than you expected, but nothing I've ever wanted for Wulf.

Entrapment: This has been a big part of Wulf's current arsenal, but looking at specs post-expansion, it's not one I think he'll be taking. Still it's had it's cost reduced from five talent points to three.

Savage Strikes: Something else Wulf has used extensively in the past, but not something I see him picking up in the expansion.

Improved Wingclip: A useful talent in PVP, it'b be great for raids if most mobs weren't immune. Still, like Entrapment, it's getting a lot cheaperand alot more effective in TBC.

Hawkeye: This used to be in the third tier of the Marksmanship tree, requiring thirteen points to max out, which most Hunters didn't notice in amongst buying Lethal Shots, Aimed Shot and Mortal Shots. Now it's a second tier Survival Talent, requiring me to spend eight talent points on the uninspiring low-end of the Survival Tree to max it out. It's a shame because the extra six yards is almost vital for raiding.

Clever Traps: Great talent for boosting the effectiveness of your traps. Very useful in PVP, but the question of traps usefulness in PVE is still on the board.

Survivalist: You can't argue with +10% health if you're going this far down the Survival Tree, it's amazing.

Deterrance: The Panic Button. This boosts your dodge and parry chance incredibly for a limited amount of time. It can keep you alive when you get unexpectedly attacked at short range.

Trap Mastery: Reduced trap resist chance. Never seen a trap resisted, so I don't know what use this is.

Sure Footed: Gives +3% to hit and +15% chance to resist movement-imparing effects. Useful talent in PVP, or in PVE until the Hunter gets around +9% hit chance from his gear.

Improved Feign Death: Something I've wished Wulf had the spare points for time and time again. Feign Death is a massive part of the Hunter classes viability atm, and having it resisted is the worst thing that can happen.

Survival Instincts: Interesting new talent, reducing any incoming damage by 4%. It'll help keep a Hunter alive longer, I imagine.

Killer Instincts: No reason not to take +3% crit chance if you're this far down the survival tree. It'll boost the chance to get your other abilities later on.

Counterattack: Lets you immobilise a target after a successful Parry. Great escape move in PVP, not sure of the useability in PVE.

Resourcefulness: Nice mana efficency talent, and the reduced cooldown on traps is also good.

Lightning Reflexes: This used to be the reason to spec survival. Since they're reducing the overall effectiveness of Agility for our DPS, I'm not sure how much use an extra 15% will be. Still it's a must for PVPers thanks to the extra dodge and crit chance it gives.

Thrill of the Hunt: Your crits return 40% of the mana cost of the shot used. This will allow the Survival Hunter to survive happily on a smaller mana pool than his Beastmaster and Marksman peers.

Wyvern Sting: This talent's getting a big buff in the expansion, since it can now be used in combat. Taking an enemy out of the fight for 12 Seconds can be a life saver in a bad pull.

Expose Weakness: A 30% chance for your crits to buff all attackers against that target with attack power equal to 25% of the Hunter's Agility. Given Survival Hunters often have over 600 Agility, this will be a nice group buff, balanced by it's unpredictability.

Master Tactician: A 6% chance per hit to gain +10% crit chance for 10 secs. Not that amazing given it's place in the tree, but it should see good results with a fast ranged weapon.

Readiness: Instantly resets the cooldown of all Hunter abilities. This is pretty sick for those who are willing to go that deep in Survival. All in all though, I'm of the mind that Survival is the weakest of the trees. Possibly because it seems to be designed with PVP in mind.