Marksman, the new Burstspec?

Premade level 80 toons were finally available on the European Beta... so i tried my luck and copied a number of toons (Hunter, Warrior and Shaman) and gave the new skills a spin. The Protection Warrior looked pretty solid (apart from what i think is a Enrage bug) and so did Restoration Shammies, the Hunter however...

For old times sake i tried a Marksman spec. BM is pretty good at the moment and it seems that it will be the same in WotLK, hopefully i can try that later this week to be sure. My MM spec was a bit weird i suppose, when going for the top tier talent you might need to take improved stings aswell but somehow that didn't feel right when i spend my first batch of talentpoints... perhaps i should try it later on and see what effect it has.
Anyway, the top tier MM talent Chimera Shot consumes your sting and has an effect depending on the sting. I only tried Serpent Sting to maximize damage output waiting for the very last tick before consuming the Sting with Chimera Shot (not sure if the Shot checks how much damage the Sting has done already or not, still it's more mana efficient to let the Sting do some work aswell).
Using Stings, Arcane Shot and the improved instant Aimed Shot kiting is easier then ever... and more fun i might add.
Also Killshot can be used nicely while doing that.
At first i didn't even want to take Chimera Shot but as it was just a beta i figured what the hell. I must confess i was a bit impressed and intend to test it out a bit more once the next patch goes live.

So what's the downside of this MM spec? Mana!
I had a Rare/Epic geared Hunter in Pvp gear and i ran OOM Fast! Seriously, 2 or 3 mobs and i was done for.
Then i would switch to Aspect of the Viper (dealing 50% less damage and restoring mana/damage) and i would get 560+ mana back per shot. Kill off one mob and your bar will be full again, even using special shots while doing so... not bad right? Not so sure about that myself.
Imagen that of 100% combattime in a raid you would need 20-25% of that time with Aspect of the Viper on. That is basicly 10-12,5% dps loss!
Maybe PVE gear has better mana regen or more Intellect but otherwise Marksman Hunters really need some Mana return from other classes in raids.

And how do pets perform for MM Hunters? I got a free wolf at the start and it's buffs were pretty nice but i was ready to take on some level 80 Elites so i needed me a tank pet! Closest thing was a bear, good enough! I trained him with improved Growl, extra Health and even Taunt.
Well, when going all out i stíll overaggro my pet... bloody great. Ow and that Taunt? Didn't seemed to work or perhaps it got resisted, lets hope the latter.
I was also amazed just how fast the pet died. I took on a level 80 Elite and i wasn't able to keep it up at all, where on my Protection Warrior i was left with 20% health with "only" the new self heal.
Maybe i was expecting too much of my pet as a MM Hunter, perhaps BM is still the best spec for Solo play aswell.
Next patch it will be easier to compare my current pet(s) with my own gear to their previous performance, i'll might be less disappointed then.

Overall i expect more fun for people staying/becomming Hunters after next patch and in WotLK. There will be some more possible variations in gameplay and the pet possibilities will be fun to play around with aswell.
The one concern sofar is mana... but perhaps Hunters might be too overpowered if they fix that so there is a change Hunters will just have to deal with that.