I touched on this in another comment, but will reiterate for you here. The best way to deal with a movement-intensive fight is to plan ahead and have good raid awareness. There are very, very few fights that have ever REQUIRED you to swap aspects. The only one this entire expansion I can really think of is Atramedes and even then you could have gotten away with sitting in Hawk the entire fight if you were particularly good at avoiding fire. Aspect of the Fox is amazing in PvP but using it regularly in PvE is a crutch and I actively discourage people from doing this. Back in the day when we didn't have aspect of the shoot-while-run and we couldn't auto shot while moving, we had to stutter step to keep up the DPS. We managed to do it back then, we can do it now.
Every fight is very predictable once you learn the "trick" for that boss. You know X is coming, make sure you're standing where you need to be to be ready when X happens. I use "landmarks" to help me with my positioning. The game provides tons of markers on the ground for you in the design of the instance... pick a spot and remember that's "your spot" every time you do that fight. I always stand on the exact same circle on the ground during Hagara, there's a specific point on the ground in Sinestra's lair that's "mine", etc etc etc. Learn the fight, pick your spot, and do the same thing every single time.
How is her DPS on stand-still fights? Is she struggling across the board or only when she has to move? It's true that SV is statistically a better spec, but not if you're bad at it. SV has always been my weakest spec and I perform better when playing as MM or BM simply because I'm better at those specs and LIKE them better. The only people who legitimately need to play "the best spec for the DPS" are the people who are doing cutting edge progression raiding and going for server/world firsts. Otherwise... play what you like. If you WANT to switch to another spec cuz it parses higher, go for it, but you don't HAVE to. This game isn't your job. If she wants to be MM, then let her get really good at MM and rock the charts as MM in your raids. All three specs offer great mobility.
Spec is not the problem, raid awareness and practice is the problem. This applies to all caster classes, really. If you want to do well on a movement-intensive fight, you need to be aware of what's going on right now and what's coming up next. If she needs to, have her sit on a target dummy and run back and forth while she goes through her rotation. Practice by queueing for dungeons and do every boss fight without standing still. Try some PvP and practice shooting on the run by chasing down the enemy!
I can probably count on one hand how many times I used Aspect of the Fox this expansion. It all boils down to being aware of your position and knowledge of the fight's mechanics so you can predict and move accordingly. And especially right now, the three specs are almost as equal as they've ever been (Surv is tops, but MM and BM are doing great DPS right now at high DS ilevel), so if MM isn't her thing, she can pick whatever she wants at this point.
I've played and raided on a hunter since launch and I totally agree with all of this. Learning to orient and position yourself is extremely important. I still remember where "my spot" is for 40 man Onyxia :x That should tell you how important positioning is! Reduced (and now eliminated) range and AotF are things I had been so long without that I don't rely on them. I almost never use AotF. Truthfully, I usually forget it's even there in PVE. And I prefer PVP on my healers so there you go, I usually forget it altogether XD
I also agree about specs. Pick the one you're most comfortable with. I was BM then MM in vanilla, switched to BM for BC, switched to SV for Naxx, switched to MM for early Cata, SV for late Cata, etc. I always ended up feeling like I had to take the statistically highest DPS spec but it's not necessary. I also think you should at least try all three specs. You may end up liking one of the others more than you thought and it's definitely helpful to be competent with all of your specs and not just one.
Every fight is very predictable once you learn the "trick" for that boss. You know X is coming, make sure you're standing where you need to be to be ready when X happens. I use "landmarks" to help me with my positioning. The game provides tons of markers on the ground for you in the design of the instance... pick a spot and remember that's "your spot" every time you do that fight. I always stand on the exact same circle on the ground during Hagara, there's a specific point on the ground in Sinestra's lair that's "mine", etc etc etc. Learn the fight, pick your spot, and do the same thing every single time.
How is her DPS on stand-still fights? Is she struggling across the board or only when she has to move? It's true that SV is statistically a better spec, but not if you're bad at it. SV has always been my weakest spec and I perform better when playing as MM or BM simply because I'm better at those specs and LIKE them better. The only people who legitimately need to play "the best spec for the DPS" are the people who are doing cutting edge progression raiding and going for server/world firsts. Otherwise... play what you like. If you WANT to switch to another spec cuz it parses higher, go for it, but you don't HAVE to. This game isn't your job. If she wants to be MM, then let her get really good at MM and rock the charts as MM in your raids. All three specs offer great mobility.
Spec is not the problem, raid awareness and practice is the problem. This applies to all caster classes, really. If you want to do well on a movement-intensive fight, you need to be aware of what's going on right now and what's coming up next. If she needs to, have her sit on a target dummy and run back and forth while she goes through her rotation. Practice by queueing for dungeons and do every boss fight without standing still. Try some PvP and practice shooting on the run by chasing down the enemy!
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I can probably count on one hand how many times I used Aspect of the Fox this expansion. It all boils down to being aware of your position and knowledge of the fight's mechanics so you can predict and move accordingly. And especially right now, the three specs are almost as equal as they've ever been (Surv is tops, but MM and BM are doing great DPS right now at high DS ilevel), so if MM isn't her thing, she can pick whatever she wants at this point.
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I also agree about specs. Pick the one you're most comfortable with. I was BM then MM in vanilla, switched to BM for BC, switched to SV for Naxx, switched to MM for early Cata, SV for late Cata, etc. I always ended up feeling like I had to take the statistically highest DPS spec but it's not necessary. I also think you should at least try all three specs. You may end up liking one of the others more than you thought and it's definitely helpful to be competent with all of your specs and not just one.
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