There’s several levels to playing an MMO like WoW. There’s the “I’m just trying to have fun”. There’s the “MOAR EPIX! ::raidraidraid::”. There’s the “Red is Dead! Kill the other side! ::gank::”. There’s the “If we go by a 2-minute window with using X as the constant and Y as the variable element, you can see that…”. And then there’s a whole host of people inbetween those.
I fully admit to being someone that went from “I want to just have fun!” to more of a “Oh wow it’s raid time! Yey! WTB moar purplez!” I like seeing new content. I like seeing new things to kill. I love working with my guild to bring down that boss we’ve fought for 2 weeks on. And to that end, I try to improve myself as best as I can to help the raid, while still keeping things fun for myself. Thank heavens I’m in a guild that doesn’t require X spec and Y gear. As long as you do your job and aren’t a PITA, you’re good to go.
I have a link in the side panels to a thread listing for some Hunter spreadsheets created by Cheeky, located in the Elitist Jerks forums. EJ is an amazing repository for theorycrafting - the discussion of how, when, and why WoW works the way it does. You can really get into some in-depth discussion there on every class and spec possible. I thank every day that I followed a random Google link to the EJ forums, and thank every day that something possessed Cheeky to write those spreadsheets.
What Cheeky’s spreadsheets are is what Warcrafter.net is: a place for you to take a lot of data about your character and figure out if you do X, will it make you better than doing Y? Except Cheeky’s spreadsheets are solely for hunters, and goes into even more depth than Warcrafter.net. Not only can you mess with your gear and talents, you can also mess with your pet’s talents and your shot rotations.
Example of Cheeky’s Spreadsheets
You can get as much as you want out of it, just like any tool out there. You can go in and play with it to find out what gems work better in your gear than others, which shot rotation is best for that new weapon you got the night before, or make a full out plan of all the gear from ZA, SSC, and The Eye that would make you a total hunter badass… ::cough:: Not that I’ve done that… ::tucking papers further under the pile of books::
The downside: You need either Microsoft Excel or Open Office. Also, those on Macs won’t be able to use the importing from the Armory features (dammit). Is it more than some people want/need? Sure. But for those that use it, it’s a godsend. Thanks Cheeky. You’ve enabled me to respec 50 times without using any gold, and still make it look like I’m being responsible and not surfing the internet at work. Much love!
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I’ve looked at Cheeky’s Spreadsheet a few times and don’t understand a bit of it. Also, the “import Armory” thing doesn’t work on Linux either, it appears. So I wasn’t able to do that either =/
I have no doubt that the spreadsheet is amazing and would help me a lot… but I don’t think it’s quite for me. Also I’m too lazy to sit down and finally figure it out.
Yeah I still struggle with it, cos dammit, I’m a designer, not a spreadsheet guru!
But I figured out enough to get my gear, talents and whatnot in and mess around that way. I’m -sure- there’s an easier way, but what I’ve got is working. Mostly. 
And Boo to the Linux world being locked away from full use of it too! (Silly Microsoft…)
Ive used the spreadsheet, it is a good tool as long as you can get all the items you have found in the data. It has helped me to decide on my raiding pet, and also on what gear i really want and what would be a small upgrade.