Why should I play this class. . .Hunter?

Before I get to the "meat" of the post, allow me to vent. Apparently there is a slight glitch in Wow preventing some people from creating death knights on servers where they don't have a 55+ level character. I am a person affected by this problem. Recently I have noticed daggerspine has been queuing up, so I decided to start some lowbies on Borean Tundra just for fun (I am a compulsive alt maker, what can I say?). I figured starting with a DK would be a great way to go, but alas, I continued to get the error "You must have a level 55 character on any realm to create a death knight." Um blizz, I have like 6 or 7, where have you been? Also, I wake up on my day off, feed the cats (who have been head-butting be for about a half hour, they get demanding when they want food) and see realms will be down to get arenas fixed. Arenas!?!?! Seriously!?!? I was HOPING to get some gank free leveling done while the kiddies were in school, oh well. So onto one of the two classes I don't like in Wow.

My personal goal for this post is to use the term "easy-mode" as little as possible. I mentioned I don't like hunters and it pretty much boils down to one thing: they bore me. Its not that I don't have experience with them, I have created 3 or 4. If you want fast, pain free leveling, its a good way to go, but to me, they're just not fun.

Solo:
Strengths: Blizz makes it very hard to die if you play your hunter correctly. After level 10 when you get your pet, the pet does a lot of the work, you pick them off from a distance with gun or bow, it only gets easier from there. Hunters have a number of abilities for aggro reduction, ranged damage, and can put out a decent amount of AOE.

Weaknesses: They um. . .melee. . .um they're boring? Honestly, with the "nerfing" of warlocks, hunters are the premier solo class in Wow. They can do more, and die less often than other classes.

Group:
Strengths: Hunters actually have tools to be successful in groups. Freeze trap is a GREAT CC ability. They also do respectable DPS and as one of the few mail wearers in the game, you're most likely not going to be fighting them for drops (sorry enhancement shammies, you will).

Weaknesses: They are so easy to level by button mashing, 90% (or more) hunters (Huntards, there I said it, had to get that out there once) really have no idea how to play their characters so they will be ineffective as anything other than a partially effective damage dealer.

PvP:
Strengths: Marksmanship hunters can be tough opponents in PvP, they have numerous tools to do more damage at range and some kiting abilities to slow opponents. Even for survival and beastmastery hunters, they have a pet to attack you and will be constantly running away shooting you. It is no fun fighting hunters in PvP. . .until you run up and smash them in the face with a crit and they die. . .sorry, we were discussing strengths. . .

Weaknesses: First and foremost there is the dreaded "hunter dead zone". You're not in melee, you're too close to be shot. If you also happen to be say a druid, and hibernate their pet, well, they are a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. Also, hunters are comparatively weak in melee so any rooting or kiting abilities allowing a melee character to close distance will hurt them.

Specs:

Beastmaster: BM hunters focus on buffing their pets, a stronger pet is a stronger hunter. This is the most often used spec for solo and group hunters. It is a very well rounded tree with a lot of useful abilities.

Marksmanship: MM hunters are primarily PvP although the line has PvE utility as well. Marksmanship takes what the hunter already does better than anyone else (ranged weapon attacks) and makes them better at it, increasing range, damage, crit chance, everything.

Survival: Survival is kind of the red headed stepchild of the hunter class. A lot of their abilities are used in melee which really isnt where a hunter should be. Still, this spec does have a number of abilties that will increase a hunter's survivability.

I'm not about to say hunters aren't a viable class for any facent of the game. I have seen good hunters who really know how to play their class and can trap, PvP and do excellent DPS in group settings. However, Blizz has made this class so. . (ARG!!) un-challenging to play, leveling really is just a rinse and repeat affair. I personally am looking forward to deleting mine (he is alchemy and LW and I havent gotten alts up to his levels yet). If you're looking to speed level a guy for whatever reason, I guess hunter is the easiest class to do it with. . .