I've played PVP a lot on survival hunter in 1.17.2 and 1.18.1
This spec is fine in PVE, but got big flaws in PVP.
The main flaw is inability to interrupt casts.
All the other classes got such abilities:
Rogues got kick, blind and multiple stuns
Warrior got pummel, intercept and aoe fear
Paladin got 5 sec stun
Mage got counterspell (not counting sheep and possible stun procs as interrupts)
Warlock got Death Coil, Fear, interrupts on felhound/felguard/succubus
Druid got stun in bearform
Priest got AOE fear + some stuns in different specs and can overall outlive the enemy by using shields and heals
MM Hunter got Scatter shot -> FD -> Freezing trap combo
BM hunter got Intimidation
Surv hunter got none of that, and as a melee class he needs it more than ranged specs.
You can argue that surv can put Freezing trap without Scatter and FD, but:
- It's hard to hit a moving target with a trap
- The trap can and will trigger on pets, totems, etc
- The trap is broken by any damage, and Surv hunter got poison dot damage ticking on the enemy all the time from the talent Stinging Nettle. Also traps are used to deal damage as an ability in the rotation, so they are on cd most of the time
Why it's bad:
Surv hunter cannot prevent healers from casting heals and casters from casting cc. It makes the spec very vulnerable vs all casters.
I suggest to pick one of the following:
- A new talent deep in Survival tree that provides Surv hunter with a kick that prevents from casting the same magic school for 3 seconds with 30 seconds cd
OR
- A new talent deep in Survival tree that provides Surv hunter with a 4 seconds stun with 1 minute cd