The most important weapon for a hunter is his ranged weapon. Bows, guns and crossbows. First of all, there is no difference between using any of these weapons. A gun user can do just as much damage as a bow user. It just depends on the stats of the weapon and its ammo. When choosing a ranged weapon the three most important factors to consider are speed, damage and stats.
Speed is important because it determines how much of your attack power your weapon will receive. Like spell damage, your weapons only receives a percentage of your total attack power. Slower weapons receive a larger potion than fast ones because they don't fire as often. Slower weapons are also the easiest to use with a shot rotation.
The damage of your weapon is also very important. Since the attack speed of your weapon will vary from item to item you can judge the overall damage by its DPS. This is an average of your weapons minimum and maximum damage. This isn't your total DPS though, that comes from factoring in your attack power. In general, the higher your weapons DPS is the better it is, the exception to this is with attack speed. If two weapons have the same DPS but one has a longer attack speed, it would be the superior weapon because of the bonus from your attack power.
The final factor is your weapons stats. This is usual the least important because you will be relying on your other gear for stats. Ranged weapons will usually have attack power and critical strike one them. However, if your current weapon has more than two or three points of DPS than the new weapon you should stick to the old one.
Ammo is a fairly straightforward piece of equipment. Without it your ranged weapon will have nothing to shoot. Ammo will directly increase your DPS by a set amount. The better the ammo the more expensive it will be. Because of this you should try to carry different types of ammo with you. Keep high level ones for raids and groups and low level ammo for farming and grinding. An important aspect of ammo is your ammo case. You can either use a quiver for arrows,
or a pouch for bullets. Ammo containers also have an extra bonus for attack speed. Bigger and better quivers will give you more of a bonus.
Melee Weapons
Melee weapons are not nearly as important as your ranged weapon. Your primary use for them is for their stats and not their damage output. Generally your priority stats in a weapon will be will be lots of attack power and crit. After that you should look for things like agility, stamina and intellect. Since you will not be meleeing that often, weapons with a “chance on hit effect should be avoided.
A big factor in choosing weapons is if you want to duel wield, or use a two hander. Two handed weapons will always have more stats then a one handed weapons. But sometimes two one handers will have more stats. However, it is more difficult to find two one handers that have excelent stats and you will have to spend more for enchantments. I have found that, especially in the end game, it is better to use a two handed weapon.
Armor Guide
Your armor is your primary way of increasing your stats. The quality of your equipment will determine your effectiveness as a hunter. While it would be nice if you could spread your stats out evenly, that is rarely ever possible. Most gear will rarely have more then three different stats or modifiers. The more they have the fewer each one will be so it isn't overpowered.
You will have to collect different types of gear for your different types of play styles. A Beastmaster Hunter will need attack power, critical strike and hit rating as their primary stats. The reason for these stats is because you will be depending on your pet as your partner and they will receive a portion of your abilities. If you plan on soloing and having your pet do lots of tanking you should probably load up on stamina as well. At level seventy you should aim for 1400-1600 AP, 20% crit and 7% hit.
Marksman hunters are similar to Beast Master hunters. They will also want to focus on attack power, but they will need more of it. Critical strike is also very important, but if you increase it above the suggested values you can afford to cut back a little on your AP. Hit is also very important because you will be
relying so much on ranged damage. Your should aim for 1900-2000 AP, 20% crit (or higher) and 8% hit. A marksman spec is also very mana intensive. If you plan to do any grouping you should invest in gear with intellect or mana per five.
The stats for a Survival hunter are special. You will need critical strike first and foremost, but also dodge and AP. Since you need all three of these stats it is best to load up on gear with lots of agility. It will give you all three and most mail gear will also have one of these stats as well. As a survivalist you should aim for over six hundred agility and 25% critical strike or higher. If you intend to PVP you should also gather as much stamina as possible.
Equipment By Level
Until about level fifteen nearly all of the equipment you have access to is either white quality or very weak green quality. There are also almost no blue quality weapons or leather items till this point either. But because you level up so quickly it would be a waste of money to get expensive blue items at this point. Try to find “Of the monkey” greens on the AH or else focus on agility and stamina.
Level 20-29
Armor
Fletchers Gloves (Crafted)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=7348
Tunic of Westfall (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=2041
Warsong Boots (Horde Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=16977
Barbaric Bracers (Crafted)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=18948
Weapons
Venomstrike (WC)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=6469
Farstrider Longbow (Horde Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=22982
Nightstalker Bow (RFD)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=6696
Level 30-39
Armor
Tripprunner Dungarees (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=9624
Shadowskin Gloves (Crafted)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=18238
Wolffear Harness (BOE)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=13110
Fleshhide Shoulder (Glutton, RFD)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=10774
Weapons
Glass shooter (Gnomergan)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=9456
Quillshooter (BOE)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=10567
Level 40-49
Armor
Dragonscale Gaulntlets (Crafted.)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=8347
Infernal Trickster Leggings. (Mara)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=17754
Arena Bands (STV Arena)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=18711
Rockgrip Gaunlets. (Mara)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=17736
Weapons
Galgan's Fireblaster (Uldaman)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=9412
Megashot Rifle (Mara)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=17717
Level 50-59
Armor
Golem Fitted Pauldrons (BRD)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=22212
Deathdealer Breastplate (BRD)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=11926
Black Dragonscale Breastplate(Crafted
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=15050
Black Dragonscale Shoulders (Crafted)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=15051
Black Dragonscale Leggings (Crafted)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=15052
Weapons
Verdant Keeper's Aim (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=17753
Dark Iron Rifle (Crafted)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=16004
Carapace Spine Crossbow
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=18738
Malgen's Longbow (BOE)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=22318
Level 60-62
Armor
Bonechewer Berserker's Vest (quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28057
Bladefists Breadth (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28041
Handgaurds of Precision (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25716
Perfectly Balanced Cape- (BF)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25712
Scale Leggings of the Skirmisher (HFR
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24022
Weapons
Legion Blunderbuss (BF)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24389
Warsong Howling Ax (BF)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24394
Shadowrend Longblade (HFR)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24020
Level 63-64
Armor
Tracker's Belt (Slave Pens)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24360
Scorpid-Sting Mantle (Slave pens.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24366
Dark Cloak of the Marsh (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25712
Choker of Bloodied Feathers (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31727
Weapons
Coilfang Needler (Spens)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24381
Ethereal Warp Bow (Mtombs)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25953
Stalker's Fangs (UB)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24464
Dib'Muas's Crysknife (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31756
Level 65-66
Armor
Shamblehide Chestgaurd. (UB)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24465
Lykul Bloodbands (UB)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24451
Consortium Mantle of Phasing (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29326
Boots of the Outlander. (MT)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25941
Mok'Nathal Beast Mask (Crypts)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27414
Earthen Mark of Razing (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25562
Level 67-68
Armor
Natasha's Chocker (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31695
Malefactor's Eyepatch (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31547
Greaves of Desolation
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27936
Hourglass of the Unraveler (BM)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28034
Weapons
Hemet's Elekk Gun (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25639
Lohn'goron Bow of the torn heart -quest
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31072
Amani Venom Axe- (Hillsbrad)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27424
Terokk's Quill (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29329
Honed Voidaxe (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25762
Level 69-70
Armor
Ar'tor's Mainstay- (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30951
Stalker's Helmet of Second Sight
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31106
Shattrath's Champion Belt (Quest)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31462
Towering mantle of the Hunt (Bot)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28306
Outland Striders (Arc)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28384
Dream Wing Helm (Slabs)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27888
Beast Lord Cuirass (Bot)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28228
Beast Lord Handgaurds (Shalls)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27474
Beast Lord Helm (Mech)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28275
Beast Lord Leggings (SteamVaults)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27874
Beast Lord Mantle (SteamVaults)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27801
Weapons
Melmorta's Twilight Longbow (BM)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27987
Emberhawk Crossbow (Arc)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28397
Recoilless Rocket Ripper (SteamVaults
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27794
Sonic Spear (Slabs)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27903
Edge of the Cosmos (Mech)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28267
Stormreaver Warblades (Bot)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28315
Reflex Blades (Arc)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28392
Gems
After level sixty many high level items contain gem sockets that you can use to augment your gear further and customize your playing style. Gems come in three different types. Pure colored gems like red, yellow and blue focus exclusively on one stat like strength, crit or healing. Most of the time you will want to focus on these types of gems when socketing your armor. This lets you maximize a certain stat that you are low on like +healing or attack power. Mixed color gems are a combination of two primary
gems. So a purple gem might have a red gems +spell damage and a blue gems +stamina. In order to not be overpowered mixed gems always have have the power of a pure colored gem, but its strength is spread out over two slots. For the most part you will only want to use a mixed color gem if you are trying to complete a socket bonus, or want to raise two attributes evenly. The final catigory of gems are meta gems. These can only be equipped in head armor and have a special effect besides just boosting your stats. They also require a certain condition be met before being activated like having a certain number of colored gems, or more of one color than another.
Socket Bonuses.
The sockets on a piece of gear will correspond to one of the three primary colors. If you match the color of the gem with the socket most armor will give you a socket bonus of some extra strength or spell damage or stamina. You don't need to match the sockets with the color of your gems, but if you do you won't gain the bonus. For the most part though socket bonuses are not very worthwhile. In order to get a socket bonus you may need to use gems that don't fit very well with your playstyle, where as if you ignore the bonus and put in the gems you want you will usually gain a larger bonus to the stat you most want.
Beastmaster Gems
Beastmasters will want to focus on attack power and stamina since their pets benefit from those stats as well.
Red sockets should almost always be filled with Bright gems that increase your attack power. Wicked is a good mixed gem if you need to fill a socket.
Yellow sockets should have either Smooth for critical strike, or Ridged for hit. If you are very close to the hit cap or are going to PVP you should just use Smooth. Mystic is also a good choice if you need to raise your Resilience.
Blue Sockets should be Solid for pure stamina, especially if you are going to have your pet tank or PVP.
Marksmanship gems
Marksmanship hunters will be very similar to Beastmaster, but they will want more critical strike.
Red sockets should still be focused on attack power with Bright gems, but Wicked is a good mix of AP and crit.
Yellow sockets will again be filled with either Smooth for crit or Ridged for hit. Ridged is probably better in PVP until you reach the hit cap, but from there on get Smooth. If you PVP get Mystic for resilience instead of Ridged.
Blue sockets have several different options. If I am raiding I prefer to have Lustrous gems that restore mana/5. But in PVP Stamina is always best.
Survival Gems
Survival will usually want to have as much AP as possible, mostly through agility. If you don't care about socket bonuses always try to put in as many +AP gems as you can.
Red sockets should always have +agility gems like Delicate if you are going for an expose Weakness build. If you raid you might just want to put nothing but these in.
Yellow Gems will usually be +crit and hit again. Hit will be a little more important than crit, but once you are capped go for crit. If you are PVPing though skip the hit and use Mystic for resilience, or use Jagged for some extra stamina.
Blue slots will either need to be nothing but Solid stamina gems, or mixed gems. Solid is only useful if you are going to be hit a lot like in PVP. In a raid you would be better off with an Infused gem.