Finding my niche (Intro)

If you're like me, you're serious about your Death Knight.

You've probably watched the patch notes to see how 3.2.2 will affect your day-to-day functioning. You know that Scourge Strike is back in, Obliterate is out for Unholy dps, and that DK tanks are getting a slight buff in the form of reduced cooldowns.

So, if you're a raider, what will you be running for Trial of the Crusader/Heroic TOC?

I'm still trying to figure it out. :)

After my return to the game after a 3 month hiatus, I found that unholy wasn't the unequivocal dps king any more; blood did premium single target dps, and frost was about to make a comeback in the form of being the 'new' dual wield tree. In fact, I had to obliterate in Tier 8 and above to do decent dps since Scourge Strike got 'obliterated' with the nerf bat!

So, having made an adjustment, I'm doing fine right now, but still trying to figure out my 'home' spec for dps. In addition, I've been asked to do more tanking due to the fact that my guild needed a few, and the 'raiding ratio' left me MTing 10-mans and heroics as discussed at Pwnwear.

In the next few posts, I'll be visiting each of the primary dps specs in a 'live' raid and reporting on it's performance (and mine) here, attempting to find my niche. I'll present each in turn, and hopefully figure out my place in this world (of warcraft). For tanking, I'll likely have one topic covering the future of raid OTs/smaller raid MTs either on this space or perhaps on a tanking site.

Edit:
Just wanted to add the primary criteria I'll be using for judging each spec.
1) DPS. After all, dps is about dps is about dps! Compare situations each shines (e.g., aoe vs single target, etc.)
2) Raid utility. What does the spec offer the raid. I won't be testing specs that disregard the main buffs provided, even though many/most of the times all the buffs are covered by other guildies.
3) Fun. How does the spec 'feel.' Did I enjoy it? This is of course purely subjective and what I find fun others may not and vice versa.