Suggestions/Observation on my new 5-man

[Malt]

Hello fellow keycloners. I got into multiboxing last week and I can easily say I will never go back. Thank goodness for my job. Anyway, I started a 5-man team from level 1 over the weekend and was wondering if I've chosen wisely.

The Sinq Sisters (5 female Dranei)
1 prot Paladin
2 elem Shaman
1 fire Mage
1 resto Shaman

I'm building them for PVE. Currently the gang are level 17 and about to give the Deadmines a first go. I've got a great macro set up for healing the party, and with a dedicated healer I haven't wiped yet. A few observations:

(Keeping in mind they have only been challenged by early zone content)
1- I haven't needed to tank anything yet, plus at level 17 the paladin tanks only marginally better than the shamen...
2- The mage draws aggro all the time...(even with lower rank fireballs on the pew pew macro button)
3- I need a macro that assists the tank then pew pew until that target is dead then switches to the current tank target. EG: I press 4 on keyboard, all pew pew assists tank and casts pew pew-I press 4 again, they cast again-tank switches targets but when I press 4 the dps does not assist again until the 1st target is dead.
4- I have yet to need cc on anything so I haven't macroed up polymorph, but I imagine it will be useful later on.

Anyway, what do you think about my end game possibilites with this team? Any suggestions on the classes?

Thanks for reading.

[aNiMaL]

Well, for leveling I'ld suggest speccing the resto shammy to elemental and heal with the pally (click2cast is a great mod to temporarily heal with just your main char)
even lowlvl instances aren't a problem like this,
all aggro except the one under fire will go to the pally, but since he's getting hit most, keep a way to heal with the shammies
I have no clue how this will work out in higher level stuff tho
then again, they mow down mobs so fast you won't feel a need for the extra dps

I'm sure the attack till death has been discussed before,
I'm not sure, but maybe something like:

/cast [harm,nodead] spell
/stopmacro [noexists] [dead]
/assist party1
(bleh, I've been out of this for to long, I'm at work atm and can't be certain about if it works like this or not)

[daviddoran]

My tank is a paladin and my priest a healer, but when starting out, my paladin is more useful as a healer than a tank. I'd do what was suggested and keep the shammies all elemental, it makes early macroing simpler. You only need a dedicated healer much later on, and I think you could get away with it until you do heroics.

Why the mage though? It seems like 4 shammies might have been easier to manage. I guess you might have wanted the CC, but AFAIK you don't need much CC with a pally tank. I currently have a mixed team (5 unique classes) and it's tough to manage. I am considering rolling 3 more shaman to add to my current (only) shaman to keep things simple. Also, with my group, my mage always seems to pull aggro from the tank, and either dies first, or needs too much healing. I think I would have preferred 3 mages or 3 shaman.

[Malt]

The main reason I went for pally/mage/shaman is because, honestly I'd like to have several different classes/specs to offer for raids. I do like raiding on occasion and socializing as well, and having a variety of classes makes me useful in more situations. But I agree, handling the mage dps is gonna be a big problem, I may create a scaling cast sequence macro for her whereby the rank of the fire spell starts low and builds to full level only to drop again. It seems fussy and it means I lose dps, but it allows me to include the mage in the team.

The reason I'm using a dedicated healer early on is actually just for practice. I want to hone my skills with this group from early on. It may not be as effective as a 5 man shaman team, but it will give my accounts an overall utility advantage...maybe...

Thanks for the responses.

[xtobbenx]

If you dont have any special reason for having 3 shammys. i would maybe considure changine 1 elly for a lock or hunter, and the resto for a prist or drood. just of the reason that if pve is the only goal then its better to mix out the classes for more buffes etc... But ofc, the setup you have is just fine as it is :D Really wise to go for a pally tank. I got a feral and 4 ellys (pvp is my goal) and i keep having agro problems in packs larger then 3 (swip hit 3 targets). Pallys are nice for agroing and you allways have option to self heal.

[Malt]

After running Deadmines a few times with several wipes, I'm convinced this will be a good team for pve. I'm a little underleveled to be clearing Deadmines atm, but the dynamic seems to be working. Pally tank WILL be great later on, but at the moment she's a bit meh. Thanks for all the responses.

[Knytestorme]

Pally tank will be bad until level 20. You won't keep agro off your casters without gimping your dps but at 20 you get concecrate and it's all good :)

[Malt]

Well, the team hit 40 today. Starting to get the hang of it. The holy shield/consecrate spamming pally is ideal. Also I specced the mage Arcane for the pbaoe and man was it worth it! My pulls look something like this most of the time.

1-body pull group of mobs with pally and consecrate/holy shield while backing up to the totem base.
2-build aggro on the mobs (in RFK I was tanking 10 mixed elite/non elite sometimes!)
3-put down magma totems
4-chain lightning/arcane blast/consecrate
5-DING!

Super fun. Gonna go farm the Whitemaine's Chapeau for a level or so then hit ZF.

[-silencer-]

Well, the team hit 40 today. Starting to get the hang of it. The holy shield/consecrate spamming pally is ideal. Also I specced the mage Arcane for the pbaoe and man was it worth it! My pulls look something like this most of the time.

1-body pull group of mobs with pally and consecrate/holy shield while backing up to the totem base.
2-build aggro on the mobs (in RFK I was tanking 10 mixed elite/non elite sometimes!)
3-put down magma totems
4-chain lightning/arcane blast/consecrate
5-DING!

Super fun. Gonna go farm the Whitemaine's Chapeau for a level or so then hit ZF.
That's basically how my paladin/4x shaman team works, without the arcane blast. Looking back, I do sometimes wish I swapped a mage for a shaman simply for the east of ports/food/drink/int buff/counterspell/sheep..
Always get the best shield spike possible on the paladin, and make sure he's got good gear (especially shield), and you'll easily be able to round up 20+ mobs and AoE them down. (Pirate Cove in Tanaris was a TON of fun around level 40.)