swapping a char for MS worth it?

I am currently leveling 2 groups that I want to hit arenas with when I get to 80. One is a 4 mage group, and one is a 4 ele shammy group.

First of all, I would like to say thank you to many of the people that post on dual-boxing.com, I had no idea how to start multi-boxing before I found this site, and I have found so much good info here.

I was wondering if anyone that runs a 4 mage or 4 shammy setup has ever tried swapping out one of their chars for a hunter (or even a warrior I guess) for the healing debuff. I haven't seen many posts from people who are trying this, so I assume there is a reason not to do it, but I can't see why so any info would be appreciated.

Also I am currently planning on using a disc priest to heal (mostly for the shield and the aoe fear), but I have one of each kind of healer between 60-80 so if I have missed something and should be using a different kind of healer I would appreciate any info about that.

Ty in advance :)

I, personally, haven't seen anyone swapping out a mage or shaman for hunter MS. and IMO, it is not needed. Range dps' problem is Not not enough damage. It is mostly that people run away from you. No healing is enough to heal through if your target just stand there and let you free cast on him. Hunter seems to be out of sync in both groups (attack, burst rotation). So I would suggest stick with 4 shamans and 4 mages.

Disc priest is good. 2nd to none as healer. But if you plan to play all 5 yourself in arena (as you controlling the priest where shaman follow), that might be difficult. Not impossible, but can be frustrating.

If the mage is frost, they have a MS effect there.
It isn't terribly deep in the tree, but I believe it applies the effect to frost spells.

MS can be pretty huge.
But running mostly the same toon type is generally stronger in pvp.

You could experiment with it, given you already have toons of the right level.
Possibly trade a mage for a shaman.
Then both teams get bloodlust/heroism, and both get an MS mage.

Ty both for the info.

Sounds like MS is overkill in these setups, or at least doesn't make up for the group synergy u lose by having to deal with a diff characters cooldowns/ burst.

As far as healing goes I figure I might as well have the option even if it won't work at higher ratings.

The only problem I have with the mage "MS" is that is is only 20%, as opposed to the 50% hunter/ warrior one.

I will def try swapping out a shammy for a mage or vice versa at some point and see if it seems helpfull or not.

TY again :)