Whats so great about NS is that...in 3 minutes u'll have another one. I really fail to see what i want mana efficiency for, when they rush into ur face and nuke ur main, mana burning ur healer, stun locking him to death.

I'll put it this way: sometimes, ur sidekick is the bait, and u gotta output all damage u can in seconds, and i think a 14k instant spell can help more than 12% crit and hit with spells.
Everyone knows that a elemental shaman often chooses NS for PvP, thats why u'll have on wotlk a knockback spell, to kinda give u time to cast that spell u couldn't with an enemy on u. Either u choose thunderstorm or NS, but then i think u will lack astral shift. i really dunno at the moment, all i know is that pvp aint pve. pvp isn't about long fights, or at least, long action fights im most cases. they come, u start nuking, kill one or at least try to, and in my case 12% crit more wont be an element of surprise.

in the end, its about how u feel, and if u feel comfortable with 12% crit hit instead of an instant attack that most times will make them crap their pants, its ur choice man.

perhaps thats why spell dmg gems would make a smarter choice in pvp if u have tow's. if u don't, u gotta stack a bit more crit in gems.

as for awsome or not...

Long lasting high, unpredictable damage output. - long lasting only if they hide behind a pillar, i wont need dmg output.

Ability to kill lots of people for a long time. - their only five, doing los almost all the time if their smart.

Mana efficiency - triggers Clearcasting more often. - unfortunnetly, their not mobs, they are moving self inteligent targets, that can be unpredictable. if an arena was a still spot fight, we're u aim ur spell to ur target, that would be different imo lol

Increased healing, both from yourself and your healer. - from what i experience, i wont always spamm heals like in pve, wihout anyone bothering me. i was a high end healer and a pvp healer in my pala, and i see big differences. in pvp i will have to use a lot of tools so i can heal at least...5 times in a row. 12% helps, thats makes 30% on my pala for eg. but...i prefer my partner to insta gib someone instead of giving me more crit, and making the fight a long one. MS debuffs cant be fought with 12% crit in spells, but instead if they are killed, fast.

Holy Paladin gets much better mana efficiency. - i have a holy paladin, for a long time. rest, read above.



i have to say i understand ur opinion. i know what u mean. i just dont know if u know how to use NS, or if u were always unlucky with it, but in my case, in PvP, an instant attack, is an instant attack.