I myself spent roughly 15k gold on craftables and such for all my four shamans which helped me go into heroics/10 man raids almost straight away. I cleared all 10 man content (bar Malygos which I still haven't done, moreso because my guild is quite casual and don't have enough time per week to do all) within 2 weeks of dinging 80 on all four shammies.

Yes, I replaced those craftables pretty damn quick. And looking at it like that it seems like a damned waste.

But I doubt I'd have been as effective in heroics and raids if I didn't have them. :P