x1Pally x4 Shaman, or a mixed team? (For PvE)

[Ken]

AND shaman, hunter, mage, paladin, druid, priest (lvl 69-80, WotLK)

No wonder things improved for you - you are now running 5 mans with 6 characters :) (It's either a mistake or you're raiding).

That was a typo :)

I don't think this should degenerate into my group composition is better than yours.

The pally/shaman combo has been tested and proven by a lot of people, call it flavour of the month effect but it works.

Of course it works, I'm just stating that it's not optimal in relation to buffs and gearing.

It's easier to macro up when you have 4 of the same class, with the same build.

Agree, but that's only a temporary problem. I actually find it a good thing that it's got more macro magic to it, cause I like to spend time trying to create the best macro-setup.

The totems are incredibly useful, and cover many, many situations.

Sure they are, it's just that after 8 totems down, you've covered the all the important ones.

Beign able to reincarnate on 4 and res on 5 is wonderful for wipe recovery when learning new instances.
You have less issues with procs like hot streak, earth and moon etc (not sure what the names are).

Other classes have their own wipe-recovery abilities.
Also, learning new instances covers a relatively small part of the game time. After that, you shouldn't suffer from 4 or 5 wipes an hour, 'cause then you're doing it wrong :P

Ken's group is well rounded buff wise and he feels it is easier to gear up, although I feel that crafted items shouldn't be discounted in the gearing up process considering the ease with which a team of 5 can farm gold at 80.

True. It's just that you can't craft a full epic set of a specific gear type. Crafting the items that you can craft for a character is going to cost a lot indeed and even though you can farm gold easier at level 80, it's still A LOT of gold, considering you probably want an epic flying mount too.

There is probably more complexity to macro setup, but once you've got that done it's down to tweaking again. Are the characters in the group performing optimally, who knows.

Indeed.

One thing to consider - a team with 4 shaman may be massively affected by any nerf (but also may be massively improved by an buff to a class). The team of 5 different classes will have less of an impact. (Note: some shaman teams were struggling post wotlk, but excel after the recent damage buff in the patch)

I like the idea of a diverse group - it would give me flexibility should I quit multiboxing to play different classes and fulfill different roles in the guild i'm in.
In reality a lot of folks with the shammy pally combo have other classes anyway.

It makes it easier in raids: some people will really be pissed off when you roll for every caster mail item with all 4 shamans(because it makes it very difficult for any other shaman to get the item), while they won't complain if you roll for almost every drop but just with 1 character.