Quote Originally Posted by 'Ken',index.php?page=Thread&postID=182714#post1827 14
My statements are based on the evolvement of my own group, that went as follows:
4 shamans (lvl 70, BC)
=> 4 shamans + warrior tank (lvl 70, BC)
=> 3 shamans + warrior + priest (lvl 80, WotLK)
=> shaman, hunter, mage, warrior, druid (lvl 69-80, WotLK) AND shaman, hunter, mage, paladin, druid (lvl 69-80, WotLK) AND shaman, hunter, mage, paladin, druid, priest (lvl 69-80, WotLK)
So 3 relatively straightforward ranged DPS classes, and your choice of tank/healer. Your DPS dynamic doesn't change that much outside of your skip from 3 shamans to the shaman, hunter, and mage, relatively straightforward and front loaded damage dealers. Ever done any work with a shadow priest, warlock, rogue, DPS warrior, or death knights? Is your mage set up to account for hot streak procs? How's their spell hit?

Anything can be (and have been) macroed to output their top end DPS, but you face a serious issue of gearing and where in the DPS cycle their damage lands. Locks and shadow priests in particular face an issue of their damage starting off pitiful and slowly building up to a crescendo of ticking madness. You face particular issues in classes that don't involve the stack spell damage/crit mantra of shamans, and if, God help you, you have melee characters, there are a whole slew of stats you have to keep up on to make sure they stay relevant.

It's certainly challenging and interesting, but it also gets tedious and annoying the wider methodology of gearing and rotations you have to develop to get the thing to run, as opposed to straight shamans, which are pretty simple to stack your 2 stats, write a few macros, go to town, and end up being just as effective, if not more so, as a mixed class group trying to capitalize on synergy.