Group Composition (Long, Thoughts Appreciated)

[Rin]

You know, we should probably just build a concise list of classes, specs, and synergy (both in an individual capacity and in a stacking capacity) and the difficulties associated with them so we can stop tossing vague accusations back and forth. More on that as I get the time.

This is coming from an idea that came from Bigfish in a previous thread. The following is a group composition that I would like to discuss, please read through this and let me know your reactions.

Cheers!!


Group:

Death Knight (Blood), 3x Shaman (2x Elemental 1x Resto), 1x Druid (Balance)
*small note: if you roll on the Alliance side, it appears as if the Dra racial can be applied to all members in your party (+1% hit rating)

Synergy (these assume level 80):

[Druid]
Gift of the Wild (+37 to all attributes, 54 to all resistances, 750 armor @ 80)
Thorns (for your tank)
Moonkin Form (+5% crit, also provides haste)
Earth and Moon (+13% damage to target)
Faerie Fire debuff

[Death Knight] - Spec Blood w/ unholy.

Improved Rune Tap w/ Glyph (30 sec AOE heal (1200+) for your entire party)
Permanent Pet (With 3.1, you'll be able to get to the bottom of the Blood line, while still picking up the perma-pet. Currently, you can stop your DK at around the Hysteria mark)
PRE-3.1: The Death Knight's Blood Aura returns 4% of everyone's damage back to them as health.
Mark of Blood (AOE healing again), 3 minute cooldown.
Use Frost Presence for Tanking (currently, you don't need to go down the frost tree in order to be a decent tank)


[Shaman]
While resto may not be needed in all scenarios, I've added Resto here as an item of discussion

Totem of Wrath (spell crit)
Windfury Totem (melee attack haste, works with the DK)
Strength of the Earth and Stoneskin totems
Healing Stream Totem (Group heal every 2-seconds)

Resto benefits:
Earthliving (HoT, no-direct control)
Ancestral Healing (no-direct control)

-------------------------------------

Now I would like to logically discuss the 4th Shaman vs a Druid.

With the 4th Shaman, you gain the following:
- 1 Healing Stream totem
- 2 Extra Elemental Pets (20m cooldown ea., can be reduced w/ glyphs)
- 1 extra air, earth, and fire totem (fire adds to the dps, if you use a grounding totem, you save yourself from 1 spell cast, and earth can be used for whatever you'd like)
- 1 elemental oath
- Less custom macros for boxing (easier to initially setup)

With the Druid you gain the following:
- 5% extra crit chance (moonkin aura and totem of wrath do stack)
- Gift of the Wild (as your stats go up, so does your dps, health, and everything related)
- Damage shield (not much damage, but over time, the thorns add up)

I'm leaving off Earth and Moon on purpose, because that would be a topic of an Unholy spec'd death knight vs a blood spec.
Many of us here who have rolled Death Knights are running the Unholy spec, simply because we didn't make a druid.
I would argue that in the aforementioned setup, having the Blood Death Knight in your group would be superior than an unholy one, simply because of the dps benefits.
While unholy dps is nothing to laugh at, I feel compelled to lean towards the side of group healing, self-healing, AND good dps.
Although, again, I will mention that the Blood DK is only viable in a situation where you have a druid - clearly you would not want to give up the
Death Knight's Unholy talent which causes a target to take more damage.

What am I missing?

Since I believe that the above setup is superior to a 4x Shaman/1x DK group, I would like to focus this discussion on WHY the group setup above is inferior to a 4x Shaman + a Death Knight group.
Please be critical and please be informative in your postings. This isn't a my-group-is-better-than-yours discussion, but rather an educational lesson that I am trying to understand.

[Owltoid]

....5% extra crit chance (moonkin aura and totem of wrath do stack)....

Um, I'm not so sure about this. I was under the impression that they do not stack.

[Bigfish]

I think they do. Totem of wrath is a debuff on the enemy, and boomkin/EO is a party buff.

[Owltoid]

I think they do. Totem of wrath is a debuff on the enemy, and boomkin/EO is a party buff.

I guess that proves how little I know about ele shammys

[wowphreak]

druid also brings Innervate , Remove Curse, Tranquility and Rebirth

the only negative thing that I can think is having to worry about maximizing the dps for em