I'm fully expecting this to get nerfed, but I can't believe how blind I've been to the theorycrafting potential of shadow priests in Cataclysm.

Here's what I wasn't seeing: the holy tree really doesn't buff spells that much, but instead adds new tools to use.

What does that mean? Shadow priests can heal almost as well as holy priests for the spells that the holy tree didn't buff... like holy nova! I'm sure once Blizz realizes that a shadow priest can stay out of shadowform and heal pretty damn well they will once again buff shadowform so that it's required for decent DPS. However, as it currently stands, a 15% decrease in damage due to staying in caster form is well worth the ability to holy nova spam when being swarmed (for multiboxers - can't say the same for soloboxers).