Goofed around a little bit on the PTR, mostly with a solo shaman.

I have to say, I am impressed with the burst capability of the new talent tree and some of the new skills. Fulmination looks great, and will probably be a great tool for us, even if it is toned down some. While I haven't tested healing rain, it appears to be an excellent defensive tool. Also didn't test the new Elemental ability (can't recall name), but I can imagine how an additional +Fire buff will play out with Lava Burst.

In short, it looks like the defensive abilities of the class got stronger, all aspects of our offense got better as well. As much as I wanted to switch over to 4-5xBoomkins for Cata launch, it just doesn't seem like it's going to be the better team.

I have to agree with mosg2 completely here. The only real randomness added to the class is going to be easy for us boxers to deal with (or not deal with). Fulmination charges build up quickly enough that you'll probably have 7-9 on most characters when you want to use it, and the Lava Burst mechanic will be either terribly easy to include into rotations for more DPS, or something you'll be fine ignoring.

I also like that the Resto talents I'd most likely pick up will augment the team's healing ability. I think that we'll be able to drop tremors/groundings, a set of Healing Rains, and be able to chain heal through a crapload of damage, even with the non-Resto penalties. We'll continue to have tools that punish meleers who want to infiltrate the group, and the ranged damage (including burst potential) is only getting better.

I think I will run with a 4xShaman team as I have in the past, focusing on BGs. Maybe will pick a druid to add in the 5th slot so that I can have a tank or boomkin to add to the team. I've always preferred quadboxing BGs since it allows just a little more flexibility with teammates when you're on a small map, anyhow.

I'd love to be proven wrong about the druids, but I just don't think boomkins are going to be the way to go for Cataclysm. Not unless some of their damage abilities get a significant step up...