Origins of the Shammy+Pally Fad/Phase/Craze/Insanity(?)


In general, it's easier to map classes that are identical because the spells will all match up 100% with the cooldowns, cast times, and uses. For example, on a warlock a direct damage spell that you can spam would be shadowbolt, but it may have a different cast time then a mage's fireball or frostbolt. Therefore, you'd have to "button mash" your key in order to make sure the spells were casted back to back.

With identical classes, the spells, cooldowns, and cast times all map together perfectly.

Hybrids are ideal as well, because not only can their spells be mapped perfectly to each other, but they can each be specced to a different role at whim -- you can have one spec for healing + dps, another for all out dps (perhaps for leveling), and you have the option of changing this combination at any time.

As for shammies, they also have the additional benefit of being the only hybrid (shaman, druid, paladin) that has both a rez, a dps spec, a healing spec, and a way to break fear via Tremor Totem. AoE fear is one of the main pain points of multiboxing, and without a reliable counter you have to use PvP trinkets or abilities with cooldowns (i.e. WoTF) to remove it.

Shaman can also "tank" some early level instances, though if you're looking at instances over level 40 or so, you'll probably be better off with a specced plate/bear tank.