Not only that, but Balance was never a truly worked-on spec (at least from a design standpoint). I say so because I leveled from 60 to 70 as a Boomkin my first time around. I'm running a few more boomkin on my other 4 accounts now only because I have the most fun with them. Also, the Boomkin spec generally has a few more utility-based items rather than damage. Also, have you checked into how the fire totem damage affects ELE shaman DPS? IT would be interesting to know.

One thing is for sure - Blizz never quite got hybrids right - EVER. That, and I'm wondering if Boomkin wasn't intended to be more of a raid spec than a five-man spec since Boomkin has a built-in mana return (chance on melee hit, but still). I don't recall ELE shaman getting the same thing. Water shield, yes. But if they are getting hit much, something is wrong anyhow (assuming you're not 5-boxing, that is).

Bottom line - it's hard to tell what's going on, especially since gear for Boomkin is really hard to come by. Saying they have equal gear is hard to gauge, at least to me, anyway. Of course, I've not compared the specs on Bal druids and Ele shaman enough to determine who ought to have what stats.

Another thought as I'm typing this - I've been told by people before I started MBing that, even in green gear, my starfires were just DEADLY and my wrath spam was meh. I can't for the life of me tell why, but there ya go.