Do Shamans have a place in end game content?

[Treesh]

The elementalists that I run with generally don't run out of mana very quickly at all, unless they start throwing heal spells around. Just pewpewing, they can last quite a while right now.

And general impressions from the vast majority of folks on the wow boards just convinces you that the sky is constantly falling and every change is a horrible one. ;)

I looked at the PTR patch notes this morning and the only thing the elementalists are having toned down is "Elemental Focus": This talent now reduces the cost of the next damage spell by 60%. It will also now trigger from bonus spells cast by "Lightning Overload". So instead of 100%, it's 60%. If you have an elemental shaman in with a shadow priest or a pally puts wisdom on the shaman, right now, they can last like you wouldn't believe. I don't know if 60% is too much of a reduction or not, but I do know that one of our elementalists last night kept pewpewing his heart out in Karazhan without much need for drinking at all when we had the shadow priest in with the casters. We didn't have a pally along, but running out of mana was definitely not a big concern. And he only pulled aggro a couple of times. *splat* ;)

I'm going to put the whining of other elementalists in with the whining of the hunters - if you don't know what you're doing with the class, the sky is falling with every change. If you do know what you're doing with the class, the changes make sense and you'll work with the game mechanics in place to truly shine. I doubt I could play an elementalist, but I'm really, really glad we've got two good ones. :)