WotLK talent/ability speculation

[Kevin]

And Priests only have a single DPS tree, and it's based wholly on Shadow damage and effects.

Maybe that balances it out - probably not - but it's something to be considered.

EDIT: While I don't have a high-end Restoration Shaman (she's either Elemental or Enhancement, depending on my mood), a good friend of mine does, and he talks about talented Chain Heal like it's god's gift to shamans. I guess it's not as swank as Prayer of Mending or having a true HoT, but it does fill a niche role - healing multiple people at the same time. I guess Priests can do that too, with Circle of Healing, but I haven't seen any deep Holy Priests in PvP for a very long time.

You under estimate how much damage a preist geared and spec'd for holy damage can do if you think they only have 2 damage options. 1000+ DPS in Kara/T5/Badge sustained over 6+ minute fights is not out of reach by any stretch of the imagination. And I've read that holy priests out DPS shadow priest in the very end game too and they don't need to have a ret pally with them, they do need a shadow priest for the longer fights though, but you can also just give them an innervate since they tend to try and get pretty high spirit levels as well. Just because it isn't common doesn't mean it doesn't work. :)