With the recent nerf to EF, I'm starting to think out of the box now and how it may be possible that a shaman may be an oddball class that is not only a hybrid class but be able to hyrbid spec (druids feral would be the only other consideration i can think of that does sorta does that...except they get one tree to do it) Most hybrids must pigeon-hole themselves into a spec and that is their role. But what about a class that has dual roles..I think its an interesting concept. Plus it'd be fun as hell and keep the game interesting.

So ive been basically respecing weekly between ele and resto. I have decent gear for both (ele- 562dmg, 18.5crit...resto 1150heal, 131mp5, 9400mana) The things I wanna focus (I really shouldn't use the word focus since this idea isnt based on focus'ing on one thing) on are still being able to throw on my healing gear to be a viable healer BUT be able to sustain DPS in a raid setting while buffing my group as well as off-healing. PvP currently im an all-out nuker, but reducing mana costs and having mana tide would be extremely nice to have. Also farming/questing is a pain in the ass as a resto build...id like to alleviate that (3 second LB's are just not fun) Also I still want the ability to switch to ele in certain PvE fights if needed. (which is one of the reasons ive had to respec so often) I know some of the responses would be "just bring a mage" or "just bring a pally" but I think there is some nice utility to shamans that could really help raids (10-man or 25-man) in a truly hyrbid role.

Here is my spec im thinking:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=GE0uq00aVZZE0ezVxoz

Why I chose what I did-
Healing:
This healing build is built around mana regen and mana conservation. While there aren't many talents that ive chosen to increase my healing % persay, I beleive my mana conservation well be fairly close to being on par if i had spec'd more to +healing benefits. Unrelenting storm will give me about an extra 30-50mp5 (depends on buffs) which in a 5min fight will give me an additional 2-3k mana. I didnt care much for Healing Focus and Nature's Guardian (these are primarily pvp skills with some PvE viability)

Elemental:
This build is truly hyrbid for an ele shammy. My main focus was to get to Lightning Mastery and Elemental fury first and foremost as these are essential for burst damage as well as constant LB spamming in an ele PvE build. You may wonder why i got call of flame...well i see reverb as simply a PvP skill that i can live whithout and Call of flame will help PvE ele as well as farming. My largest concern is the gimp I get without having Elemental Precision. A quarter of this is made up by getting Nature's Guidance, but the threat is still going to be an issue. (i guess get Subtley to cape...even then..its still gimp) However here is my logic...In a pve ele situation I would be in the group of mana damage dealers. Obviously WoA is a boost as well as Mana Spring, but Mana Tide would also prove wonderfully for mages, etc who have noted that they still have to mana pot chug in raids. (trust me mages/locks/hunters love me when im in their group when i mana tide) Now, granted this would be no different than me being pure healing...i could play an active hyrbid role (i say this because i end up having to off-heal in kara quite a bit as well as hearing people saying it may be necessary for fights like some fights like gruul) My point being is that I could dish out some serious damage while still having some very nice healing efficiency. Also, theres talk now on the PTR that Mana Tide might really help ele shamans sustaining DPS in a raid setting...meaning more overall damage in the long run.

Pros:
-Mana Tide - good for both healing and ele...especially with EF nerf in 2.1
-Versatility
-A good mix of DPS and Healing...would be like making me the 3.5th healer and the 4.5th DPS'r (i.e. in a 10man)

Cons:
-Threat in PvE is a major issue...but a mix of healing and DPS'n can alleviate that
-Plus+hit is a concern...but can be somewhat alleviated a bit by gear
-Lack of +Heal skills

I'm going to test it out next week and let u know how I like it.

Any thoughts/comments/concerns???

I was that spec for a while. It's pretty good, it works as advertised, and I think it's the best build for running heroics as the off healer. One difference between your build and mine though, and I've got to nitpick- totemic focus doesn't do much for you. With the high crit rate you'll be aiming for, you'd be doing yourself a serious disservice not to take ancestral fortitude. You could toss the other 2 points into imp. reincarnation or 2/3 healing way, or whatever else floats your boat.

It's not great for raiding though. That's a min/max environment, and if you are performing a dps role, you'll be pretty severely threat limited, at the least. You can't really heal effectively in elemental gear and switch to dps later(the most likely "hybrid switch" to make, like druids tanking an add until it's dead, and then switching to dps), because your heals are somewhat puny and you'll run yourself oom besides. You can't do much dps in healing gear either. I was ending up being assigned "dps with patch healing" 9 times out of 10 and there's really not much reason not to go 41/20 then and make the casters happy, so I did.

Again, being able to put up ancestral fortitude a good amount of the time is an interesting niche of the playing style.

@daler
Well I'm more or less demonstrating that I realize there is a major con to this build...however I think a shaman healing/DPS'n might be able to sustain their threat by actively doing both. I'm also presenting the idea to get some suggestions from people to say either "ya, threat will be huge without those talents" or other possible verifications of what I've personally thought about. I'm more or less admitting there are flaws but wanted to get some verification on how badly it may affect the role. Trying to think outside of the box here instead of the typical "This will increase my prime role of DPS by x% or healing by x%"

Another alternative is any suggestions on what to sacrifice and additionally sacrificing DPS threat or healing?

@snow
I agree with the respec'n to 41/20 idea but thats sorta why I chose to go deep into resto to get mana tide. With the EF nerf, mana tide may in fact provide more longevity for a ele DPS'r. Raids have always been min/max but why not break the trend ;-P

After thinking about it...what about this build:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=GE0uq00aGZZEcczixoz
Threat is no longer an issue, but LB's become 2.6s casting (kinda like frostbolt spec now). I think most people on paper might see that as dumb, but it'd be interesting to see its versatility.

ah gotcha..i ran a search and didnt see a subject so conclusive to my idea. I guess u can close this thread and ill chat in that one...

Thanks.

Well, as Snow pointed out, raiding in TBC is a min/max environment. Having hybrids that provide mediocre DPS and mediocre healing is not really a viable option. With the elem stats you posted, you'll still be lagging well behind by missing out on an extra 9% hit and 3% crit compared to a deep elem shaman. And the only healing benefit you bring that a deep elem build doesn't is NS, Mana Tide and an extra 7.5 mp5 while that's on CD. Is that worth a hefty decrease in DPS or healing? Personally, when building my raids, I can't think of a case where it is. I'd never knowingly bring a mix of mediocre damage and healing throughput when I can just bring a shadow priest instead.

And as a deep elem build currently, yes, threat will be a big issue without that 10% reduction. Even with salv, over the course of a 6-8 minute fight, I have to keep my eye on KTM constantly. LO procs and the massive strings of crits I put out at 35% (w/totem) can really cause my threat to skyrocket mighty quick.

You can do pretty competitive DPS and secondary healing with a simple gear switch with something like 34/0/27, but you really can't do the reverse. That's the only decent hybrid build shamans have. Of course it isn't a raid build.

The second build looks fairly good, although you may as well drop out the 2 points in Lightning Master and put them into Unrelenting storm & something else.

a 30/0/31 build is the most versatile of the Shaman builds out there, given that Tide is more useful than EM.
You may also want to look at including Healing Way

That's a nice build for Leotheras.

30/0/31 is a nice generalist build. I've tried it myself for a bit, but I remain unconvinced that the gain in going from 20/21 Resto to 31 Resto is worth the loss in Elemental. Going from 31 to 41 Resto is a giant leap in healing ability, but with that proposed 21-31 jump... not so much. Is dropping 6% hit, -10% threat, EM, and ~5%ish damage to grab 24% group-wide mana every 3 minutes and a slightly increased Healing Stream (in dmg gear that is) worth it to you? Perhaps I've just been raiding too long and feel the urge to specialize more in one way or another. Not to mention I subscribe to the "the quicker it dies the less healing that is needed" school.

Have you considered Purification? 4 or 5 points in there for 8-10% healing increase is good stuff.

Lightning mastery is the defining talent of elemental spec. It's solely responsible for making elemental shamans competitive DPS. It's probably the best 5 point talent in the entire game. Moral to the story: don't sacrifice lightning mastery.