Too early to call, let's see how it works out in practice. The absolutely worst case is that we end up with a "don't do this unless you are pretty sure you'll die if you do not" situation, which, even if it means you occasionally die in the wrong form when trying to do it, is still better than the current situation.

I have to say the hs macro for bear form is one of the most useful tools ive ever encountered. I used it to success at least three seperate occasions last night in my guilds hyjal run. They were times were I was below 500-1khp and successful used the macro and taken a hit right after which would have otherwise killed me. Also the powershifting macro is more then satisfactoy. Restating what was said above, the only times where it did not shift me back in IMMEADIATLY was when I was still currently inside a GCD. Ill have to try a modifier on my normal shift macros, currently I have a shapeshift cat macro and a powershifting one. Quick shifting between forms and instant casting abilities from caster or another form is also infinitely useful in terms of both pve and pvp!

1) DPS differences vary pretty hugely even on the same boss with the same gear, so I'm not sure how good a comparison could be made (I have parses from Teron which vary from around 1100 DPS to just over 1500 DPS with virtually identical gear just because of other stuff going on).
2) I quit raiding (well, playing in general as raiding was just about all I did) about 2 weeks ago, so I actually won't have any WWS's to compare.
3) The mangle idol seems pretty comparable/better than the other idols on offer as far as I can tell from all the theorycrafting thats gone on about it. The proc rate is around 85% with a non-refreshability (10 second cd) on it (I believe, that's the last I heard on it anyway). If you've gone for higher AP rather than crit, it's probably less worth it (you'll get less crits = less primal fury = longer between mangles/rips = less refreshing of the buff) but as long as you've gone the standard route of stacking agility it's probably pretty similar.

I'll be going through the main posts over the next couple of days and removing all the pre-2.3 stuff and updating whatever needs it for the new patch once it's clear what changes have been made (in case the patch notes/final PTR build/actual build aren't the same, which often happens).

I'll also be sticking in a macro's section to the main post, which will include the basics (cat powershift, bear healthstone/pot macro, additions in case you want a modifier for cat shifting to be on the same button as powershifting or whatever) but I'm open to suggestions as to extra ones to add.

Deep shadow is better than Bladeangel's by a fair bit, at the AP/crit levels where you have access to them.