Wow: are tauran shamies good at mage and melee?

Question

are they essential in parties and guilds

Answer 1

Shaman currently have a hard time finding groups, especially for heroics, since they lack CC. However, a well-played shaman of any spec is always going to be a boon to a party or a guild.

Elemental shaman are generally considered the less desirable of the DPS specs because what they bring (Wrath of Air totem) is less useful to casters than the Enhancement shaman's buffs to melee. However, if you're in a good, understanding guild and you're a good player, you'll almost always have a place in a raid no matter what your spec is.

As far as pure DPS output, a shaman is most likely never going to out-DPS a "pure" DPS class unless the shaman is very good and the DPS class is not.