Do Shamans have a place in end game content?

[Skandranon]

There is more than one way to skin a cat. There is no perfect build, you use what each individual brings to a raid and adjust to your strengths and weaknesses. Every class has multiple ways to bring valuable abilities to a raid and I refuse to pigeonhole any class into a "must have" build. Which makes me very happy to be in a guild that doesnt "make" people spec a certain way. Rather, we discuss our strengths and weaknesses and let intelligent players make choices that improve the guild as a whole. It also makes playing the game enjoyable and not a job.

While this is sort of a noble sentiment, it's important to recognize those occasions when different does mean weaker. Retribution paladins are underpowered for any form of end-game content right now, and it's because of people like GG who correctly understand that sometimes talents and talent trees are weak that Retribution is getting upgrades on test realms. The goal is for Retribution to be different-but-equal; we aren't there yet, and getting there is best served by a clear understanding of what's wrong, as opposed to a very simplistic "everything is fine only evil guilds force spec" view. (I'm not even sure how "right guild" got into the discussion. No one is talking about forcing spec, nor about making you or anybody else respec, and Retribution's insufficiency is objective, not merely a matter of opinion.)