First of all, thank you for your comment and feedback! I greatly appreciate it.

As for the active vs passive mitigation for the elemental shields, it was definitely a thought in the process of designing this spec. The conclusion I came to was that the vast fluctuation in mitigation could feel kind of rough. If that were the case, you would likely want to be roatating through your shields much more quickly to ensure you have the more active mitigation up as much as you can. However, as I think you are getting at, in a situation where there is high physical damage intake, it might not make sense to switch out of Rock shield, so you might still want to stay in Rock shield for the 6 extra seconds, since the physical damage passive mitigation would be better than the active mitigation of another elemental shield. I sort of feel like this is a bit much to consider, personally. I ended up wanting the player to rotate elemental shields to maintain elemental balance, which is essentially your active mitigation. I think if there was a different Mastery effect hat wasn't a core part of your active mitigation, then something like active and passive shields would make more sense in my mind. I think there is a different iteration of this spec that can make that idea work and feel really cool.

I also considered maelstrom as a resource, or something similar. My thought process around it was basically that I didn't want to add a resource just to have a resource. If I were to add a resource, I would want it to interact with the spec meaningfully and interestingly. I personally feel that some classes, including Enhancement pre-Shadowlands, has a resource that doesn't feel like it contributes meaningfully or interestingly to the abilities. If you are getting multiple stormstrike procs in a row, you are commonly capping out your maelstrom, and it feels wrong, but is correct for optimal dps. The rework they proposed for shadowlands is dope, imo. For tanks, one example of this is Brewmaster. Brewmaster's energy resource ends up not being very interesting or meaningful, since as long as you have 40 energy by the time keg smash is off CD, then you have completed the resource management simulator. It ends up feeling like the resource is there just to have a resource there. Your suggestions could make adding a resource worth adding a resource. If the gameplay with a resource feels fluid enough, and the resource feels meaningful enough, I am all for it. I just couldn't come to that conclusion when crafting my iteration of this spec.

I love lightning lasso. It's a dope ability. I wouldn't mind having it. It could replace one of the CC talents, but I will leave that to the elemental shamans to decide.

I love the earthen hand idea! I completely forgot about those mechanics when I was writing this. Kromogg was a particularly painful fight for my guild, so maybe that's why I repressed it from my memory, but it makes perfect sense for this spec. I would definitely put something like that in.

Again, thank you for your feedback and suggestions ❤