solo viable resto idea.

[:1]While the need was made obsolete by dual spec, one thing that frustrated some people was that you could not be resto and be effective at solo questing....This kinda of limitation in the game is part of what led to dual spec.

BUT I now have the answer to making resto druids able to quest without respec or dual spec!

The resto druid gets the ability to summon a timberling who's damage is based on the healing it receives. But it's a short duration buff so it must continually receive some healing even if it's not taking much damage.

In this way, a resto druid, designed for and geared for healing, can now do some damage while doing his dailies. But the requirement to actively buff the timberling prevents you from 'cheesing' through group activities with a free damage pet, because where you are needed as healer, it's unbuffed damage will be pathetic, and you need to focus on your group.

Years too late, i know...
Something slightly further outside the box: give resto a 'bar' that can swing from healing to dps, gives a buff/debuff depending on where you are in the spectrum.

DPS spells would push towards the DPS side; healing spells push you towards the healing buff. At either spectrum, one would be doubled and the other would be halved (or pick your factor). I'd assume that at the DPS end, you would still be worse than a moonkin because you don't have the tools or buffs inherent in that class. At the healing end, you'd be as powerful as you are now as a resto.

Ta-da, something that's not easily cheesable, but gives the player some ability to 'balance' themselves towards their task at hand without requiring respeccing. (This is something that LotRO does with their runekeeper class)

(And I'm not sure your method of cheese prevention would work well enough. as a druid healer, I'm already paying attention to 5-10 targets. Changing that to 4-9 + my pet is really trivial compared to how much damage we expect it to be able to put out, unless you make the buff only 3 seconds or something retardedly irritating.)