Flex Tier or Warforged

[chazus]

So on a number of characters, I have two choices. Flex Tier gear (specifically Head/Chest/Shoulders) @ 540, or Ordos off-tier @ 559.

My question is, is the 4pc Tier Bonus good enough to outweigh the sheer stats on 38 ilvl between two items? Does it depend on the class or can one safely say yes/no?

[Basemath]

I think you may need to tell us what the classes and specs are exactly. For instance, if one of those is a Ret Paladin, you would definitely drop the 559 in favor of the 4 set. Warriors, not so important, especially for DPS warriors (not 100% sure about this one). Arcane Mages have a grey area also, where 3 Warforged + 2 flex might trump 4 Flex.

[Denkou]

Warriors, not so important, especially for DPS warriors (not 100% sure about this one).

Warrior 4-set is garbage.

But yes, OP, you need to tell us what class and spec you play, as your question is very broad.

[chazus]

Shadow Priest
Enhancement Shaman
Fire Mage
Marksman Hunter
Unholy DK
Feral Druid
Fury Warrior

[SoulForge]

I kept the 4 piece on my enhancement shaman. More lava lashes.

[Basemath]

Will briefly go over one thing before I give my opinion Many things decide what's better the 4-set or 2-set + WF. The strength of the 4 set, the sort of secondary stats on the WF pieces, the secondary stats you'll lose from the tier, etc... Nowadays, the fact that an item is WF isn't enough to drop 4 set for it, regardless of the strength of the 4 set. The question comes up, does the WF piece have the 'right' secondary stats? For instance, your Warrior, where Crit is king, do your WF pieces have Crit? Also preferably no Haste? It wouldn't be worth it to drop 4 piece Flex for poorly itemized WF, especially if that would mean losing Crit from tier and replacing it with haste/hit from WF Ordos.

That said, must keep in mind that this whole thing with dropping 4-set for WF items is purely a min/max thing. If your Flex is 0/4, then dropping 4 set for WF 0/4 will at best be a minor DPS increase, depending on spec. I suggest using your 4 piece on all the classes you linked except for the Warrior, where hopefully your WF pieces are well itemized.

Now because we don't know what sort of WF pieces each of those classes have, your best bet is simming your toons, with the 4 set then with the 3 WF + 2 set. That will give you the indisputable answer you need. Personally, I suck and I never tried sims, I want to board that train though..

[PrairieChicken]

Tier sets are almost always good in that case

[Wilderness]

The 4 set is huge for fire mages.

[Conzar]

4pc is a lot of fun for Unholy DK. Numbers might be a different matter, but the added cleave on the perma-boosted pet is massive on large trash packs. Simming them out or just try them would be the best way.

[Drsolders]

I like the spriest 4 piece too much (with the right procs 1 mil mind blast #thuglife) to drop it for 3 warforged but i doubt its really a dps difference either way