How good is the raid tier set bonuses?

[Deleted]

What topic says. How good is the current raid tier set bonus for mage, all specs? I'm currently using full normal set pieces for all but chest. I use the normal version of the chest that drop off Lei Shi. Is it worth for me to replace my set gear with HEROIC off pieces? I know the set tier pieces is better compared to normal off pieces, but what about heroic ones?

Im currently playing arcane so thats what im mainly curious about. But I'd also like to know reguarding the other specs aswell.

[Imnick]

The four set is very good for Frost, fairly good but boring for Arcane and slightly underwhelming for Fire (but still a damage boost).
Frost get twice the uptime on a powerful damage cooldown, Arcane get an extra 10% damage on an already short cooldown ability and Fire gets... roughly one extra Combustion per fight (that no longer easily aligns with procs and other cooldowns).

[Ripsta]

as Imnick said, the Frost tier set seems to be more beneficial over the others

[Alphamage]

As a Fire Mage, I am staying with 2 set bonus as the 4 set just messes up the cd of my glyphed combustion aligned with my PoM cd.

[Agzarah]

is the 4set even worth getting?
I read somewhere that the reduced cooldown on combustion can actually lead to a dps loss due to it being out of sync. That could have just been lies but it got me thinking about what I should aim for none the less

[Malfecto]

is the 4set even worth getting?
I read somewhere that the reduced cooldown on combustion can actually lead to a dps loss due to it being out of sync. That could have just been lies but it got me thinking about what I should aim for none the less

It still syncs just as many times without the 4 pc as with. What Imnick is pointing out is that the resulting additional combustion is out of sync in a typical fight that is long enough to include both it and the next synced combustion. Unglyphed you will have the same amount of syncing roughly with Combustion/Pom and Combustion/AT/PoM, with a lot of of unsynced combustions in between. Whether these are a dps loss or not is really up to how lucky you are with crits, managing to squeeze in good combustions to cover the shortened length of an unglyphed combustion, and getting that extra series of combustions in to make the 4 pc worth it.

Glyphed there are of course fewer combustions to deal with, but I think they fall out of sync with PoM more frequently, but you have a greater return on a well produced ignite than unglyphed.

I can say from experience that the 4pc for frost is certainly worth it, even to the point that I am wearing a 483 helm over a 489 helm to keep my 4 pc when I spec frost. (bad luck on helm drops )

Arcane leaves me nonplussed. I really wish AP was a longer duration, or was up more frequently compared to IV and combustion.

[Imnick]

Isn't AP's cooldown identical to Tier-boosted IV?
The duration is five seconds shorter but it gives a 30% damage boost, rather than Icy Veins' 20%.

[Malfecto]

Yes, I guess it may just be a perception thing on my part. I feel like I am getting more out of IV in frost than AP in haste arcane due to the amount I have to invocate. This is mostly just poor planning on my part I guess in watching the cooldown and trying to line up my mana at full with AP.

But yes you are correct in the timing.

[Libretto]

If the ilevel difference is significant, or the offpieces in question are much better itemized (heroic lei shi chest for arcane, etc) you can drop the 4pc for arcane at least. AP is nowhere near as good of a damage cooldown as it used to be when using the scorch weaving method anyway. If you are using glyphed AP for a certain fight such as heroic wind lord, depending on your raid's strat, you should keep the 4pc.

[KoolKidKaos]

4pc fire is bad, the syncing is way off, unless you're completely screwed on RNG, it's real bad. You can achieve much more crit and haste from off set stuff.