Resto T15 set or Thunderforge Gear?

[Helmira]

Hello,
I have been debating w myself if I should be seeking the 2 or 4 set bonus vs using my Thunderforged gear.

I've also been following the crit/spirit stacking and wondering if I should be changing this up. Mana seems fine at my current level.

I'm the only resto shaman in our 25 man team. Running w pallys and priest. We are currently 11/12 normal mode in ToT.

Thread won't let me post a link, name is Midevilwitch on Stormrage - US. I have TF shoulders available over the tier ones equiped.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

[Tiberria]

I got 4 piece a couple of weeks ago, only because offset pieces refused to drop, and it is a much more signficant output increase (in 25H) than expected. Ancestral Awakening is giving me 2-3% more output on heavy AoE healing fights (i.e. Council, Megaera, Iron Qon, Twin Consorts) and up to 5-7% more output on fights with a lot of single target spot healing (i.e Ji-Kun, Dark Animus) over what it was giving before. You are not likely to be able to get stronger performance on most fights out of having 4 Thunderforged pieces (let alone get them to drop) for a 6 ilvl increase in 4 slots. Plus, the offset pieces in most slots are not all that attractive.

Helm - There is no offset Spirit helm, making tier helm pretty much BiS/only real option
Shoulders - The tier shoulders have an extra socket, and therefore generally beat the Tortos Thunderforged option
Chest - Tier chests have an extra socket over offset chests. The Resto tier chest lacks Spirit, so either the Megaera or Iron Qon chests are probably better. The Ele tier chest is actually BiS because it has Spirit and the extra socket
Gloves - Tier gloves have more Spirit and are better itemized than either of the offset glove options
Legs - The one spot where the offset item is clearly superior. The H Lei Shen legs have 3 sockets (compared to 2 on the tier legs).

Tier helm, shoulders and gloves are BiS. Since you will go for 3pc anyway, you are generally better off taking the slightly less well itemized tier legs for the output increase from the 4 set bonus. For the chest, I would use either the Megaera or Iron Qon chest as your offset piece, and possibly get the Ele chest after everyone else has their tier chests.

[Helmira]

Tibbee,
Thanks a ton for the info. Do you think I should continue w stacking crit or switch up and run haste for this tier? I just received the legendary meta gem. Our 25 is working on Lei shen tonight, hoping we down him. If so, we should be starting heroics soon.

[Deleted]

Helm - There is no offset Spirit helm, making tier helm pretty much BiS/only real option

The Elemental helm is spirit/haste as far as I remember.

[Zaldruul]

Helm - There is no offset Spirit helm, making tier helm pretty much BiS/only real option

I just got the crafted helm that is spirit/crit. not sure if its better then tier, but their is another option.

[Tiberria]

Tibbee,
Thanks a ton for the info. Do you think I should continue w stacking crit or switch up and run haste for this tier? I just received the legendary meta gem. Our 25 is working on Lei shen tonight, hoping we down him. If so, we should be starting heroics soon.

Once you have the gear level to support it (would probably need 520+ with static spirit trinkets), I would recommend reforging up to 7613 haste for the extra Healing Rain tick (with Ancestral Swiftness). The legendary meta, plus the natural inflation in Spirit from higher level gear makes high haste builds a lot more effective. Otherwise, you are likely to find yourself swimming in regen and unable to lose mana.

---------- Post added 2013-05-05 at 08:57 PM ----------

The Elemental helm is spirit/haste as far as I remember.

Yeah, the tier helm is Spirit/'Mastery and the Ele helm is Spirit haste. However, given that you are likely to take at least the tier shoulders, and will want at least 2 piece for the ~3% output increase, I don't see any reason to take the Ele helm over the Resto one.

[Pitkanen]

25M - 7613 haste build... Once you start going towards higher haste builds, the value of haste and spirit become blurred, as you'll have to reforge/regem some spirit to haste in order to reach that.
So what is ideal at the exact moment (X ilvl with X items in your bags) changes. If you have haste gems/reforging due to bad RNG on drops (or good RNG on higher ilvl drops that aren't spirit/haste), the the primordius helm isn't necessarily a bad item because the haste on the helm translates directly into a spirit gain elsewhere.

So what is IDEAL for you for the next 4-6 weeks, isn't necessarily what is BIS.

As Tib said. If you stack spirit/crit at some ilvl you'll realize that you basically can't oom yourself (unless you spam healing surge). That's a flashing light that you probably need to jump to the higher haste build. Keep in mind that the legendary meta is worth a crazy high amount of personal spirit (i'd say 5-6k easily, @30% haste), and N-horridons @30% haste is worth probably 1.9k-2k personal spirit, the heroic version is worth about 2.4-2.5k non-Tide spirit.