To T4 or not to T4...

[Arcdelad]

Some people have wondered out loud...in whispers...to me....why the heck I am so hung up on getting the T4 shoulders, expeically since we have Loot Reaver on farm mode now...

Well...its the cat form bonus, silly!

The bonus reads as follows:

Your melee attacks in Cat Form have a chance to generate 20 additional energy.

This also works for bear form (which I use currently), but since rage can be built a number of ways, and energy can only happen with time or "power" shifting, the bonus is much more effective for kitties.

In fact, this bonus is SO good for your dps, it is arguably better than the 4 set Tier 6 (yes...6) bonus. Heres what Elitists Jerks says:

Two pieces of tier 4 is good. Very good. So damned good you probably won't believe it. The only thing that comes close to it is four pieces of tier 6, and even then that's personal preference really. I personally prefer 4t6 to 2t4.

The upshot of 2t4 being so good is that 4t5 is practically worthless. 2t5 is nice to have, but 4t5 means you give up 2t4. 4t4 is also rather good, but it depends on what you're upgrading to as to whether it's worth upgrading and needs to be taken on an individual basis. Using the stat "weights" above you should be able to work out whether it's an upgrade or not.

For the 2t4 bonus, it depends on what you're using in other slots as to which pieces of t4 are best. Using the 2t4 bonus should still be considered as best regardless of what pieces you're giving up - it's only T6 set pieces with the 4 piece bonus or the new Sunwell loot that is better than keeping the 2 piece bonus. The best way to work out which pieces of t4 are best to use is to use one of the DPS spreadsheets/calculators linked at the bottom of this post to see which parts are best for your own situation. In general, the shoulders and helm are the best pieces to keep for the bonus.

So...we ferals have closets full..vaults full of gear...one thing that can really help our dps is to find TWO slots on our dps set, and keep those reserved for tier 4 pieces to keep this great bonus. There is DEFINITELY better gear out there in terms of Crit, AP, etc etc though...so the trick is to sacrifice the least amount of those things to get the 2 set bonus. For me, its the shoulders and gloves (when/if i get the shoulders my tanking gloves (T4) and DPS gloves (S3) will switch places), but it will be different for anyone depending on what gear you have and could potentially get...

[Airtotem]

I heart 2/4 T4.  I use shoulders/gloves, but my I also use my shoulders for tanking so I have the dodge/defense enchant on them.
It is such a big difference in DPS even though I have better crit and AP gear in those slots.  If I had a better tanking helm/shoulders, I think the best combo of T4 would be shoulders/helm with the DPS enchants and metas in them. 

[Arcdelad]

the helm IS good...but for me the [item]Vengeful Gladiator's Dragonhide Helm[/item] is just TOO good to pass up...the T4 gloves are pretty comparable, so they are an easy one...then the shoulders are actually pretty good for dps on their own, so they are a shoe in as well...no defense enchantments though lol