One other 10man Hard Mode item looked nice (Arc spec--not sure how it is for FB):

Neck from Thorim
[Pendant of the Shallow Grave]

My comment was aimed at the gem choice of boots(yellow+red socket) where using rigid+runed instead of the 2x veiled monarch is a better option and yes I know getting hit from items with high hit gained per pp lost gives bigger bang for the money than massing hit gems

Like many others, I'm dual specced into FB/FFB for optimum single target damage while having a more mana efficient, higher aoe damage second spec. I just got living flame and I'm thinking of making an optimal FB/TTW set based on that where I can just swap it out for a trinket without hit if I need to use FFB. I think I can live with 1% less hit on my secondary FFB spec and swapping one trinket out seems to be the most painless way of managing dual specs.

What do people think? Is it better to have a 100% optimal TTW/FB gear set? Or a more flexible one that is close to optimal on both FB/TTW and FFB and where you can hit cap on both by just changing a piece or two of gear? My experience so far says the latter but I'm looking for other opinions.

Doing a compare on the new version of RAWR on which T8 pieces is the best to swap out for 4pc set I found this combo yielded the max DPS score for myself, a Fireball Mage.

Head [Conqueror's Kirin Tor Hood]
Neck [Pendant of Fiery Havoc]
Shoulders [Conqueror's Kirin Tor Shoulderpads]
Chest [Conqueror's Kirin Tor Tunic]
Waist [Cord of the White Dawn]
Legs [Conqueror's Kirin Tor Leggings]
Feet [Boots of Fiery Resolution]
Wrist [Unsullied Cuffs]
Hands [Handwraps of the Vigilant]
Finger1 [Signet of Manifested Pain]
Finger2 [Pyrelight Circle]
Trinket1 [Scale of Fates]
Trinket2 [Living Flame]
Back [Drape of Mortal Downfall]
MainHand [Staff of Endless Winter]
Ranged [Scepter of Lost Souls]

Status: Score: 7265.12, Dps: 7263.02, Survivability: 2.10

so even though on paper right now it shows BiS > the 4pc bonus i havent seen much that is really known about the proc rate and what not, so im actually kind of leaning towards the 4pc over a couple of the BiS items, if anyone has any new and confirmed info about the 4pc and its procrate and what it could benefit a lot.

Alright, I don't think this question has been asked, so here it is.

I remember seeing on Page 3 of this thread (I think so, it's pretty late haha) saying that 1 Crit Rating was worth 1.01 or 1.09 SP for TTW/FB, so would that make [Eye of the Broodmother] an upgrade over [Illustration of the Dragon Soul]? Or would the 75 Flat SP be better than the Crit offered from the Eye?

Thanks for the help, really appreciate any feedback on my question.

I think he was refering to the 75 spell power more that IDS gives once fully stacked.

EDIT:
Oh ok misread. It's not really a 'flat' 75SP more though, since it takes 5 more casts to get there, and stacks could potentially fall off.

Wouldn't it be higher dps to remove the Runed Stormjewel, replace it with a normal Runed Living Ruby for the Staff of Endless Winter and then use a Runed Living Ruby in the red socket and a Rigid Stormjewel in the yellow socket of the Boots of Fiery Resolution?

The change retains socket bonuses and is essentially -3 Spellpower, +4 hit. Since the setup is currently 3 hit under the hit cap it should be a marginal dps gain.

Edit: Misread. Please delete this post.

I don't particularly post in here very often, but through my usual lurking I've seen some people asking about how the 4 pc bonus works with regards to TTW/Fire, and even FFB for that matter.

I just picked up my fourth piece (2pc 25 man 2 pc 10 man) and did some testing on my own last night and unfortunately I'm going to have to report that it seems underwhelming to say the least. There doesn't seem to be any sort of internal cooldown, but the proc rate seems absurdly low and inconsistent at best.

The way I see it, even if the proc rate on this set bonus was buffed, the way that crit is scaling with spirit and raid buffs in such a positive manner, I seriously doubt that it will ever be very good. I know that as soon as my hot streak pyro leaves my hand im mashing on either my fireball button or my living bomb button to hit that next GCD as quickly as possible. Meaning that the set bonus proc could either A) fall off (being that it doesn't refresh its duration but rather doesn't get consumed) or B) Not be used at all because of a hot streak proc in the next GCD that overrides it.

Perhaps it will prove to be better as gear scales and we get a larger mana pool, but i just don't think there is any way I would give up my 2 pc t7 right now in favor of it (that extra mana and ability to stack multipliers during molten fury is invaluable in my opinion).

I'll most likely work on picking up off-pieces in lieu of the 4pc for the time being, such as the Collar off Razor, the Robes of the Umbral Brute, and those nice hard mode items discussed previously in this thread.

Yeah, I have a habit of just refering to it as a "flat" amount of SP, just because it is fully stacked on most of the boss fights. I have had it fall off a few times, and that gets annoying, so hopefully [Eye of the Broodmother] doesn't have that same problem because it's only 5 stacks. Thanks for the redirect by the way, gave me more information than I asked for, which was a plus.

Although I do not have the 4 piece bonus, this is something I have been thinking about ever since I have been 20/51/0, because it seems on the longer fights I start to run oom, and without the 2pc-t7 bonus, I would be kind of SOL. I too spam the next spell in my rotation as soon as I hear that "twanging" sound that Hot Streak makes. Even if the 4 piece bonus from Tier 8 was fantastic, I still don't know if I would drop that 2 piece Tier 7 bonus, because it is just so vital, and losing either the MA/LB/FB glyph, to use the mana gem glyph, just seems kind of silly. It would be like getting 70 hit rating from [Dying Curse] then taking out the [Veiled Monarch Topaz]'s that you have in your gear.

remove please

No, it's not, you're right, that was probably a bad example. I guess my main point was just that I don't think the proc rate is high enough to be a dps increase over 2 pc t7 at this point. Like i said, with crit rating and spirit scaling so high pyro procs will not exactly be in short supply.

My prediction is that even as you start to see mages fill out in ulduar gear, once mana pools get bigger and the 2 pc t7 loses its value so to speak, the 4 piece bonus will be trivial at best. I think you'll see a lot of mages keeping just their 2 piece bonus and focusing on picking up off-pieces such as the ones i mentioned in my previous post.

The latest optimization i've ran seemed to favor hard mode loot over the 4 piece t8 bonus, instead only keeping the 2 piece (because no shoulders or chest pieces seem available from hard mode encounters). Is this generally accepted with the current model of the t8 4 piece bonus?

What's better. 4 piece 25 man T8. Or max dps pieces in each slot from 25 man Ulduar gear?

This is assuming I'm using Focus Magic / FFB spec (until they fix it) after the fix I'll be TTW Fireball spec.

On the first page, on the list of 25-man and 10-man hard mode loot that is still being looked at, Vestments of the Blind Denizen is on there but it is Leather.

My experiences with the t8 4p seem to be a bit better than Hilbs. I've had the 4p since the first week and while the proc isn't extremely high, probably 10-15%, it has no ICD and a tendency to proc multiple times in a row. (My record has been 7 in a row.) BiS pieces will probably end up being slightly higher DPS but we're a ways off from being able to pick up all the hardmode loot anyway. Obviously, this thread is about MAX dps but the fact remains a lot of the ideal loot will remain out of reach for some time still.

If I were to do it again I would absolutely not pass up the chance to get the 4p in the meantime. It's not nearly as effective for Arcane but has been doing great for ttw/fb. Also, with a mod like Power Auras, if the 4p does proc, the effect you set for hot streak will not disappear, meaning you absolutely know if it proc'd before the GCD of the first pyro is up. Additionally, with the amount of movement required for most of these Ulduar fights, the chance to throw off multiple pyros on the move is greatly appreciated.

For people with high latency or low FPS, is the 4 piece still worth it? Sometimes I'm down around 5-8 fps and my spellcasts get messed up, I'm imagining replacing Conq helm with BiS may prove beneficial for me.

Deleted

Rawr v2.2.1


(19/52/0)

2/3 Student of theMind,
0/1 Combustion

Latency: 100 ms
Fight: 300 sec
Professions: JC/Tailoring

[Conqueror's Kirin Tor Hood] - [Runed Scarlet Ruby]

[Pendant of Fiery Havoc] - [Rigid Stormjewel]

[Conqueror's Kirin Tor Shoulderpads] - []

[Drape of Mortal Downfall] - [Reckless Monarch Topaz]

[Conqueror's Kirin Tor Tunic] - [Runed Scarlet Ruby] [Runed Scarlet Ruby]

[Bracers of Unleashed Magic]

[Staff of Endless Winter] - [Runed Dragon's Eye] [Runed Dragon's Eye]

[Petrified Ivy Sprig] - [Reckless Monarch Topaz]

[Handwraps of the Vigilant] - [Reckless Monarch Topaz] [Reckless Monarch Topaz]

[Sash of Ancient Power] - [Runed Dragon's Eye] [Runed Scarlet Ruby] [Runed Scarlet Ruby]

[Conqueror's Kirin Tor Leggings] - [Runed Scarlet Ruby] [Purified Twilight Opal]

[Boots of Fiery Resolution] - [Runed Scarlet Ruby] [Veiled Monarch Topaz]

[Signet of Manifested Pain]

[Pyrelight Circle]

[Eye of the Broodmother]

[Flare of the Heavens]

Solution DPS: 7441.69
Stats:
Health: 23705, Mana: 22983
Spirit: 855
Crit Rating: 1220.25, Hit Rate: 368 (17.03%), Haste: 359, Spell Power: 3059


Fireball: 71,46% Crit chance, 2.50 cast time, Hit 6877.70 - 7259.29, Crit 17500,30 - 18471.26



Used [Eye of the Broodmother] instead of [Scale of Fates] because it is easier to get and easier to use. In some fights eye is better, in others scale is, as it depends on fight duration.

[Flare of the Heavens] Modified as pure 120 crit rating and 150 spell power (as 17,7% uptime), I failed at creating a proper proc.

While I was browsing armory today, I stumbled upon a dagger called Starshard Edge from Algalon by using the Find an Upgrade feature for my Turning Tide.

Link for it:
The World of Warcraft Armory

I was wondering, have you used it in your optimal set calculations and found the Staff of Endless Winter superior, or has it been overlooked so far?