4 piece bonus, or 2 piece + non tier pieces?

[Melufa]

I'm trying to decide if I should use the 4-piece shield wall bonus, or lose it in exchange for the slightly better non-tier pieces.

I'm looking mainly at these comparisons:

4-piece 7.5, with Legplates of Sovereignty
or
7.5 gloves and shoulders, with Helm of Vital Protection, Dragonstorm Breastplate, and Legplates of Sovereignty.

Is the 4-piece worth keeping? ATM I'm leaning towards using the non-tier pieces, assuming Helm of Vital Protection drops some time in the near future.

[klor]

Non tier pieces hands down :-/

Though I suspect you'll choose the shoulders off of heroic an00b and use the 7.5 head.. I believe it nets you more of a gain.

[Caireagin]

I'd agree with klor, the four piece bonus is very lackluster. I plan on keeping the helm and gloves in my threat set and the shoulders and legs in my survival set.

[Urkey]

How important is it to have the 2 set bonus? I seem to be doing fine without it. Here's a link to my armory, and any suggestions/comments would be appreciated.

The World of Warcraft Armory

[jettzypher]

its not a matter of importance, just a nice increase in dmg done.

[veneretio]

Gloves + (Shoulders or Chest) is the best bet. 4 piece is really nice, but only if it falls into your lap. (ie. you've had bad luck with non-set pieces dropping for you)

[ItZMuRdA]

I prefer using the 2-piece. Gloves are the best piece imo hands-down, so hang onto those, as many have said. I use the chest for my 2nd piece, since I happen to love the stats on Legplates of Sovereignty, Helm of Vital Protection, and Pauldrons of Unnatural Death, but if you were to use another piece I would say shoulders, which you seem to have lined up. The T7 helm is good for purely threat-like stats, but I find the Helm of Vital Protection to incorporate a nice chunk of expertise as an alternative to the hit on t7, and a hefty amount of parry to follow to round out a threat-based set with enough of a balance of avoidance stats as well.

Honestly, I'd hang onto the set pieces for what it may be worth in the future or in some alternative situations, but I'd recommend staying with 2-piece and giving yourself more options in the other slots.