I’ve been wondering lately how much LFR helps me. For a while there’s a decent amount of pieces that are upgrades, but how big of an advantage do I get over simply waiting until I get that upgrade from normal mode? The more important pieces are likely the tier pieces. Right now, if I obtain the LFR tier pants, I’d get a huge upgrade. That’s not simply because the legs are better than my current legs. In fact, I have normal mode legs right now, so they’d be lower iLVL. First, that would be my fourth piece, so I’d get my four-piece set bonus. More importantly is what else it would allow me to wear. What if I had a normal mode tier piece sitting in my bags that I wasn’t using because I didn’t have four-piece? Not only would obtaining a fourth piece let me wear that fourth piece, it would also allow me to wear the third piece.
Currently I’m running LFR if I have a chance at getting an upgrade, but I’m considering the idea of not running LFR anymore. I don’t mean this tier, but it’d be nice to run it once in a while next tier but stop doing it weekly. It would take some self convincing, but it would also give me more free time to do something I enjoy rather than trekking through a grind that I don’t enjoy. I’ll need to think more about it.
earthwormgem
Peter (Devee)
Kor'kron 501st 
You probably already know this, but don’t forget Nalak drops the 522 tier legs if you’re hunting for those.
I use a Mogu Charm of Fate on Nalak every week :)
Personally, I stopped running LFR on my main once there weren’t any SIGNIFICANT upgrades to get (recently finished the legendary collections and got an OH weapon)… I have 2pc i522 tier and i522+ pieces in the other 3 slots so while 4pc i502 tier might be a very, very small upgrade it’s not worth farming LFR for, either I’ll eventually get the normal mode tier pieces or 5.4 will come out and it won’t matter.
LFR used to be pretty good for capping VP but I care about that less these days, not really much I can do with VP and it’s easier / more relaxing to cap with Island rares or heroic scenarios or even the daily heroic 5-man, been a while since I had one of those take more than 15m and queue times have been quite short.
Now I just run LFR on alts… for FUN (well, as fun as it can be… with friends, mostly mocking the noobs &/or each other in party chat) or for toons that can get significant upgrades from it that I want to slowly gear up.
Thanks for the feedback. Right now what I do is raid two nights per week on main. On two characters I do LFR wings that drop tier that’s still needed, Battlefield: Barrens, and enough dailies to earn 50 lesser charms. I try to do the world bosses if I see groups forming, but I don’t sweat it.
I think I might try to drop LFR. I’m trying to cut more of WoW out of my life to free up time, but at the same time, there’s a nagging feeling of obligation.
Meh. The minute you recognize that a motivation to do something is obligation, and if it isn’t a REQUIRED obligation that you’ve previously signed on for (“Thou Shalt Cap VP On Thine Main Weekly,” So Sayeth Thine Raid Group), give yourself the leeway to log out or do something else in-game that’s less grindy or annoying (or more grindy or annoying, if that’s to your taste… I find the Barrens grind to be quite enjoyable when I’m in the mood for some mindless slaughter). It’s healthier that way.
Maybe I need to print that out and tape it to my monitor :)
Unless you specifically enjoy it, you should cut out Battlefield: Barrens first. Heroic Scenarios give much, much faster valor and can easily be chain run. You can also consider running only specific parts of LFR.
Also, Golden Lotus and Isle of Thunder PvP dailies are the fastest ones to get Charms if you’re curious.
I only run the LFR wings for tier pieces that I haven’t yet obtained.
I prefer Battlefield: Barrens because I can simply fly above the commander reading a book or watching TV and then tag him when he’s low. I’m a bit of a freeloader =/
I don’t usually worry about valor capping. I do Golden Lotus dailies just for the lesser charms at your previous suggestion. It really changed things for me honestly. It feels a bit grindy, but when I actually timed it, it’s pretty short!