Dungeon Sets, for Mages

Today we're going to discuss Dungeon3 sets that are avaliable to mages. Upon hitting 70, there are 3 different sets a Mage can choose from.
They are:

Mana-Etched Regalia
Incanter's Regalia
Oblivion Raiment

These are the three DPS-caster sets avaliable from the 5-man Dungeons. Incanter's and Oblivion are avaliable from regular instances, whereas Mana-Etched is avaliable primarily from Heroics (with the excpetion of the head).
Judging by the set bonuses (NOT boni, to the idiot who typed that), we can tell who these sets were designed for.
The Oblivion set grants 45mp5 to your pet, and adds 180 additional damage to Seed of Corruption, when it detonates. Note that the 45mp5 to the pet only works on warlock pets. It does not (and I have tested this on PTRs) work for a Frosties water elemental. This is obviously a warlock set.
Incanter's shaves 0.25 seconds off the Flamestrike cast time, and gives you a chance (roughly 20%) to proc 100 spell damage for 15 sec. when you are hit while mana shield is active. Obviously geared towards Mages.
The Mana-Etched set, however, is friendly to pretty much any offensive DPS caster. Set bonuses are: +35 spell hit, and any harmful spell has a chance (roughly 2%) to give you 110 spell damage for 15 sec. It's a mighty fine set whether you're a Mage, Shadowpriest, Warlock, or even a L4z3r Ch1ck3n... I mean, Boomkin.

So. You, as a mage, should spend hours getting the Incanter's set, amiright? Because it's tailored for you?
Not so fast, there, hotshot. Let's do some number crunching first. Let's ignore the set bonuses for now. We're going to ignore Mana-Etched for the time being, as we can assume it's superior to both Incanter and Oblivions

First off, the Incanter's. It will give you a total off:
120 Intellect, 110 Stamina, 84 Spirit, 150 Spell damage, and 61 spell crit. For socket bonuses, we have +4 spirit, +3 spell crit, and +4 intellect.
Oblivion will give you:
123 Intellect, 157 Stamina, 174 Spell damage, and 32 spell hit. For socket bonuses, we have +5 spell damage, +6 stamina, and +3 spell hit.

Let's say you choose Oblivion over Incanter, based on pure stats. Assuming that you gem everything color-coded, this will net you:
-1 Intellect
+53 Stamina
-88 Spirit
+49 spell damage
-61 spell crit
+35 spell hit.

If you're Arcane, the choice is simple. Incanter's all the way. You don't need the spell hit, you can take advantage of the spirit. With the talents the arcane tree offers, you will find yourself liking the Incanter stats more than the Oblivion.
For the rest of us... the choice is hard. It really is. Spirit is a non-factor for a any fire/frost mage, and we depserately need the spell hit at this point in the game. As frost, the choice is clear. Crit rating is close to pointless, a frostie will gladly skip the crit rating for the hit. For fire mages, the choice is tough. You will need the hit rating, after all, your cap is 13%. So you need a lot. On the other hand, you benefit from the crit rating far, far more than any other mage spec that exists.
Let me ask you this, though...
Can you crit a target if you miss it entirely? No? I thought not. So, to sum up, if you're Arcane specced, you will get more mileage out of the Incanter set, whereas the rest of us will do better with Oblivion.
And even if you are Arcane, you might still decide for Oblivion. After all, it has more spell damage and spell hit. And if you get most of the spell hit from that set alone, that frees up gem slots for other stuff... like, spell damage gems.
And if you're looking for a beginner PvP set, look no further than Oblivion. It is an excellent set for starting out at the 70 PvP bracket. You will adore the stamina it provides.

So. What about the set bonuses, you ask?
Well, the Oblivion set bonuses are useless to you as a mage... because... well, its a warlock set. So, that leaves the Incanter's set bonus.
SPOILER.
They suck. They really, really suck.
.25 seconds off Flamestrike? Yeah... thats... absolutely horrendous. Flamestrike is the worst AoE in the game. It has a long cast time and a very small area of effect. It doesn't even do that much damage. A single Arcane Explosion does 60% of the damage (excluding crits) in a larger area, with no cast time and less mana.
And the mana shield proc thing? Just... wow. Horrendous. It requires you to take a hit to get a chance (albeit a good one) to get more spell damage. That doesn't even make sense. First of all, Mana Shield is a terrible spell, and should only be used, if ever, while running away from something. And if you're running away from something, you need more spell damage because...?
Alternatively, if you snag aggro in an instance, pop mana shield, take a hit, then the tank gets it back, you could use the spell damage proc to down the mob faster. Well, except for the problem that you already took aggro, and more spell damage means you can take it back even faster. Oh, and you lose plenty of mana by popping mana shield. And you'll probably still take damage because the mob hits so damn hard.
And if you're frost, you will never, ever have mana shield anywhere near your action bars.

In short, the Incanter's set bonuses provide just as much benefit to you as the warlock's set bonuses.

It's a non-issue, the set bonuses. They're all useless.

Oh, and do I really have to say it? Mana-Etched is better than either of these sets, and looks far, far better to boot. And it has spectacular set bonuses to boot.

In summary.

Skip Incanter's. Get Oblivion. Have sex with Mana-Etched.