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Doesn't the epic items you get from the various raids give better stats than those that are made by specialties?
Not necessarily. For example the Primal Mooncloth Set from the tailoring specialty rivals T4 or T5 gear. I believe the same can be said for the Frozen Shadoweave set for Shadowcloth tailoring.
I can't speak to all the specialties, but in the case of tailoring it works out to be better to specialize. In any case, I would think it would be better to craft your own items rather than be dependent on a random drop from an instance that you may or may not hae to roll someone for.