It's interesting to see how they've changed the mileage awards so that everyone falls just short of the required amount.

To obtain the extra miles through a paid upgrade would mean that the sector mileage be 1400 or 1700 miles which would be Asian sub continent South or Near East. A one way upgrade to one of the Indian destinations should be AED 1000 off peak, which isn't too bad, though for the same amount you could take a return flight to a few places.

That being said, it really is a question of how much the tier benefits matter to you. I wouldn't say it's worth that amount just for priority check in and boarding, but if you frequently have a lot of luggage, or long transits at DXB, it could be useful.