Patch 4.3 PTR: New interface for reforging
by Josh Myers 
Oct 3rd 2011 at 6:00PM
I know that there's wisdom in the adage "if it's not broken, don't fix it," but there are times when I'm very glad that Blizzard doesn't adhere to that philosophy. Case in point: the new reforging interface on the 4.3 PTR this week.
I'm a chronic reforger. I've spent many a lonely night at Godan's Runeworks in Orgrimmar, turning crit into hit and haste into mastery. The reforging interface on live is a boring brown and black box, with pulldown menus to help you choose the stats you want to reforge to. While the reforging interface served its purpose well, Blizzard has made some excellent changes to it for 4.3 to make it significantly more user-friendly.
Whereas on live, you use a pull-down box to choose the stat you wanted to reforge from and then another pull-down box to choose what you want to reforge into, the PTR reforger has all your options presented in the same frame, making reforging faster and easier. It also is now a shiny purple color, much preferable to the drab darkness of the live version. It now features a reminder on your reforged items that you'll need to undo the stat change to reforge again, which is helpful for the airhead in me who sometimes accidentally restores the wrong item.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
I'm a chronic reforger. I've spent many a lonely night at Godan's Runeworks in Orgrimmar, turning crit into hit and haste into mastery. The reforging interface on live is a boring brown and black box, with pulldown menus to help you choose the stats you want to reforge to. While the reforging interface served its purpose well, Blizzard has made some excellent changes to it for 4.3 to make it significantly more user-friendly.
Whereas on live, you use a pull-down box to choose the stat you wanted to reforge from and then another pull-down box to choose what you want to reforge into, the PTR reforger has all your options presented in the same frame, making reforging faster and easier. It also is now a shiny purple color, much preferable to the drab darkness of the live version. It now features a reminder on your reforged items that you'll need to undo the stat change to reforge again, which is helpful for the airhead in me who sometimes accidentally restores the wrong item.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Zaet Oct 3rd 2011 6:06PM
If its not broken, improve it; probably with something explosive.
-Goblin Engineer corps motto
chrisdick Oct 3rd 2011 6:16PM
should say "preferably", not "probably"
Jasonthedce Oct 3rd 2011 6:42PM
You're preferably right.
Matthew Oct 3rd 2011 6:08PM
Does it let you preview your new stats, ie, to see how hit capped you are (or how much you'll lose) so you can reforge knowing what the result will be?
Blizzardizgod Oct 3rd 2011 8:54PM
god i hope so
loop_not_defined Oct 3rd 2011 9:15PM
It does not. :(
Confirmed just now.
Brett Porter Oct 4th 2011 12:38AM
Sadly, no, but that's what I love about Reforge websites that help you with stuff like that. It kinda sucks you need sites to do the math, but there you are.
Nathanyel Oct 4th 2011 3:08AM
RatingBuster displays the amount of hit/exp you get from the ratings shown in the current dropdowns, which helps to determine how much you would gain.
On the other hand, just get Reforgenator, which plans ahead your reforging, especially in regards to hit/exp caps, but also stuff like the haste soft cap for some casters.
Minstrel Oct 3rd 2011 6:11PM
The shiny purple color seems to be to make it match the transmog UI. I guess we can safely assume that ethereals are simply fabulous and putting their style imprint on magical services.
Minstrel Oct 3rd 2011 6:13PM
Hmm, I thought the screenshots of the transmog interface I had seen featured that same purple color, but looking again, it appears not...at least in the main pane. So I guess I was wrong, it's not to match.
Bellajtok Oct 3rd 2011 6:28PM
Given all the flashy lights and colors they work with, it was pretty obvious the ethereals were fabulous. Greedy bastards, but still fabulous.
Elmo Oct 3rd 2011 6:17PM
But why did they get rid of my favorite Highborne Thaumaturge?
MusedMoose Oct 3rd 2011 7:17PM
The ethereals bought him out. They're ruthless like that.
Scunosi Oct 3rd 2011 6:52PM
I really had no issue with the current one, except for one thing: if you didn't "close out" a slot's window after reforging and closed the reforging window, you ended up with a hanging tab floating on your screen that wouldn't go away until you reopened your character tab and once again opened and closed the slot. That's the only thing I really care about being fixed or not.
Josh Myers Oct 3rd 2011 7:42PM
Yea, I didn't have much of an issue either. It wasn't something where I was stewing being like "I hate Blizzard they need to change this."
that said, when I was reforging on the PTR and noticed the new one, I was like "Hey, this is SO MUCH COOLER."
MusedMoose Oct 3rd 2011 7:18PM
The dual-dropdown thing always seemed awkward to me, even if it was a pretty simple thing. I'm glad for this change.
Amaxe Oct 3rd 2011 8:26PM
Hmm, sounds like a better way to do it to me.
Sleutel Oct 3rd 2011 8:43PM
There's a difference between "not broken" and "barely functional but far from well designed." There's making changes for the sake of making changes, i.e., fixing something that isn't broken (iTunes, I'm looking in your direction), and then there's making genuine improvements to something that make it even more functional than it was before.
Baek Oct 3rd 2011 8:51PM
I like the new change. It's much more streamlined yet lays it all out of the table for you. It makes it quicker, looks much more sleek and it looks like something the ethereals would use.
I made a video so you can hear all the sounds that go along with it, though I did show tranmog and void storage first (I'm way excited for those cause I farmed my whole T6 set and my bags are exploding with old gear).
http://youtu.be/4IHXv342MKk
GritzUK Oct 3rd 2011 8:59PM
"It also is now a shiny purple color, much preferable to the drab darkness of the live version"
" It also is now a garish purple color, I much prefer the earthy darkness of the live version"
See what I did there?
Stop dressing mutton as lamb.