Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsHave reforging demands become too complex?
by Matthew Rossi 
Jan 31st 2012 at 1:00PM
That last one may just be me.
Reforging gear has become a huge part of optimization. It is at least as important as gemming and enchanting. Sites like WoW Reforge and Ask Mr. Robot (to name just two) are heavily consulted by players looking to squeeze every last erg of performance out of their gear. Is it too much? Has the minigame of stat tetris gotten out of hand?
There's no denying that reforging is complex. Go ahead and try to eyeball your reforging to get to your stat caps and you'll see what I mean. It's possible to do this, but often you'll find yourself looking at ratings and doing calculator math to get there, and it's often just plain easier to go to a site or use a program like Rawr.
I actually quite love reforging. I love sitting down and tinkering with my stats, playing with higher or lower hit builds (since you can't cap hit anyway for a fury warrior), seeing if I can block cap in my current tank set-up. I find it actually provides me with the ability to set my gear to work the way I want it to rather than in a preordained fashion. It means Blizzard is free to design its gear with that less optimal spread of stats it likes for lower raid tiers, for instance, while letting me say "Well, since I'm already capped on exp, I can reforge some of it off and still use this higher strength piece with gobs of expertise" -- and I like that.
That being said, in the past Blizzard has said it wants the game to require less out-of-game resources to play successfully -- and reforging? Holy cats, does reforging fly in the face of that. In addition to often being expensive, proper use of reforging often requires an addon, a program or an external gear optimization site to really get the best use of the feature.
Since we have those obnoxious ethereals anyway, why can't they provide a similar service? Tell the reforger what stats you want to cap at what levels, and have him do the work of suggesting at least basic reforging to get there. Something as simple as "I want 8% hit," and the reforger tells you exactly how to get as close to that as possible in the gear you have on.
Reforging has really evolved very quickly in the year since its arrival. It's not "Hey, tank pants dropped; I'll reforge away some of the dodge and use them in my DPS set" any more. It's "I want precisely this much of these stats, and I'll reforge until I get there," and I think that use of the service must be taken into account and addressed with new iterations of the game. WoW has always been good at learning from features the players create via sites and addons, and this is another case of that need being addressed.
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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
DonSerrot Jan 31st 2012 2:33PM
I've been using Reforginator, but I may have to check this out too, I like seeing what different places has to say about it and see what one comes closest. ;D
clundgren Jan 31st 2012 1:22PM
I love your last suggestion: let the ethereals do the calculating. It's ridiculous that I am sitting there using an online reforging calculator.
It really is at the point that getting a new piece of gear is almost as annoying as it is exciting. I often have to reforge almost every single thing I am wearing because I changed one piece out. Plus, as a ret I have to include 2 pieces of pve tier in my pvp set, which complicates things further (if I reforge these legs for PvE, how does that affect my pvp stats?).
Greg Jan 31st 2012 1:23PM
Reforge Lite addon... makes it as easy as a few clicks of a button :)
1) install addon
2) go to reforger, click on him
3) make sure it's set up for your class/spec (usually automagically is set up) You can change stat weights if you want.
4) click on 'calculate' button
5) click on 'show' button
6) click on 'apply' button
DONE!!
Luke Jan 31st 2012 3:40PM
Am I the only one that has found addons like this and websites like Ask Mr. Robot aren't always optimal? Most of the time I get better results from tinkering leading me to believe none of the external options are exactly ideal.
Jaq Jan 31st 2012 9:05PM
Reforgenator was and is occasionally odd about that-during my tanking spell in tiers 11 and 12, it had a bad habit of forging away dodge at the oddest times-and I've heard a lot of bad things about Ask Mr. Robot. I will follow Reforgenator generally, unless it does something utterly boneheaded, but I have a better idea than most how to reforge my gear for caps anyway, Reforgenator just makes it faster.
Calilla Jan 31st 2012 1:24PM
My opinion is, Why Blizz makes gear so high-ed capped in some stats? that are obviously going to surpass a certain cap like hit, or expertise for example, that you will have to go and put the stat somewhere else, reforging is a great tool, but I think it IS a gold sink, because gear is inappropriately stated, or, we lack more gear variety to be able to stick to gear as is and not needing to forcefully go and reforge everything as a necessity and not like a tool only.
G01851 Jan 31st 2012 1:24PM
1) install addon
2) go to reforger, click on him
3) make sure it's set up for your class/spec (usually automagically is set up) You can change stat weights if you want.
4) click on 'calculate' button
5) click on 'show' button
6) click on 'apply' button
DONE!!
G01851 Jan 31st 2012 1:25PM
grrr for lag in comments
Grovinofdarkhour Jan 31st 2012 1:25PM
I'm a big fan of those two little words - "close enough."
Yeah, my hit's 8.21%. No, the sky ain't falling.
Gordal Jan 31st 2012 1:47PM
I've been using Ask Mr. Robot for optimising my reforges since 4.2. Weirdly, while I have no trouble with it optimising my hit to, oh let's just say 8.27% I get really freaked out when my hit gets tweaked to 7.99%.
Yes. I know the math. I'll miss once every thousand shots against a boss. I know it's highly unlikely to actually matter much in the grand scheme of things.
That still doesn't stop me checking my bank to see if those stacks of Grilled Dragon are still there.
terph Jan 31st 2012 2:27PM
Plus, if you aren't hit capped, sometimes 'smart foods' like the feast will give you a hit boost instead of your primary stat. So i prefer to always hit 8%.
That being said, I will check Mr. Robot but often I'll go and do my own math and tweak to my heart's content. Spendy but sometimes I prefer what I get to the automatic.
musicchan Jan 31st 2012 2:55PM
I enjoy playing my class well, but since I'm not actively raiding, I too am fond of the words "close enough."
So what if my hit is 14 points over. IF anyone in LFR complains about it, they have some serious problems. I do my job, get decent DPS and go home. It works!
Grovinofdarkhour Jan 31st 2012 3:47PM
Don't get me wrong, I tried Ask Mr. Robot. After 3 uses I accepted that its default recommendation was usually going to be that I spend 400g+ reforging nearly every piece of gear I had on in order to get less than a tenth of a percent closer to the hit cap.
ladeezluvlarry71 Jan 31st 2012 4:02PM
Makes me sick to my stomach that this is blue.
Luke Jan 31st 2012 4:17PM
Yes... sickening that not everyone is an elitist jack-wad like you?
Undoubtedly there is someone in a random group somewhere you could be harassing for that one piece of pvp gear they're wearing in "your" dungeon. You should go find them, you're not needed here.
ladeezluvlarry71 Jan 31st 2012 7:05PM
The presumptuousness around here is just disgusting. In addition to the "I can play however I want" mentality of purposeful ignorance.
Shammwich Jan 31st 2012 1:26PM
Maybe this makes me a bad, but I hardly ever reforge unless I need to get to hit cap, I find it a pain in the butt and I really don't care about that extra few % of DPS, I try to keep my rotations pretty tight to begin with so I do ok.
ladeezluvlarry71 Jan 31st 2012 1:35PM
You know properly reforging can easily add 1-3k dps right?
Abbadon Jan 31st 2012 1:27PM
Short of an in-game Mr Robot, I don't think there's anything Blizz can do to make the process better...
When I manually reforged, sure, I followed the general rules for each class as far as stat priorities... But my reforging would leave me at 17.13% hit, or missing/exceeding softcaps/hardcaps, etc.
I know some ppl have issues with the stat weights some of the sites (like Mr Robot) use, but I've found that it's close enough for all my toons regardless of role. I get the job done and have come to trust Mr Robot's advice pretty blindly!
The only thing that Blizz could to would be for me to go to the Ethereal, click on an Optimize button, and have him tell me he's performing these X reforges for Y gold, and then I hit Accept.
Of course, that would still leave the enchant and gemming up to me... Which again, Mr Robot addresses all three. There's just no way for Blizz to ever incorporate that level of EZ Mode.
On a side note, sure it's a gold sink, but I don't think too many players care. It's just accepted that this is an expense at max level - like repair costs!
I tend to gem/enchant/reforge every time I get a new piece of gear (iLv 378 or better). The only thing I've come to really hate is the replacement of gems in the same socket... Gloves - replace purified demonseye with brilliant inferno ruby... Get a new cape... optimize - replace gloves inferno ruby with purified demonseye... /ARG
Erebos Jan 31st 2012 1:31PM
For me, reforging is just a way to get rid of some useless crit on my gear and get spirit, haste, and mastery. Healing means no caps (haste plateaus, yes), so I'm pretty much free to just get whatever more of whatever stat. Guess I never realized it was such a pain for other classes/specs.