Is Reforging Legendary Items Worth It In Video Games?

Hi there! Terry Williams here, your resident tech geek and data analyst with a passion for gaming. Today I wanted to provide an in-depth look at the concept of "reforging" legendary and high-end items in games – when is it worth the investment, and when are you better off avoiding it? After crunching the numbers and researching the most optimal reforge strategies, I‘m breaking it all down for you in this comprehensive guide.

What Does Reforging Do?

Just to get us on the same page, let‘s quickly cover what reforging entails in some major games:

Diablo 3: Reforging a legendary item rerolls its attributes while keeping the item name/icon intact. This gives you an opportunity to score better stats, higher damage/toughness values, or even upgrade from a normal legendary to an ultra-rare ancient or primal ancient version.

Skyrim: Making a skill "legendary" resets it back down to 15 while refunding all the perk points you invested into that tree. This removes the skill level cap, allowing you to level up crafting, combat and magic skills indefinitely.

Terraria: Reforging randomly rerolls a weapon‘s modifier – so your Legendary Night‘s Edge could turn into a Godly Night‘s Edge for even more damage.

Minecraft Dungeons: The Blacksmith can reforge gear to raise its power level or give it new enchantments. So reforging provides more versatility.

Lost Ark: Using moon‘s breaths on gear attempts to increase its enhancement level and attributes through reforging.

So in summary, reforging can amplify power, retry for better rolls, remove level caps, modify playstyles, or just give you more customization options. But there are costs involved…

The Investment Cost of Reforging

Before you jump into rerolling items, you need to be aware of the required investment. Here are some of the key crafting materials and resources used in the reforge process:

Diablo 3:

• Forgotten Souls (1 per reforge attempt)
• Death‘s Breaths (10-15 per try)
• Bounty materials like Reusable Parts

Skyrim:

• 500-1000+ gold per skill reset

Terraria:

• Reforge Coins (6-10 per attempt)

Minecraft Dungeons:

• Emeralds (around 100-300+ per reforge)

Lost Ark:

• Moon‘s Breath x1 per tap
• Destruction Stone x5 per tap
• Guardian Stone x10 per tap

As you can see, the costs quickly scale up. While these materials can be farmed in-game, it still takes a tremendous time investment. Let‘s see some ballpark numbers:

• Diablo 3: Roughly 1.5 hours to farm enough Death‘s Breaths for 10 reforge attempts
• Skyrim: About 1 hour to grind 5000 gold for 10 skill resets
• Terraria: Approximately 45 minutes to farm 60 Reforge Coins for 10 reforges
• Lost Ark: Around 2.5 hours to gather materials for 15-20 reforge taps

And that‘s assuming favorable luck! So there‘s a huge time and resource cost associated with reforging that you need to keep in mind.

The Risks of Reforging

Beyond just the material requirements, there are other risks you take when relying on reforging:

• You could replace great stats/attributes with lackluster ones. Reforging means rerolling everything randomly – so your amazing "Godly" modifier might turn into a useless "Shameful".

• There‘s no guarantee reforging will improve your gear. More often than not, you‘ll end up with sidegrades or downgrades rather than perfect upgrades.

• It can take hundreds or even thousands of reforge rolls to get that absolute perfect item. The odds of hitting the jackpot are extremely low.

• For Skills in Skyrim, resetting some trees like One-Handed, Destruction, etc too early on can slow your leveling down.

So in many cases, you‘re dumping tons of resources into an upgrade that‘s more likely to disappoint than delight. Definitely some critical cons to consider before you commit.

When Is Reforging Worth It?

Alright, so now that we‘ve covered both sides – when should you actually pursue reforging? Here are some of the best cases where it makes sense:

You Need to Complete a Build

If you‘re crafting an end-game build and just need that ONE perfect weapon, armor piece or skill to pull it all together, reforging might be worth it. For example, if you‘re trying to enable a high-tier solo GR push in Diablo 3 or hit level 300 in Skyrim, reforging for specific gear could make sense despite the costs.

Targeted Ancient/Primal Hunting

Trying to reforge a non-ancient/legendary item into its ancient/primal version is generally advisable. Since the drop chance for ancient gear in Diablo 3 is roughly 10%, you have a decent shot at getting those big base stat boosts without crazy investment.

Ideal Skills in Skyrim

Certain skills in Skyrim are universally recommended for resetting often to refund perks. These include:

• Archery
• Smithing
• Enchanting
• Alchemy

Resetting these skills periodically as you level nets big perk point gains to spread across other trees. So reforge away on those four!

You Have Surplus Materials

If you‘ve already stockpiled a mountain of forgotten souls, moon‘s breath, etc. and don‘t mind some gambling, then might as well try reforging some gear for fun. You likely won‘t see many jackpot upgrades, but it can offer a thrill.

So in summary, pursuing that perfect god-rolled item, upgrading rarity selectively, resetting optimal skills, or just using up extra materials are reasonable cases to reforge.

When to Avoid Reforging

Now let‘s talk situations where reforging is often an inefficient use of resources:

Low on Crafting Materials

If you‘re running low on rare reforge-specific materials like forgotten souls or moon‘s breath, it‘s smarter to conserve them until you have a worthy item to upgrade. No sense wasting them on marginal gains. Always evaluate if you can spare the cost.

Item Already Has Great Stats

If you already have an amazing ring, amulet, sword etc. with nearly ideal attributes, reforging is too risky since you‘ll likely end up downgrading it or wasting money/materials for nothing. Avoid messing with greatness.

Seeking the 1-in-10,000 God Roll

This is a trap many players fall into. They sink millions of gold or thousands of souls trying to reforge a perfect, best-in-slot item when the odds are astronomically low. Chasing perfection via reforging alone is foolish in most cases.

Slow Skyrim Skill Leveling

As mentioned earlier, resetting some Skyrim skills too freely like One-Handed, Heavy Armor, etc can slow natural leveling. Only refund perks in those trees once reaching level 50+ or higher in them.

No Specific Goal

Reforging without a purpose is never advisable. The costs are too high to just randomly try reforging items without a plan. Always have a clear upgrade goal in mind.

So avoiding reforging when resource-starved, overvaluing good rolls, chasing perfection, slowing Skyrim progression, or lacking direction are all smart.

Bottom Line on Reforging

At the end of the day, while reforging has the potential to create spectacularly powerful weapons and gear, the costs often outweigh the benefits for casual players. Without sufficient materials and a specific upgrade goal in mind, you‘ll likely burn resources for little gain.

However, if you farm heavily, target key items/skills, and temper expectations, reforging can be viable for nudging your build to the next level. Just be selective rather than relying on it too heavily. Reforge wisely and efficiently, and it can offer just the boost you need without over-grinding.

Let me know if this helps explain when reforging is and isn‘t worth the investment in different games! I‘m always happy to chat more gaming strategies and data insights with you. This is Terry signing off for now.