Compare items on Wowhead
by Eliah Hecht 
Oct 3rd 2008 at 9:00PM
Wowhead keeps adding new features, I know. But this is a big one. Last night, while most of us were busy watching the vice-presidential debate, they launched a fairly sophisticated tool for comparing items or sets of items. Basically, you can add any item or set in the database, and group them up however you want (by dragging items between groups), and then compare groups against each other to see what stats you gain and lose on.
There are tons of additional features to this tool, and it might be worth reading the instructions to see all of what you can do. Some things I particularly like:
- You can add stat weighting scales, to see (an estimation of) how good the item is overall for your class and spec. Click the scores to toggle the display format; I like the percentage display particularly, which shows the "best" group as 100% and everything else in terms of that.
- The "gains" row shows you in short what's different between your groups, by subtracting out all shared stats.
- All item listings on the site now feature checkboxes that you can use to quickly compare items.
- Each group has an option to view in 3D, so you can now finally use Wowhead as your dressing room: just create a group of items you want to look at, click the little triangle on the top bar of the group, and select "View in 3D."
- You can set one group as your "focus" by clicking the little eye icon, which shows all stats relative to that group.
I will definitely be making use of this in the future; it's much easier than figuring it out in your head or making a spreadsheet.
Filed under: Items, News items
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Chukie Oct 3rd 2008 9:21PM
"I will definitely be making use of this in the future; it's much easier than figuring it out in your head or making a spreadsheet."
Amen to that. If it works as well as it sounds it should be awesome. Does it let you socket gems in the gear your fiddling with?
Raeglatem Oct 4th 2008 11:52AM
FINALLY i've been so tempted to create my own site that allowed this, but finally they implemented it in and who better than wowhead.
Jamesisgreat Oct 3rd 2008 10:00PM
I am so glad that this is out in time for Wrath - I hate having to um and ahh over wether a quest reward is an upgrade or a sidegrade or.....
peon47 Oct 3rd 2008 10:10PM
You can't compare items with random enchant, such as an "of the beast".
Reekoh Oct 3rd 2008 10:34PM
Isn't that what Chardev.org is for?
Mohrlock Oct 3rd 2008 10:35PM
10 Points to WoWHead!!!
As a tank I've spent countless hours cross-comparing gear and have a filing cabinet (literally, I jest not) full of printouts and scrap paper of all my "Tankematics".
After playing around a little it appears it is lacking the ability to "try" gems and enchants, maybe it's just me missing something.
This cuts out a little work if it is the case these things can be done but I'm sure WoWHead will stay true to it's form and this is possibly something we can see in the near future.
Guess there's still going to be a little paper work that needs to be done even with this great new tool at everyone's disposal.
The Artist formally known as Jesus Oct 4th 2008 1:25AM
The new word of the day
"Tankematics"
Mohrlock Oct 4th 2008 1:44AM
I've been using it for ages now Jesus :P
I just got sick of saying "Tank Mathematics" all the time; so like all things we get tired of repeating I just shortened the process hehe
Mohrlock Oct 3rd 2008 10:37PM
Oh and before the grammar police go jumping one me:
"...little work if it is the case these things CAN'T be done..."
I'm not awake yet :P
OIK2 Oct 5th 2008 9:48PM
Import current from Armory would be nice. That way you can compare current to what u r curious about.
vlad Oct 3rd 2008 11:21PM
its not bad. a little different then the other loot compares out there. it definitly looks and operates better.
one thing that would be nice is linking to your characters build and spec so you can plan characters better.
like said above, adding gems and enchants would be fairly crucial for making this tool more usefull than all the other loot compare tools out there.
PeeWee Oct 5th 2008 9:11AM
A side note to all people voting on comments here.
You are voting for the COMMENT, not the PERSON. There's no reason to vote this comment down because of who posted it. I don't always agree with vlad, but this post is as valid as most others here.
*vote up*
shane Oct 4th 2008 12:02AM
http://www.warcrafter.net/ lets you sandbox and try different equip with enchants and gems (but you can't directly compare ... just fyi
vlad Oct 4th 2008 10:27AM
yea, thats one of the sloppy ones i was reffering to earlier. its really a good toll but just poorly implemented like the person below says. chuggy and overly complicated for how simple it should be.
Chardev.org is definitly much better to use.
Mohrlock Oct 4th 2008 1:46AM
According to WoWHead in it's thread regarding the tool they will be implementing a "profiling" function later allowing you to instantly (somewhat at least) link your character into the comparison tool.
*crosses fingers* Hopefully soon huh?
honem Oct 4th 2008 7:18AM
I find Warcrafter.net a little too slow and a little complicated when all I want to do is compare 4-5 different weapons , trying to decide wheter to make a trip to Darn on my lowbie Hunter or to continue questing in Azuremyste Isle.
If I wanted to do that in warcrafter.net it would of taken me four times as long :(
Mystical Oct 4th 2008 3:22AM
This is a nice update to wowhead, there is also an addon called "ratingbuster" which does this too. It's a must have addon for me.
Xianthos Oct 8th 2008 11:04AM
This is one of those great things WoWhead made. I always found it hard to pick between wand or stave. Then again, I'm quite low in level.
Dominace Oct 4th 2008 5:30AM
I actually find the ability to pair up items and look at them all in 3d on a single character allot better than the item comparison. Now I know what a Tauren rogue would look like in full brutal gladiator/guardian gear. Sexy.
isheepthings Oct 4th 2008 11:56AM
Aye you can't factor in Gems or Enchants or "of the ..." items just yet but wait awhile and I'm sure they'll add in that tech. I would rather take advantage of this tool now and get those features later. One thing I would like to see though is a way to auto import armory profiles but I'm not sure that is up Wowhead's alley to pull data from another site. It's an awesome tool to say the least.
-Aurdon
http://www.isheepthings.com/blog/wowhead-item-comparison-tool/