To be fair, at the time of reforging we didn’t have high power crafting or mythic+. Back then the only max ilvl items there were came from raids, so you had 2, maybe 3, choices per slot what stats you wanted. Reforging was much more necessary at that time.
Now though, there are 7-8 versions of each item slot at each possible ilvl bracket, as well as crafting which you can set any two stats at a 50/50 ratio.