Monthly Archives: November 2011

4.3 Changes & Known Issues

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***IF your NEW 4.3 gear was not loading, Blizzard fixed it now. You may have to hit the ‘reload’ button or clear your cache.

You may also need to nudge the API a bit… if you have NOT logged into and out wow since 5pm PST, do this: Log in to wow. Change something insignificant on your gear, like a tabbard. Logout. Go to Mr. Robot and hit reload. Your new items should load. (This process forces the API to update your character).

Mr. Robot has updated his site for 4.3! You’ll find the following updates on the web and Android devices (as always, Apple users need to wait 1-2 weeks for the Apple approval process).

  • New items are added in
  • New tier filters are live
  • The epic gems have been added
  • Epic gem logic: you can select a gear level threshhold for Mr. Robot to suggest epic gems. If you only want gems in your T13 heroic gear, just say so, and Mr. Robot will do as you command.

You might also notice a few anomalies:

  • Trinkets have been estimated, but we don’t know the proc data for all of them yet. These will be re-estimated as proc data comes in.
  • Set bonuses have been roughly estimated, but those also need refining as data comes in.
  • We estimated stat weights, but they will need updating as more data comes in!

Known Issues:

  • 5 man loot isn’t listed under the pre-raid filter.
  • Legendary doesn’t show as BiS if you have it equipped.
  • (FIXED) Updated bear stat weights
  • (FIXED) Updated burning shadowspirit diamond
  • The T13 or better epic gem filter isn’t working correctly.
  • (FIXED) Some Heroic Ragnaros items are showing up when you select T13 and ‘none’ for heroic filters.
  • (FIXED) Quest items: right now we suggest that you can equip 2 of the same quest items (and we know that isn’t possible).
  • (FIXED) Justice / Valor Point items: We updated the code to reflect the new prices but forgot to blow away the item cache on our servers. That means, the new prices aren’t reflected.

Report any oddities in our forums or in a comment on this article.

Next week we’ll be launching an entire site redesign as well, loaded up with a whole lot of cool new features.

Premium Accounts

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We have an updated announcement that you can read here.

Premium accounts are coming in December! First, Mr. Robot is launching a huge site redesign with new free features. Next, he’s launching premium accounts with super-charged features. Mr. Robot isn’t greedy, he just wants to keep making gaming tools as his day job, is that so bad? Us human minions working for Mr. Robot like to call this a “dream job.”

On that note, I’d like to take a minute to tell you about Team Robot. We started as 3 friends who’ve gamed together since college, and started this site in 2009 as a side project after we got home from our career-day-jobs. Then in November of last year, we decided to take the plunge, a hell of a lot of risk, and build a company out of supporting gamers. We’re dipping into our savings, big time, to get our company off the ground. And we’ve taken that monetary risk, passed up buying that over-priced but delicious bacon flavored chocolate bar, and cut back on Christmas gifts this year,  because we believe we can make tools worth paying for. We see every purchase come through, and appreciate every one of them! So thank you for the support already with app downloads!

What do I get with a premium account? On launch, the premium accounts will come with the mobile web app, RoboCouncil (on the web and mobile), and the new Shopping List feature. In early 2012 we have plans for a “Gear Upgrade Planner” for Warcraft and hopefully for SW:TOR.

We already have code started for League of Legends and SW:TOR, and will also be working on Diablo III. All of this is coming in 2012.

We only have 1 premium account level, which gets you access to every premium feature for every game we support. So if you play WoW, LoL and Diablo III, then you get to use all of the premium tools (in 2012)!

How much will premium accounts cost?
We have a subscription option and ala cart.

The annual payment option will charge you once a year, and you can choose to have it auto-renew or not. You can lock in the lower rate by signing up for an annual subscription at $12 a year, and that price will not go up next year. Although we have a smaller suite of premium features right now, we do offer you some cool stuff and remove ads for all premium accounts. If you sign up for the annual subscription, we get that money up front, which will help us hire a couple of fans to build more features for more games faster. So if you plan on paying one way or the other, we appreciate the annual subscription if you can afford the up-front cost.

Update on 12/3: We recently decided to offer each feature ala cart, and most premium features will cost $2 each. Read more here.

We are using Paypal to process the payments, but you don’t need a Paypal account. You can just enter your credit card in and go on your merry way. We need to use a verified and secure 3rd party vendor to process payments for us, because, well, they are secure and keep your credit card safe. None of your payment info will ever be hosted on our site or servers, even if you choose to auto-renew, it’s all handled by Paypal, and we can’t access it. That’s fine by us, since we take your information very seriously and want it to be handled by the security experts!

Mobile App Transition Plan

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We have an updated announcement that you can read here.

So we’re taking the plunge and moving out of the app stores, and onto the mobile web. We’ve spent a lot of time trying to find the smoothest transition plan, but this is the first time (and last!) we’re doing something like this. So if there are bumps, we apologize, and want you to contact us with any problems, feedback@askmrrobot.com. We will be helping each and every person out that reaches out with a problem or concern.

The mobile web version will continue to be a premium feature, and we won’t have a free version. A free version would need to be ad-supported, but ads just don’t fit on mobile phones, and they often throw errors (and will continue to until the ad providers and servers get better). So, we’ve made the decision to continue to charge for the mobile web version. However, it’s included in the premium package, so you get a whole lot of goodies for $1 a month.

Why are we moving it out of the app stores? We have a thorough explanation here.

Already own the app? Mr. Robot has you covered! As a thank you for being an early app owner, Mr. Robot is making special user accounts, just for you. These special accounts will get you free access to the mobile web version and RoboCouncil all the way to Mists of Pandaria. Also, if you buy an annual subscription at any point up to Mists of Pandaria, you get $2 off the price. Update on 12/3 – we are sweetening the package, sine we love our early adopters! You now get the Mobile app and RoboCouncil free, forever. As well as half off the annual subscription if you sign up by Jan 31.

Our plan for the transition: please bear with us during this transition. We are trying to make this as smooth as possible, but if you experience any bumps along the way, just email us at feedback@askmrrobot.com. We are happy to help!

  1. Create your free account on when our new website launches and start your mobile web trial. We will launch the mobile web version of the app in early December, and your free trial is a temporary solution until step #2 is complete!
  2. Update the app when it hits the stores. We have submitted an updated app to the Apple store, but their approval process may take up to 2 weeks (this is the part out of our control, so you will get a free trial in step #1 until the update is approved by Apple). Android owners will be able to update right away (as soon as the mobile web version is live, in early December).
  3. Get the special code from your updated app, found on the launch screen. The update will contain a special code that you will apply to the user account you created (and if you haven’t created one, you can do so through a link in the app). The code will get you free access to the mobile web version and RoboCouncil until Mists of Pandaria  forever. The code also gives you $2 $6 off an annual subscription if you choose to upgrade for other cool features, at any point up to MoP.
  4. The update will remain in app stores until Dec. 31. So be sure update and use your code. After Dec. 31, we will remove the app from the stores, because we don’t want people buying an app that won’t be supported. Once it is removed from the store, you will not be able to get the update, so it is very important you update before Dec. 31 to get your code.
  5. If you have any questions or concerns, email us at feedback@askmrrobot.com. We will respond to every single email. You can also post comments here.

Mobile App Stores… And why we are leaving them.

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In the very near future, Mr. Robot will no longer sell his app in iTunes and the Android markets. Instead, he’s moving it to be a web-based app… which in all honesty will look and act just like the app and you will barely notice a difference. You’ll just browse to it instead of launching it.

Why these changes?

Delays on the Apple Market: Apple takes 1-2 weeks to approve any changes we make to the app. That means every time there is a patch, like 4.3, iPhone and iPad users get information late. And that’s not cool, man.

Platform support: it doesn’t take a ton of work for us to port these apps over to the Apple and Android markets, but it does take some effort. And inevitably, users have problems with the app stores themselves, or technical difficulties from jailbreaking a phone or running uncommon OS’s, so we try to help them. But that means we have to become experts for every platform and OS… that time adds up. And we’d rather be spending our limited resources developing cool features, not porting & supporting the app on 4 different markets. We haven’t supported Windows phones or Blackberries yet because the demand isn’t high enough to dedicate time to it, and that royally sucks for people who own those phones. Mr. Robot doesn’t want to discriminate against those humans anymore, so moving the mobile functionality to the web will now support all platforms.

Money matters: Some of you have an Android phone and an iPad, which means you have to buy Mr. Robot’s app twice (he apologizes for that btw). Also, sometimes people do something nice for Mr. Robot and he wants to give them a free app, which he can’t do on the Android market right now, bummer. In addition to all of that, both Google and Apple take 30% of every app sale… sure $0.60 from a $2 app may not seem like much, but if we sold $10,000 worth of apps, that’s $3,333 we could have used to pay another developer to make cool features, so why let Apple or Google have that money?

Moving the app to the web also allows Mr. Robot to let you try features before you buy them (no credit card required). What a thoughtful robot.

How will the web-app work? Once it’s live, you will just browse to www.askmrrobot.com on your mobile device, and we will auto-detect that you are on a phone. We will show you the mobile friendly web-version which will look, and function, like the app does today. That version will require a premium subscription, which is only $1 a month (our low early-adopter price) or $12 annually.

What if I already bought the app? Mr. Robot has your covered! As a thank you for being an early app owner, Mr. Robot is making special user accounts, just for you. These special accounts will get you free access to the mobile web version and RoboCouncil all the way to Mists of Pandaria forever. Also, if you buy an annual subscription at any point up to Mists of Pandaria, you get $2  $6 off the price. Mr. Robot talks more about the transition plan here.

 

Thanksgiving Stat Weights

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Mr. Robot is cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year. He’s YouTubed everything there is to know about cooking a Turkey and looked up portion sizes for side dishes. He also crowd-sourced optimal stat weights from his friends on Twitter. He’s sharing all of this, plus his recipes, below.

Stat Weights: Mr. Robot has figured out the hard and soft caps, diminishing returns and crit chances for your Thanksgiving dinner. Below are his stat weights, followed by his suggestion on how to optimize your first plate.

  • Gravy: 4.2 (it can go on every item on your plate, except cranberry sauce. There are no caps, it makes everything taste better.)
  • Stuffing: 3.5 (see debuff below)
  • Mashed potatoes: 3.1 (Has diminishing returns)
  • Turkey: 2.7 (hard cap at 2 large slices if the Turkey is not dry. 3 if the turkey is amazing.)
  • Sweet potatoes: 1.9 or 2.4, with a 2-scoop soft cap of 1.1 (use the higher weight if it’s in the marshmallow casserole form).
  • Rolls: 1.75, with a 2-roll soft cap of .75
  • Cranberry sauce: 0.2 or 1.5 (Has diminishing returns. Use the lower weight if it came from a can)
  • Green beans: 0.2 or 1.2 (Use the higher weight if it’s in a casserole form. Green beans taste better whole, so if you have 4.5 green beans, the .5 is wasted. Make sure you have  a whole number. Not taking any green beans might cause a chance to be blocked on dessert)
  • Pie (second course): 5.0, soft cap of 2.0 at 2 slices, and hard cap at 3 slices (or you will start vomiting all of the food you just ate).
  • Grandma’s Favor: On Use Effect. If caster has eaten more of Grandma’s dish than anyone else at the table, the caster gets out of dishes duty.
  • Belt Buckle: Buff. If caster wears loose pants, they get 1 extra pie slice.
  • Stuff This! Debuff. If caster fills more than 1/4 of their plate with stuffing, they get a debuff that causes them to lose all block, parry and dodge skills.

Mr. Robot has optimized your plate based on the above stat weights. He also grouped items together with very strategic purposes.

Mr. Robot has found the best videos for making a Turkey. We asked him why he picked super-cheesy videos… but he just looked at us inquisitively and said, “What’s wrong with them, I thought they were excellent.” Oh, well, you’ve been warned of the cheese-factor.

Mr. Robot has tested all of these recipes in the past month to make sure they meet his flavor standards. He also wanted to find a few slightly healthier versions of things, but only slightly… it’s Thanksgiving afterall.

Cornbread & Sausage Stuffing

  • Mr. Robot added a red and green bell pepper to the recipe. He also replaced the chicken broth with apple cider.
  • Add more sausage, why not?

Mashed Potatoes & Parsnips

  • Parsnips are like carrots but even sweeter. Use 4 parts potato to 1 part parsnip.
  • Many sites suggest 1/2 lb of potatoes per person, but Mr. Robot tested this theory and it’s wrong, and considering it’s popularity, this could be a fatal mistake. Mr. Robot estimates each person will eat 1/2- 3/4 of a pound on their first helping alone. Plan accordingly.
  • Pro tip: roast garlic to add to potatoes, it’s easy.

Sweet Potatoes & Pears

  • Mr. Robot experimented with this a lot. Following the cooking directions leads to very dry potatoes. But he really, really like the flavor, so he was set on figuring out a way to not dry these out.
  • He tried boiling the sweet potatoes instead, which helped a lot. Boil no more than 5-7 minutes or they’ll get too mushy. Then toss in the sherry mixture with the pears, bake for 10 minutes (to warm up the pears and let the spices soak in)
  • Make sure the pears are nice and ripe, so you don’t have to cook them for more than 10 minutes. Cooking the potatoes for more than 10 minutes will dry them out.
  • Tossing them with olive oil or butter helped keep the potatoes from drying out as well.
  • Mr. Robot estimates that 1/2 of sweet potatoes, for this recipe (since it isn’t mashed), will be plenty, even with a few leftovers.

Green Beans & Bacon

  • Toss green beans with olive oil in a pan. Cook until tender-ish. Toss with bacon, salt and pepper.

Cranberry Sauce with Port & Dried Cherries

  • Use dried cherries instead of cranberries
  • Use apple or orange juice in place of water
  • Can be made ahead of time

Asiago Bubble Bread

  • Mr. Robot baked them as separate rolls instead of placing them next to eachother to form more of a mounded loaf. Then the outside of each roll is nice and browned :)

Pecan Pie with Maple Syrup

  • Be sure to use real maple syrup for superior flavor. Mmmmm.
  • Can be made a day in advance
  • *Not tested by Mr. Robot yet.

Pumpkin Pie

  • Can be made a day in advanced
  • *Not tested by Mr. Robot yet

Have a favorite recipe, why not share it. Who cares that this is really a gaming website? :)

Win a spot to Beta Test Mr. Robot’s new site!

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Mr. Robot sees so many people get excited about the SWTOR beta, Diablo betas, anything beta. So he’s jumping in the pile of beta excitement and offering up his new site for a few lucky* people.     *Being selected may or may not lead to other cool stuff.

Check back here on Sunday, we’ll announce who’s invited :)

To enter, look at the screenshot below (and read previous site redesign posts). Then leave a quality comment on this page. For example, you might…

  • Ask a question, any question
  • Tell us what you like most about the changes
  • Tell us if you don’t like something about the new design

Site Redesign #6: Accounts

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Mr. Robot will be releasing a huge site redesign on Nov 29. Here’s another one of our changes.

Change #6: ACCOUNTS! Why on earth are we so excited about the account feature? Because now you can actually save your character settings and use them on any other computer, tablet or mobile device. So, you no longer have to waste time in that boring meeting at work, redoing all of the settings you had at home, instead you can waste time playing with other cool features (like RoboCouncil)!

Site Redesign #3, #4, and #5

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Mr. Robot is releasing a redesign of his site and some new features on Nov 29.

Change #3: You can now customize any part of your gear, including gems, enchants and reforges. Sick of changing that expensive enchant all the time? Lock it in so Mr. Robot stops fussing with it. Think you can beat Mr. Robot’s score? Go for it, the new mode lets you put in any configuration you want.

The screenshot in this post shows the new gear table. The gray dotted lines around a few of the items, gems, enchants and reforges indicate it has been manually changed and Mr. Robot will optimize around it.

Change #4: The Progress Bar. We added a gear progress bar to the mobile app, and now it’s making it’s way to the web. It shows how optimal your gear is based on the settings you have selected. Mr. Robot also shows you how far you are from your BiS set. The progress bar is the big yellow bar in the middle of the screenshot below.

Change #5: Always Visible Stats. On the current site, you have to click a ‘show stats’ button to view the changes Mr. Robot suggested. That’s not ideal! So now you’ll see relevant stats on the right side of the gear table.

Click the screenshot to get a larger view.

 

Site Redesign #2: Menu Strip

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Mr. Robot’s releasing a site redesign with patch 4.3 that includes a lot of ch-ch-cha-chaaanges.

Change #2: The Menu Strip. This is going to be a big change folks! We’ve added several features since launch, like an export button and stat weight presets, and we tried to fit them into the existing site design. Most people have missed these options, so it’s time to rethink the design and make it more obvious and user friendly. Now, nearly everything you want to do is contained in the menu bar, separated into 4 groups: Your character stuff, stat weights, options, and other tools. We hope this highlights several functions you may not have noticed before!

Site Redesign #1: Black Background

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We’re launching a new site redesign with patch 4.3 that comes with a facelift and some cool features.

Change #1: A black background and game art. That’s right… all of you kids that think gaming websites must have a black background, are getting your very own Mr. Robot supercharged #000000 / R0-G0-B0 pixels all over the site. And we know how much you love game art outside of the game itself, so Mr. Robot has incorporated pretty pictures into his site as well.

Background Story (*pun may have been an accident): Mr. Robot likes clean, minimalist designs, and white works well for that. However, black works better on mobile devices, not to mention it can save a lot of battery power. So, the dark side wins on this one.