Tools of the Trade Revised

As promised I'm updating the Tools of the trade post since I felt like I left out a handful of addons last time.

Last time I wrote about Auctioneer Suite, Auctionator, QA2, ATSW, Skillet and Altoholic. While these are still highly recommended addons for sake of repeating myself if your interested in my opinion on them please check out my previous blog found here.

First up is one of my newly found favorite addons, Market Watcher. Mostly because I'm a graph nerd and the fact this takes a list of items in which I pre-built (similar to building lists in Auctionator) and scans the AH for the prices. It then will take that information and display it on a graph (omg :D) . If you know your market prices by heart (like I do) then it's somewhat redundant since I know whats normal and whats a bargain. However, like I said, I'm a complete graph nerd so the fact that my AH screen now has a graph window on it is freaking awesome. On a more serious note it is helpful on a long term basis on markets your not sure on. You can choose to show "trends" in which it'll add another line that averages all your other scans out and displays them in a gradual downward slope (dropping in price) or upward slope (rising in price).

Lilsparky's Workshop (LSW) is an addon that I don't personally use. Mostly because I don't rely on AH scanned data when I make boe items to sell. I will generally check AH prices and craft from there. I don't generally sell more then a handful of boe items but I can see where this addon is invaluable to armor and weapon crafters. This addon is also used by many glyph makers but again when I make glyphs I make 10 of each reguardless of price. My QA threshold in a sense tells me when to sell and when not to sell in that department. So if I sell something then it was in my price range. If that makes any sense at all then cool. If not then download it and check it out for yourself. :P

While this is not exactly an addon I still consider it an invaluable tool of the trade. Sarainy's Crafting Spreadsheet is definitely worth checking out if you haven't already. To save those who have already read my review on it I'll spare you from having to read it again. For those of you who want to read my review on it check it out here.

In the organization department we have another one of my personal favorite addons, Bankstack. This addon doesn't have any graphical screen or anything and most of the time you won't even know its running unless you remember. What this does is organize your bags and/or your bank. While making your bank look pretty and all is cool an everything thats not where the true beauty of this addon comes into play. You can also compile your bags and / or bank. So if you have 3 stacks of Glyph of Disease and you need to make room you can compress the items and it'll automatically put the 3 stacks into 1 stack. Extremely helpful for glyph sellers.

For those of you who often find yourself needing the professions of others there is the addon called Gnomish Yellow Pages. While I don't generally need professions of random people (yay for friends :P) I found a different use for it. Picking up a new gem and want to get a cut that your competition doesn't have? GYP records players tradeskill links in trade so when your competition announces they are looking for work or if you're on an alt and whisper them for a link it records it. Now you know exactly what they can make and can choose your new cut accordingly. On the flip side if your like me and love to grief your competition you could always pick up gems in which your competition does have >:D. I don't have a ton of knowledge on this addon and I've only been using it for all of a day but from the sounds of it this will be one of those "how did I live without it" types.

Finally I found an addon that is similar to moneyfu for fubar but from the looks of it it'll be much more accurate. Auditor does pretty much as it sounds. It records everything from your postage fees to your auction house spending and selling. One of the newest features is it even tracks your gold in your guild bank. As with Gnomish Yellow Pages I don't have a ton to say about this addon since I've only been using it for a day as well but its already won me over from SL Data text (New generation fubar). (No that's not my info :P Stole from curse since I haven't used it long enough to get a pic like this :P)

Now I repeatedly appologize for dropping the f bomb on today's blog but for those of you who like to farm (I feel dirty now) and have both mining and herbalism on the same character this is an invaluable addon. Spotter will rotate between mining and herbing at set intervals. You can have it switch every 2 seconds or every 10 seconds. I used this briefly when my DK was mining and herbing and it was pretty cool. It did get to annoy me after a bit and I eventually just tracked one thing over the other. It was annoying to keep looking for a mineral deposit when the mineral disappeared off the map. I would think it was just rotating between the two but in reality it was because someone grabbed it before me. Other then that though its at least worth a look at to form your own opinion of. I personally can't stand gathering professions.

Hope that wraps up the addons in which I left out from last time.