stargrace

TSM and Dragonflight – Is it Worth It?

Let’s face it, updates that break our favourite addons suck, and we all hope that the developers of these mods are able to roll with those changes and get everything working again in a timely manor. Tradeskillmaster has undergone some massive changes in the past few years thanks to gold making changes on World of Warcraft’s end, and some of those changes I’m a fan of while others not so much.

The staff is dedicated and passionate (as are the goblins who use it) and the updates do come, but TSM updates in DF have been lacking (IMO). Unfortunately some things that I personally want to make use of (restocking SL with crafters marks) remain broken after 6 months. We all know that as goblins the whole point is to get in before the masses get in, and TSM has fallen well behind in function for anything relating to this.

4.13 has released and cross-realm trading was enabled only to have Blizzard pull the plug on that one temporarily while they look into server stability. This single feature is amazing for anyone who works on multiple realms, it not only tracks gold but also your craft components. There have also been some changes to professions (inspiration function has been added!) which you can read all about on their blog post linked above.

At the start of Dragonflight and for the months following I actually stopped using TSM and instead relied heavily on auctionator and craftsim. TSM wasn’t taking into account the DF specific specials like multicraft, inspiration, etc. Craftsim is a much better addon for these things. Queuing anything into the TSM craft queue was creating an unplayable game with lag and stuttering. I am happy to say that this looks to be mostly resolved, so long as I keep the queue under control. Instead of doing multiple groups at once, I tend to just focus on one section, so for example I’ll restock blacksmithing – > current content, in one go, and then after I’m done I’ll clear the queue and do blacksmithing -> old content.

I have yet to find another addon that offers everything TSM does despite the issues I have with the latest renditions. I continue to use it exclusively to post auctions, restock crafted goods, and check my gold & supplies across multiple servers. For ease I use a profile created by BilisOnyxia for his patreon’s, and then I’ve customized and adjusted it for my server specific needs (transmog) – I use a different profile that I’ve built for pet sales which I do cross realm. In Shadowlands I used a combination of profiles from Penguin & Manthieus.

Is TSM worth it?

It depends on what you’re doing. I think if you’re well versed in using it there’s still potential, especially in posting things like gear / transmog – but when it comes to professions (specifically DF professions) and crafting – other addons like Craftsim really do a much better job. If you’re restocking SL speed gear or anything that uses crafters marks, then TSM won’t be of any use to you (at the time of this post in any case).

Have a favourite addon that makes your gold making easier? Let me know in comments! As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Weekly Wrap-Up [July 9-July15]

Well, it was an interesting week to say the least. Some key points! Wednesday 10.1.5 hit, and cross realm trading was enabled. Sadly, it created some server instability because of all the phasing we all do from one realm to the next, so they disable it a day later. It has not been turned back on yet. I did manage to complete a few trades and move some things around that I wanted to move, but now I’m back to a waiting pattern in that regard. It’s not a huge deal, after all we barely had it live for one day, but I know a lot of people are really looking forward to that change, whether they’re buyers or sellers.

Sales for the week held strong, with last Sunday being far beyond what I expected – I imagine people were stocking up. There was talk in the WoW Economy discord about taking advantage of the new Naxx items, most notably righteous orbs, but I decided to go the opposite route and sold before the event went live to those who were stockpiling for after. The price of orbs dropped from 600g to 300g and have risen slightly since then to around 400g. I wasn’t interested in playing the long game for this item when there are bigger fish out there, so I let mine go.

I did start unlocking the secrets to old scholomance and old Naxxramas – I’m not sure if I’m actually going to sell anything / recipes / components, but I do want to be able to unlock them for myself, and if gold happens to come from that, all the better. It’s slow and annoying with lots of RNG in there, so if you’re also working on that, just hang in there.

One thing to note, there was a LOT of confusion about whether or not we’d be able to MAIL across server – you cannot. This was never implied or hinted at. Normally when Blizzard makes these changes their language is clear – for example when they told us we’d be able to mail cross faction on the same realm, and when they told us we could trade certain items in dungeons. Their announcement was for trades, and that means you do need either a 2nd account or a friend to help if you’re looking to trade with yourself. The intention of this change is NOT to benefit gold making goblins – it is a QoL change for regular players who are spread across multiple realms from their friends. This allows them the opportunity to help out their friend with gold or items without feeling the barrier of the server. You do also have to be same faction (as far as I am aware).

That isn’t to say it won’t change in the future, but you have to remember that World of Warcraft is an OLD game, and the code wasn’t meant to allow any of this stuff. Managing to change it and adjust it in a way that does allow for cross realm trading is a BIG DEAL and of course there are going to be unseen issues with it since it’s old and was never intended. Let’s give them our support through these growing pains, and keep our fingers and toes crossed that they get it sorted (soon).

With this update also came a region wide update to TSM – but I’m saving that for its own post in the near future.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Updates, Blaugust, and everything in between

First of all, I know there has been a lack of posts to the site – but honestly it has just been TOO damn hot. So far this July has seen more days 30C+ than not, and I am a creature who enjoys the cold, NOT the heat. I haven’t had the mental capability to create content let alone sit in front of my PC. Honestly, it feels like this summer has just been me trying to get by. I’m also battling ‘something’ (an infection of some sort, but they have no idea what) so I’m on heavy doses of amoxicillin, and of course I’m stressed and not the healthiest of people out there, so I’ve had to start taking blood pressure medication too.

That being said, I am still around even though I am quiet. I’ve been gaming in World of Warcraft, I’m steadily on discord (name there is stargrace), and I’m also on mastodon (I normally post pictures of my cat Waffle, and art). I’m still playing Wurm Online (expect an updated post on that tomorrow) and I am delving into New World once again with my other half and his friend. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Upcoming – Blaugust! I’m a huge fan of this festival, I’ve been participating for years now (since 2014, in fact), and it never fails to motivate me to get some content out and to remind me about WHY I still continue this blog so many years later. You can find the basic information about it at this link, and there’s all sorts of neat things including a media kit, and discord. If it’s not your thing, don’t feel pressured into it – but I personally love that little nudge into creating healthy writing habits and making content for a site that I simply do just for me.

That’s where I’m at these days, I hope everyone is keeping as cool as possible and hopefully life is treating you all well. As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Happy 17th Birthday NomadicGamersEh

That’s right, June 25 2006 was when the first post was made here on NomadicGamerEh (back then it was called MmoQuests.com but I rebranded) – and I know that blogs are ancient things that rarely anyone uses let alone reads, but I’ve had a lot of fun posting here over the years, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

So here’s to 17 more – thanks for reading!

Some Interesting Changes Coming

Oh my. This week we saw some patch notes that got the whole goblin community talking. It didn’t come as a complete surprise, what with the changes to the auction house (region wide commodity) but I’m not sure if anyone was expecting exactly this.

A few things I think it’s important to note. This specifically calls out trading and NOT mailing items. People immediately thought they’d be able to mail items and gold cross realm, but I don’t think that is the case, at least not yet. For now I believe this is limited to exactly the wording that was used – trades.

That means you’ll need a 2nd account, or a good friend, or someone you trust to help you with the transaction if you want to trade items / gold.

Overall, I think this change is a very good thing for players in general. That means if you can’t find what you need at a good price on your current server, you can go buy it some place else. On the downside, this does not exactly bode well for gold making goblins – or does it? Sure, you’ll technically have “more” competition because if you’re not the cheapest in the region someone will find a player who is – but how many casual gamers are actually going to take that sort of effort? Instead, you could be the goblin who is providing items on a server that is lacking. You could watch the region wide prices, and go buy the items you think will be in demand on your server. That could be transmog to low population servers, or even BOE gear.

Maybe you could even start up a business where you’re paid a finders fee for procuring rare / difficult to obtain items for players by browsing through the entire region. I think that creativity is key to the success of this change for gold making goblins, and I think in general the change is good for the average player. Simply playing the game rewards a LOT of gold these days between world quests, weekly quests, and a few AH sales in between. Throw in some alts, and I think it’s probably easier to make gold than it has been in a long time (since maybe the days of garrisons and gold printing machines, in fact).

In any case, no matter your thought, this is a change that is coming, and it’s much better to be aware and prepared than caught off guard. I personally feel that a region wide auction house is the next logical move, but perhaps the servers wouldn’t be able to handle such a huge change, so they decided on this smaller one instead. Thoughts? Let me know in comments, and as always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Nomadic Gamer