Trade Skill Master: Crafting Part 2

This is a continuation of the last post on the TSM Crafting Module, to see the first post click here.

So last time we gave an introduction to the crafting module and went through some very useful settings for how to get it prepared for optimal usage. This post will deal with the fun part, the implementation. We'll get to see how to check the data crafting can provide you to determine what to craft with some thoughts on keeping in mind how much to craft. We'll also be using the profession of Jewelcrafting for our module example, though of course this module works the same way with all other professions.

Implementation

We'll begin with a quick Auction House Scan. This requires you to visit the auction house and open the TSM auctioning tab. The default settings will open directly to it but you can simply click on the TSM tab at the bottom if it does not.

After choosing the profession, in this case Jewelcrafting on the left side, simply click on the "Run Profession Scan" button and wait while the addon scans the auction house for any and all materials and craftable items being sold on the auction house for the selected professions. It is also worth noting that there is a warning here stating that "Scanning the auction house in game is no longer necessary!" that points to the TradeSkillMaster Desktop Application. That application might be covered in future editions of this blog, but for now the Auction House Scan is all we need to get started.

The Auction House scan is important because it will keep the information in TSM fresh. The crafting module uses the current data to show how much profit you can make off selling an item right now. The market can fluctuate often so you always want data that is current and accurate otherwise it might tell you to craft items whose prices have dropped so much they're now not profitable to bother crafting.

Next open up TradeSkillMaster and look down at the bottom. There is a profession tab for each profession. In this case I'll be clicking on the gem icon for Jewelcrafting.

You will notice a list of items to the left side under crafts. This is an optional step you can take before opening up the crafting window. When you click on the left side on a gem color a full list of gems will appear. This will include all of the lower level gems. You have the option to filter out gems you prefer not to craft by left clicking anywhere in the row where their name appears. Doing this can cut out most of the useless information that might be provided you by TSM about things like gem cuts for gems from the last expansion or earlier.

If you right click on an item's row you will open up a new smaller window to the left side that looks like this:

At point 1 here you can see that it gives you the option to add this specific item to a shopping group for use with the Auctioning Module. At point 2 you have multiple options given for restock quantities specific to this item alone. At first these options will likely be more than you need to adjust but could be very useful in the future after your more familiar with the Crafting Module as a whole. We'll see more on Restocking too further in this guide.

Craft Management Window

To open the craft management portion you can either click on the gem at the bottom again or you can select the "Crafts" from the left side to bring up the options.

We have two options "Show Craft Management Window" and "Force Rescan of Profession (Advanced)". The forced rescan will check and ensure that you have all the latest recipes you've learned added into the crafting module for consideration. You'll click on "Show Craft Management Window" next to open up the crafting interface. This should bring up the Craft Management window for Jewelcrafting.

So now, on top of your regular crafting window for Jewelcrafting there is this large blue and black box. Already contained is the data for the profession you're looking at, so now we just need to represent it properly. As you can see here I've chosen to show the information I have on Yellow Gems and I am sorting by potential profit as determined by TSM. Not only does it show you the profit in gold per item presumably sold, but also by percentage of cost. Green is good, positive profits, and red is bad, negative profits. This will automatically adjust itself as you scan the auction house and sometimes items that make a profit one day will have cratered and be putting you in the red if you try to craft them the next day. Next lets queue up some items to craft.

At point 1 you can see we've queued up three Glinting Imperial Amethysts to craft by left clicking on the "Glinting Imperial Amethyst" text three times. If you happen to click too many times, you just need to  right click to reduce the number. At point 2 to the right you can see the current value of each, and to the left we have a set of lists that show how many of those specific cut amethysts we have on all of our characters (assuming we are sharing inventory on the same account from the settings we set earlier). At point 3 you can see the mats list is populated by all the mats needed to craft everything on the right. In this screenshot "Imperial Amethyst" is highlighted in red which means I currently have none in my bags and will need to acquire some in order to craft. Also worth noting the same appears in Glinting Imperial Amethyst which is in orange on the right side crafting list.

Crafting

At point 1 you can click Craft Next to begin crafting the top item on our crafting stage #1 list. At point 2 you see the "Clear Queue" button which will clear everything out of the list. For more automatic posting following your restock quotas and specifically only crafting what is immediately available in your inventory you can use the "On-Hand Queue" button at point 3. Finally, at point 4 the large "Restock Queue" button will populate the list automatically with crafted gems according to the parameters set in the settings earlier.

For automation purposes the Restock Queue button is great, especially if you want to just pick stuff up off the Auction House and start crafting. However, it is very important that you set up the parameters in first. The set up for this is located in the Price/Inventory Settings section of the set up. If set up properly then TSM will find all the items at the profit you select and exclude items that you have already crafted but have yet to sell. Keep in mind that these options were labeled as optional in the setup guide. They aren't necessary but you may find these advanced features a great way to streamline the process. 

Conclusion

The setup involved with this module may make it seem a bit daunting to use at first. However, as usual with TradeSkillMaster, the time taken to prepare is always worthwhile when you start seeing major returns on investment thanks to modules like this one. Its also worth keeping in mind that beyond just the Jewelcrafting example we focused on this module works exactly the same way for all crafting professions. So adapt Trade SkillMasterCrafting to suit your needs and prepare to be amazed at the time it saves you in the long run.