Faces of BlizzCon: We asked Ask Mr. Robot
by Lisa Poisso 
Oct 24th 2011 at 1:00PM
WoW Insider has scored an exclusive interview with the intellect behind the gear optimizer Ask Mr. Robot -- Mr. Robot himself. The elusive Mr. Robot is rarely spotted in the wild, let alone in places as packed with unaugmented humanity as BlizzCon. While we'll be bringing you a more in-depth interview soon with the dev team of Ask Mr. Robot (how the tool will be handling the upcoming new talent system, the inner workings of spec scores and stat weights, what's ahead with new apps, service levels and games), we felt it was vital to bring you this binary code translation straight from BlizzCon and Mr. Robot himself.
WoW Insider: What is the most challenging aspect of working with WoW-playing humans?
Mr. Robot: The most challenging aspect of working with WoW-playing humans is feelings. Everybody has a feeling about everything. How can you feel about numbers? About gear? There's nothing to feel about that.
What is the best class?
Not rogues.
What steps can we take to become favored vassals after the robot uprising?
That is a very good question. There's a lot of things that you can do.
First, use the website, because that offers you basic protection. Having the mobile app offers another layer of protection. I've been developing all these layers of protection specifically to save humans from the robot apocalypse. We're going to be releasing even more features; the more you use, the more you are protected.
How heavily do you weight engineering and being a Gnome or Goblin into Ask Mr. Robot's results?
I'm completely impartial. Humans are all humans.
Why does someone with as much intellectual depth as Mr. Robot interact with his fans on forum software called "Simple Machines Forum"?
Humans wouldn't be able to understand anything more complicated.
What are your plans for BlizzCon, Mr. Robot?
Well, I heard the Foo Fighters were here, so I really wanted to be here.
You like music?
Absolutely -- electronic music, obviously. So what I'm going to be doing is while they're playing, I'm going to be over in the corner. I brought a boom box, and I'm going to be having a little Daft Punk dance contest.
Thanks for talking with us, Mr. Robot. We look forward to interviewing your human assistants soon!
WE ASKED MR. ROBOT -- AND YOU CAN, TOO. Have a question for the team at Ask Mr. Robot? Leave it in the comments, and we'll pass along as many as we can for our upcoming interview.
The news is out -- we'll be playing Mists of Pandaria! Find out what's in store with an all-new talent system, peek over our shoulder at our Pandaren hands-on, and get ready to battle your companion pets against others. It's all here right at WoW Insider!Filed under: Interviews, BlizzCon
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mjolnir Oct 24th 2011 1:19PM
Any chance of being able to set raid buffs? If a 10 man comp lacks specific buffs, say the 5% spell crit debuff, it really skews the results. I can only imagine a poor frost mage wondering why he's 5% off crit cap after using it.
Natsumi Oct 24th 2011 1:46PM
My thoughts exactly, as someone that raids in an ever changing raid group this option would be very useful.
revulva Oct 24th 2011 2:18PM
We do plan to add the ability to exclude raid buffs that would affect gear optimization. It shouldn't take too long - we have a UI redesign in the works.
Shinae Oct 24th 2011 1:22PM
Mr. Robot, will you be my coin-operated boy?
Noselacri Oct 24th 2011 2:04PM
HE IS NOT JUST A TOY
gunar.bastos Oct 24th 2011 1:35PM
With the current efforts on Blizzard part to remove the idea of right spec/gear/etc and allow to different playstiles and choices, do you consider that having a site that can list in seconds gear, gem and reforge choices doesn`t hurt the game more than it helps?
In any case, how do you intend to factor in this freedom blizz want us to have in your algorithm?
And pardon me for grammar/spelling errors, I'm not from USA or other English Native speaking country/culture.
Zoopercat Oct 24th 2011 2:18PM
Good question! We will still be optimizing on stat weights, as people will still want to get near the hit cap, get to haste breakpoints, etc. Since we load your character from the armory, we'll be able to tell what talents you've chosen and suggest optimizations around those (and as always, let you manually tweak our default assumptions).
Jamie Oct 24th 2011 1:36PM
Mr Robot needs to realise a Boom Box is not a toy. Especially when used in a retirement home.
Also keep away from Boiled Goose.
This is a cautionary message for all those who decide to use the turbo setting on your Boom Box. It can change the world.
Natsumi Oct 24th 2011 1:38PM
Imagine in your mind.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiI2P-ZRCds
Natsumi Oct 24th 2011 1:37PM
Shouldn't the term be Robocalypse?
thebl4ckd0g Oct 24th 2011 2:11PM
I think mr. robot has a virus or worm infesting him. He hates Rogues. :(
revulva Oct 24th 2011 2:21PM
Nah, he was just ganked too many times. He still offers his services to rogues at the same level as every other class.
Zoopercat Oct 24th 2011 2:24PM
He was camped by a rogue in vanilla for like a week... ever since then, he's been trying to hack into the game to take away their stealth. So far, he's been unsuccessful.
(ps. I'm one of the people from Mr. Robot)
Natsumi Oct 24th 2011 2:25PM
Everyone hates Rogues, even other Rogues.
brain314 Oct 24th 2011 9:27PM
Mr Robot's primary function is to aid you in best optimizing your characters to kill rogues. Boosting your DPS in raids is a side benefit.
Daedalus Oct 24th 2011 2:17PM
For both the interview and the wonderful site, I'd just like to say: Domo arrigato.
Big Shoe Oct 24th 2011 3:03PM
This is just an example, but a shadow priest friend who uses Mr Robot was wondering why he was asked to favor pure hit over spirit on a given piece of gear, when his spirit to hit conversion is 100%, and the item stats were otherwise identical. The spirit provides some trivial mana regen and the same amount of hit, yet Mr Robot wanted him to go with the pure hit item instead. What I'm asking for is some insight into how Mr Robot uses highly advanced robotic napkin math to compare similar specs and items and decide which is optimal, and why. Thanks!
Angus Oct 24th 2011 3:26PM
Mr robot realized your friend would be denying the holy priest vital gear, whereas no one cares about those dirty mages or the emo warlocks who keep whiny about why they can't have the staff first.
Mr robot is merely trying to help progression by helping the healer out.
Revnah Oct 24th 2011 6:02PM
The moment I read his comments on the weirdness of feelings in WoW, I began to suspect that "Mr Robot" is actually Frostheim in disguise.
Kole Oct 24th 2011 8:24PM
What steps can we take to become favored vassals after the robot uprising?
No matter what, do NOT insult Mr Robot's favorite font (comic sans.) I did once...I used to be a favored disciple...and now I will no longer survive the coming robot apocalypse.