If you click on the picture above, it will take you directly to the gear optimisation section of Ask Mr Robot - if you've been on the site before, feel free to skip over this part and go directly to your character screen.
You can easily search for your character using this screen:
Simply select the realm and input your character name, then click "Load". As you can see, if you register with them (even just for the free version), then it will remember your recently viewed characters.
Once you do that, you will be presented with a character screen showing the gear and spec of your selected character. It automatically loads this information from the Armories .. so bear this in mind on maintenance days!
You will note the menu bar:
Some of these options are for the paid service, however, we will be focussing on the basics of getting your character optimised using the free options.
First off, ensure that the spec shown is correct (ie, that if you're wanting to sort out your dps gear, the icon shows that) - in the example above, taken from my priest, it shows I am in my healing spec.
If this is not the case, and you know you logged out in the spec you wish to check, click the "Update from Armory" button.
You do not need to exit WoW completely for the Armories to update - simply ensure that you are wearing the correct gear and in the correct spec in-game, log out, and then log back in again .. the Armories should update almost immediately and you can then click the "Update from Armory" button.
Once the character shown on screen has the correct spec and gear equipped, you're good to go.
The main part of the page is split into three panes .. the left side is the gear you are currently wearing, the central panel shows the modifications to that gear (such as gems, enchants, etc), and the right pane shows the stats attained from that gear.
Most of the good stuff happens in the central pane. When you first load up a character, you often only have a large green "optimize" button over this pane, but later on you will see three tabs at the top .. the first showing your gear "as is" ... any gems or enchants etc that you are currently using; the second tab, which is the most important one, is where you see what you should have on your gear and the third tab shows where your gear came from. (I assume this is more useful if you're a paid up member and can use the "Find upgrades" option on the main menu).
Focussing on the second tab:
Once you have clicked the Optimize button, you will see something similar (possibly!) to the screenshot above. Obviously in this case I've been a complete slacker!
The are three columns shown in this pane, split into Gems, enchants/buckles and reforges. If it shows highlighted in green (as per the above example), these are all the items that require adding to your gear. If you hover your mouse over anything in the first two columns it will give you the specific names of each of the gems/enchants needed.
You will also note that, in the last pane, once you have the above screen showing, it will tell you how your stats will change once you have carried out the suggested modifications:
You may also notice a nice little comparison bar above it which shows that, prior to the modifications, my gear was 13% worse than it will be after the modifications .. which should make a noticeable improvement to my output in game (this is NOT a current raiding character, I would like to point out!!).
As you can see above, there is also a tab in the final pane called "Shopping List" ... this is very useful as it tells you in one go how many of each gem you need, what enchants you need, without having to hover over each item of gear in the second pane. Obviously, especially for the gems, you will still need to ensure you place the correct gems in the correct (recommended) sockets!
And that is the basics. All you need to do is then load up your character in-game and carry out the modifications suggested - not forgetting the reforging.
This website has the suggested hit caps and haste caps, expertise, and preferred weightings and priorities pre-loaded for your loaded character, role and spec. It uses all of the gear modification techniques in order to get the best possible stats from your gear, so if you're going to ignore one or more of the suggestions it makes, it completely throws out any targets it was trying to reach (for example, hit cap being a big one).
If you find that there is a specific piece of gear or modification that you want the website to ignore when it is calculating the best changes to make - for example if you know it is going to suggest a modification you don't wish to use, or you use some gear for two seperate specs and would prefer to keep it optimised for the other spec, you can "lock" it out of the calculations.
Simply left click on the item in question and you will get a screen similar to that below:
I've done this for example purposes only, but as you can see I have an enchant and a reforge on this item. In this case, I have decided that I wish the website to keep the enchant on this item, regardless of what spec I am in. I have therefore clicked on the (previously) green padlock icon, which turns it to a red locked padlock. You then hit the "Save" button at the top of the screen.
This particular modification will now show on your main modification screen with a little dotted line around it, and whenever you hit the "Optimize" in future it will work around the locked modifications.
I hope this guide has been helpful. It is by no means an exhaustive list of all the options available on the Ask Mr Robot site, but the information above is the basics of what is needed in order to optimise your character with as little fuss as possible.
Please note that you can also access the Ask Mr Robot site via our Game Tools page, under the heading of "Item & Gear Info".