Addon Spotlight: Spellcraft
As expansion apathy sets in, and my friends and guildmates begin to lose interest in raiding, I have joined the ranks of the many players who have transitioned to playing their alts. To that end, I've had an opportunity to explore some new addons designed for specific classes. Spellcraft stands out as simple and useful for the mage about town.
This addon handles a few mage functions via a simple graphic interface and a set of more subtle features. With automated reagent restocking, polymorph warnings, Evocation weapon-swapping and a simple teleport and portal menu, Spellcraft offers much while asking little. (The memory footprint is minimal)
Granted, there are addons that provide similar functionality, and I've profiled a few of them, but Spellcraft is tailor-made for mages and their unique abiities.
On install, you'll notice a minimap icon, which can be moved around your UI via a right-click+drag. Left-clicking this icon will open an interface that shows your teleports and portals. It also shows your hearthstone and prints the number of ports/teleports available based on the number of reagents you have.
To access the options interface, use this command:
/spellcraft
From this menu, you can enable or disable any of the modules included in the addon. There are a number of features to consider:
Automatically equipping weapons/wands with the best spirit intellect (the author notes the switch in the comments on Curse) when you evocate for maximum mana return. It will switch back once you've channeled your spell.
Auto-release on death in Battlegrounds, not a logical fit per se, but a handy feature nonetheless.
Prompts the mage to strip when using Invisibility while in a group and leaving combat. Reminds you to dress yourself as well. (Someone explain this one to me, I'm a mage n00b.)
Another oddly placed, but useful, feature is garbage collection when you die. The author claims this will cut back on computer lag, any addon devs want to chime in?
Restocks reagents based on the amount of each that the user designates.
Auto-repairs your gear and sells gray items in your inventory.
Using the /bandagem command will message healers targeting you that you are using a bandage.
Finally, my personal favorite, this mod will not only announce polymorphs, but whispers party/raid members targeting your sheep (or pig or turtle) to leave your little critter alone.
Many of these features are handled "behind the scenes", so you've got little to manage with the addon. The port/teleport GUI is a great way to quickly access your travel perks. I would even venture to say that I prefer this method to the ring setup I was using via OPie. I'm also in the process of testing the way that Control Freak and Spellcraft play together.
So, although there are other methods of doing many of these things, Spellcraft provides useful features for mages in particular. There is a fan update out there as well, so you've got a couple of options when trying this one out.
What other addons are you using for your mages? I'm always looking to try out new addons, so lets hear it! Dismissed.
