Rankwatch, shocking eyeopener.

[orcstar]

So, I gave my alt priest dualspec. But I did that before hitting 80.

Normally when you train new spells, they get updated automatically to the highest rank. But I found out that they don't get updated in your non-active spec.

So I had been running around, crying why certain spells did so low damage till someone told me I used a lower then highest rank spell.
So I installed RankWatch - Addons - Curse Rankwatch. And tried out all my spells in both specs and found a few more.

The nice thing that addon does is that it spams other people also.
I do my daily dungeon on different character and here I found out about 10 to 20 percent of people are using non-max rank spells. They're nerfing their own gameplay without even knowing it. And yes, I even caught them in my own raid. Luckily my warrior was ok though :P:P

Anyone else tried this addon?

[Maelstrom]

I have the addon running "silent" (It only notifies me when someone uses a downranked spell), and yeah it's been a real eye opener. I'd say around 10-20% of pug players I've grouped with have been using lower ranks of spells - There was an 80 paladin tank who was using rank 3 consecration and wondering why his AoE aggro was poor! The hardest part of this mod is definitely trying to tell people politely that they need to update their bars

I suspect Blizzard may well need to add in a tooltip telling you you're downranking a spell or something.

[Azuae]

they are going to disable downranking with cataclysm - i think.

[Maelstrom]

Ah yeah I forgot about that, no more spell ranks. Well that'll nip the problem in the bud eventually

[Zyffyr]

I've been using it for about a week, and I too have noticed 10-20% are downranked.

I actually installed it because it was easier than going through my spellbook and action bars for every character to check that I had everything properly updated. Amazingly, the only thing that wasn't was Hunter's Mark. All other characters were good to go.

On a positive note, a Mage in my guild was putting out rather low DPS and we couldn't figure out why. Good gear, properly enchanted/gemmed, well chosen spec (copied from one of our better Mages), using the right rotation.... The day after I installed Rankwatch, I was grouped with him and every single spell was low ranked. By the end of the run his DPS was up where it belongs.

[sud]

I too was using this, until on two separate occasions it reported straight up wrong results, both cross server people. I double checked the facts in both cases and RW was reporting level 1 spells when players were clearly and undeniably using rank 4 and rank 8 spells.

[Warwench]

I am going to install this too, had a rogue whispering me last night, it turns out all my spells on my 80 Pally were down ranked to 6 instead of 8.. a number i hadnt even trained. (And i still do more DPS and threat than my Warrior.. haha)

[Libicocco]

Amazingly useful addon. It made me aware that in leveling dungeons, there isn't (or hasn't yet been) a PuG in which every player has all their spells trained. I keep it to /p because I want everyone in this PuG to know that the reason player X is failing is because they were too lazy to do something this basic. Further bonus points for when a noobadin complains that the tank is taking too much damage - but is using spells 3 ranks below max.

Yea, I've had complaints. My answer is the same every time. If you'd trained properly, you wouldn't have seen a word. Don't bitch at me because I caught you, bitch at yourself for failing. Honest errors get fixed quickly though, and that makes everyone happier.

[Hawktalon]

One of my guildmates running Rankwatch caught my alt holy pally on a couple of non-critical things. Problem ended up being my bar mod not changing to the highest-rank spells, although I had diligently trained everything.

He constantly catches people in pugs, even in 25-man raids. It's both funny and sad at the same time. If its in a 5-man, my healer & I make sure to out-dps our flagged pug

[boatsswain]

I noticed this on my huntard, but looked in my spell book and went to my trainer and nothing, i guess i need to update my bars, i use bartender 4, have you guys seen the same issue with that addon?

[Zyffyr]

The issue comes primarily from two areas :

1)Dual Specs - the bars for your non-active spec don't auto-update when you train.
2)Macros - if your macro specifies a rank, it won't change

Less common is if you deliberately had a lower than max rank on the bars for some reason then when your max increases it won't touch the low rank that is already there.

[BruisedOoze]

The issue comes primarily from two areas :

1)Dual Specs - the bars for your non-active spec don't auto-update when you train.
2)Macros - if your macro specifies a rank, it won't change

Less common is if you deliberately had a lower than max rank on the bars for some reason then when your max increases it won't touch the low rank that is already there.

With dual spec and macros you can run into some issues with the macro being stuck on downranked ones even when rank isn't specified. It's weird but I had it happen a couple times on my druid. Removing my macro from the bar and putting it back tended to fix this.

[Warwench]

bartender4 was the culprit for me too, i had stuff trained, just the one on my bars didnt update to the max rank.

[kingcomrade]

If you use Healbot it doesn't matter what's on your bar, as a healer.

[lubz]

I find rankwatch, or rather its users, outright rude. My girlfriend got yelled at for being a noob since she hadn't visited the trainer and bought her new rank of retribution aura before she went into an instance. As always, the problem comes from the users interpretation of an addon, not the addon itself (thinking of the big discussion about GearScore)

[Darksend]

I think this is absolutely the best invention ever. The problem is when someone is so blatant in their insistence that they do have the highest ranks of spells.

A hunter doing 500 dps in a heroic the other day apparently put EVERY SINGLE ABILITY he had into a /start autoshot macro and had been using rank 1 of every single spell because he never updated his macro. when someone else in the group called him out he started swearing and "I KNOW HOW TO USE MACROS YOU ARE ALL STUPID" blah blah and left the group.

[ttocs]

I was caught using rank one frost strike and HB on an alt DK because I forgot to train. Oops! Wasn't whispered about it, but I did run two instances before I noticed it.

I'll have to keep an eye on the spec-changing issue.

[orcstar]

I find rankwatch, or rather its users, outright rude. My girlfriend got yelled at for being a noob since she hadn't visited the trainer and bought her new rank of retribution aura before she went into an instance. As always, the problem comes from the users interpretation of an addon, not the addon itself (thinking of the big discussion about GearScore)

The addon sends a long but friendly whisper.

On the other hand: I've only used it on my lvl 80 characters. At level 80 everyone should have trained and use their proper rank of spell. By using lower rank spells at level 80 you just have degraded your nice epics to ungemmed green gear.

Using rankwatch at lower levels is questionable, especially in remote regions you can get quite a few levels without having to visit a trainer. (For instance, some hunter guides let you go to a trainer once every 10 levels in the most extreme cases, just because it's more efficient to keep questing then flying back, taking a boat and visiting a trainer every 2 levels.

[BruisedOoze]

bartender4 was the culprit for me too, i had stuff trained, just the one on my bars didnt update to the max rank.

Yeah forgot to add I was using Dominos.

[Libicocco]

There are so many things in this game that an average player would have a difficult time figuring out without being able to look up on the internet. Leveling up your skills at the trainer is not one of them. The second quest that every new player does tells them specifically, do this, it is important. The consequences are the exact same in leveling dungeons as they are at 80, instead of dropping ilvls, you effectively lose character levels.

So yes, I consider failure to train to be intentionally nerfing yourself. And this I would say is being rude to the other 4 members of your party. This is worse in a leveling instance where player skill cannot be expected. You wind up with more wipeable situations simply because people have not yet learned how to respond properly on their toons. And they tend to be larger in any case. Being too lazy to click on a hearthstone and spend a few minutes flying back before queuing is no excuse.