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Weapon Swapping for Healers - 2005/09/19 02:06
Weapon swapping can be scripted directly or using mods that swap weapons (and other items, if not in combat) upon changing stance or form or upon the push of a macro button. Simple add ons like weaponquickswap make it possible to cycle between several different weapons configurations.
Instant use of swapped weapons and offhands has been nerfed by imposing a global cooldown on abilities after a weapon swap of 1 second for Rogues, 1.5 seconds for others. This step towards reaism has caused much bemoaning about the inability to instantly change back and forth to use different weapons, particularly for Rogues that want to make certain attacks with a dagger and others with another weapon. Warriors used instant swapping for attacks and stances, and Druids for different forms.
You lose all benefits of weapons attributes during the instant you swap. For casters, this means your INT, and mana pool, goes down to what it would be with no weapons equipped, as does stamina and therefore health. So swapping from a 30 INT to a 10 INT weapon set means your INT goes down 30, then jumps up 10 (you get the extra mana from the 10 INT only by regen or a potion).
Weapon swapping remains very valuable for healers and other casters. Let me explain. INT gives you more mana and a slight increase in crit chance with spells. Once you have used some mana, your maximum INT is no longer relevant for mana and you have the opportunity to swap in another weapon set that has little or no INT but has more of what you need at that point.
This may be weapons and off hands with +Heal to boost the strength of your heals (+heal can be very useful for Priests, Druids, and Paladins who use the right spells, not much for Shamans though) or it may be Spirit or Mana Regen items to help regenerate mana, or you can have both options. The same or a different macro button could cycle melee or damage oriented weapons, and those can have a Spirit enchant so, for example, a Druid can regen more mana in forms.
I use weaponquickswap so 2 buttons at most cover 4 or 5 configurations. It is important to make a habit of switching when needed (especially to switch back to your INT gear after the fight when drinking). As a reminder it can help to have the weaponbuttons mod display what you have in your hands. This is standalone or available through Cosmos.
For switching the entire wardrobe of gear I use Wardrobe, which is standalone or available through Cosmos.
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