By Myrilandell of Lothar
/farnsworth Bad news everyone!
It seems that my WoW subscription has expired, leaving me no way to continue development on BuffWatcher (or any of my addons, really) since I will have no way to test that the changes I make actually work.
If anyone wishes to pick up development of BuffWatcher, send me an email or a PM (my email is in the ToC) and we can work something out.
BuffWatcher is an addon that will check your buffs, and if you're missing an essential one, it'll put a warning up on the screen. All buffs are completely optional! Only check for the buffs you want to, and you can change buff checks any time. BuffWatcher should now be able to watch any buff, proc, or aura. If you run into a problem or have a request, please post it here!
BuffWatcher now works very differently than pre-Cata versions. Buffs now belong to Categories, and if any buff in a Buff Category is found, then that Buff Category is satisfied. Categories are completely independent of each other (you could have the same buff in two, or three, or five different Buff Categories, or you can have one buff in each Buff Category. BuffWatcher doesn't care).
For example, the Warlock spells Demon Skin, Demon Armor, and Fel Armor could all go in one Buff Category, with the short name of "Armor". If any of the three buffs are active on the you, then the "Armor" Buff Category is satisfied. If none of those buffs are active, then you will get an "Armor Missing!" message.
Buff Categories have the following options, these are completely independent for each Buff Category:
- Enabled - Determines whether or not to even check for this Buff Category.
- Short Name - A player-supplied shortened name for all buffs in this category. Ex: "Aspect" or "Seal" or "Blessing". If no short name is available, the name of the first buff in this Buff Category will be used.
- Buffs - A list of buffs this Buff Category must check for.
- Watch Cast - Determines whether to check for this Buff Category only on the most-recently-cast target.
- Talent Group - Mainspec, offspec, both, or neither. If neither of these are checked, this Buff Category will never be checked for.
- Buff Type - Determines the type of warning to issue for this Buff Category. Buffs are warned when "low time" and "missing", procs are warned when "active", and auras are warned when "missing". Auras are special buffs, they get their own bar off on the bottom of the screen. If a Buff Category is an aura, then it will only be checked for as your own, personal aura, whereas a buff can be from anyone.
- In Combat - Determines whether to check for this Buff Category while the player is in-combat
- Out of Combat - Determines whether to check for this Buff Category while the player is out-of-combat
- Do Not Want - If checked, this is something you do NOT want active (ex: Paladins do not want Crusader Aura to be active in combat)
- Check Raid - Determines whether or not to check for this Buff Category while in a raid
- Check Group - Determines whether or not to check for this Buff Category while in a nonraid group (5-man or less, but not solo)
- Check Solo - Determines whether or not to check for this Buff Category while in solo play
Buff Categories can also be "watched". If you mark a Buff Category as watched, then BuffWatcher will monitor the spells you cast. If a spell corresponds to a spell for a buff in a Buff Category, BuffWatcher will only look for that Buff Category's buff on that target. Due to API restrictions, I cannot obtain buff information about any random character; BuffWatcher can only provide proper warnings for yourself and raid and party or raid members.
For example, a Shaman's Earth Shield can only be on one target, and you want to know when it falls off.
Buff Categories can also be marked as "Do Not Want". If a buff in a "Do Not Want" Buff Category is active, then a warning will be issued. This is the reverse of normal BuffWatcher warnings.
For example, all of a Paladin's Auras could go in an "Aura" Buff Category, because a Paladin would want an aura active at all times. Let's say the paladin only wants Crusader Aura active out-of-combat: He could remove Crusader Aura from the "Aura" Buff Category (so if he has Crusader Aura active, BuffWatcher will warn of a missing Aura). But that's not very good; a better option would be to instead make a new Buff Category, have it only have Crusader Aura, and mark that Buff Category as "do not want" (so if he has Crusader Aura active, then BuffWatcher will warn him that Crusader Aura is active). But that's not the best solution, because Paladins do want Crusader Aura active, they just don't want it active in-combat. So if the Paladin unchecks the "out-of-combat" option, then BuffWatcher will only check for Crusader Aura when the player is in combat, and will only issue a warning if Crusader Aura is active.
To Do:- Add the option to require a certain number of stacks of the buff, such as a Shaman's Maelstrom weapon (5 stacks).
- Add a new buff type: Debuffs.
- Add the option to check for buffs only if the appropriate class is in your party/raid.