To you: This is an automated whisper from Rankwatch. Excuse me, moron, but you’re using a downranked spell. Idiot. I mean really. Are you paying attention at all? Please whisper me if this is wrong, so I’ll quit spamming you with these automatic messages. Oh wait, no I won’t. I don’t care enough to add you to the no-spam list. So you’ll get this every time. From me and from anyone else who has this addon. Moron.
Has this ever happened to you? It’s happened to me and it’s pretty embarrassing. Usually it’s an off-spec random spell that I’m trying to cast, like I pop out of feral form to cast an emergency heal, only to be told I’m an idiot.
The Solution
Step 1: Go to the trainer
No matter how diligent you’ve been about upranking your spells, you can’t uprank to a rank you don’t have. Make sure that you have all ranks of your spells.
IMPORTANT FOR THOSE WITH DUAL SPEC: Check to see if the trainer has anything to teach you in spec 1. Then switch to spec 2. Then check to see if the trainer has anything to teach you in spec 2.
You can’t learn the top rank of Wild Growth in your Feral spec, because you don’t HAVE the spell Wild Growth at all in that spec. The trainer won’t offer you the upranked spell at all if you’re in feral spec.
Step 2: Download Uprank
This will fix all your spells on your action bars. Just the spells on your action bars.
Step 3: Check your macros and addons
For macros, you should simply use “/cast spellname” and not put in a rank at all. This will automatically use your highest rank spell.
With Clique, for example, make sure you program in your click casting without the spell rank. For more info on this process, check out the Revive and Rejuvenate Guide.
i was a moron once
when dual spec first came out i was healing with 4 ranks below max.
<--------- I r a dumb pally
This happened to me about a month ago, but it was more amusing than anything else. I got heroic ToC as my random and during phase 3 of Black Knight thought "Ahh, remember when I used to just Tranquility through this phase and be lazy? I think I'll do that again…" Turns out I was missing like 3 ranks of the spell, lol. That's what I get for giving it a moment in the spotlight again!
I keep intending (and failing!) to get Uprank. Fortunately, I know my main doesn't have any problems with this so as long as *she* doesn't look like an idiot, it's all good. On my alts, I'll plead the altiness factor.
I didn't know Uprank exists; I've been using Rankwatch to tell me on my alts as well as everyone else out there… wow. This Changes Everything.
How often do you get told "But there are only 4 ranks of X, not 7"? It happens to me all the time. It's like people think I'm manually writing these whispers to them to annoy them with lies.
I had a "helpful" whisper in a bg a couple weeks ago from somebody running rank watch. Yes, I was using down-ranked poisons. Yes, I had just dinged and hadn't visited the trainer. Yes, I eventually will. No, I won't do it before the bg starts. No, I won't whisper you to help you be less of a spamming moron. Not my job. I'll /ignore you like I do every other idiot in wow.
By the way, you can configure your rankwatch so it ONLY tells you that someone is using a downranked spell, but does not auto-whisper the person. I do that, and then send a whisper to the person myself between combat. Usually they're more receptive to that than to an auto-whisper.
With the dual spec feature my priest had a hard time with down ranked spells as in he was using rank 1 when it should have been 12! Needless to say that bubble was worthless.
I also know a lvl 80 healadin who had failed to train up her holy shock until I sat down with her analyzing her bars and throughput.
Dual speccing can definitely make this tricky!