To precast or not to precast, that is the questionFollow

Yeah that's the dilemma with all precast sets. I mostly use spellcast for brd and blm and I find the precast to be invaluable for those jobs for obvious reasons. I generally run with a precast delay of 0.2 or 0.3, can't remember. I think you'll need to try it out for yourself to see what precast delay works for you and subsequently how well spellcast will work for you. You may have to adjust the precast and midcast delays for awhile until you find something you are comfortable with.

Oh I totally agree Fynlar, and I always refused to get the refresh subligar so that's why I was so excited to see these non-hideous refresh pants released.

Elvaan males wearing a subligar ought to be shot on sight!

Anyway, thanks for the feedback guys, seems like it's pretty much in line with my previous thoughts. I actually ended up making 3 different idle sets last night. I have one idle set with max refresh, one with max fast cast, and one that's a balance that I'll probably use most of the time.

That makes a lot of sense about it being more useful on jobs with longer spells. You're right, WHM spells in general are very quick. Maybe I'll think about adding a precast specifically to Haste because I could see the benefit there. I've already got one for Stoneskin since it's always self-targeting so it's easy to do without Spellcast.

Oh, and yeah, I actually do the same sort of thing and just have equip sets that I hit before I do things. The vast majority of my macros on mage jobs merely swap gear and don't actually perform any actions. Exceptions are things like SCH stratagems, which involve too much menu digging to quickly reach (same thing with JAs on DNC), and Convert which I use often enough to not want to go around digging for it when I need it.

Usually I just keep my standard curing setup on. If I know I'm going to be running around a lot and/or not casting much besides Sneak/Invis I'll tap the refresh gear macro; and if I'm about to cast some buffs I'll tap my enhancing/FC gear macro. (Someone who is looking to optimize even further would want to separate those two sets, because some of those slots are shared. I'm not THAT anal, though.) Raises, Curas, or -na spells... Haste macro. Etc. After I do any one of those, I'll tap my standard gear macro again. I understand that spellcast can automate all of this stuff, but once you do it yourself for a while it becomes pretty routine; I would think it's a lot like driving a manual shifting car.

My cures aren't macroed at all even though they probably should be; those spells cast too quickly anyway to try to do the whole 2-gearset-swapping thing, so I just have separate gearswap macros that I use before I cast things. As far as I can tell there isn't any real reliable way to get both the benefits from stuff like Serpentes feet and Cure Clogs on the same cure because it casts too quickly, so I consider it a matter of choice. (Generally speaking, I'd prefer the Cure Clogs)

I have this same problem on whm (its much easier on blm, rdm and brd, because casting time is longer to switch between sets). The way I currently do it is I have a mixed set of -cct, fc, cure potency. I hit my macro to equip this and then my actual cure macro, which switches out a 5 pieces of gear with a slight delay (the delay is after I start the spell). If I know I need to be curing hella fast, then I stay in my mixed set, because even if it doesn't switch out properly, I still have 47% cure potency along with my FC and -CCT. I only switch into my idle set if I need to, as opposed to automatically switching to it after each cure.

I also have a fc set up for my slower buffs that I equip, then hit my buff macro, then have a full enhancing set. If the buffs are fast casting already (bar elements) then I stay in full enhancing while casting.

I have tried to download SC, but every time I do, it breaks my windower, so I have just said screw it and learn to hit macros rather quickly.