One button for spell plus chat string?Follow

start a new hot button and type this:

/gsay blah blah blah blah blah
/cast #

Blah blah blah.... is the text you want in the chat message

# is the slot number the spell you want to cast is in. or example, if you wanted to cast the spell at the top of the spell window, you'd use /cast 1.

Hope that helps ya!

You can also do this:
/sit off
/gsay blah blah blah blah blah
/pause 2,/cast #
/pause 2,/cast #
/sit

The repeated casting of the spell number after 2/10th of a second recovers from a fizzle (although some spells have a longer fizzle timer).

I disagree on one point - any heals and any debuffs should be called, though just

"casting heal on soandso" is good enough - it simalar to pulls in that people need to know not to run out of range and so other people don't cast heals as well. I think its most important when you have a main heal and a back up heal

Nuking on the other hand, I agree is redunant, but who knows, maybe so warrior is ready with taunt to regain agro?

I agree with Praetorian that only the essential spells need to be announced. I would add Paci to the list of spells to announce, however, as it's important for the puller to know which mobs are paci'ed and which aren't.

On my chanter, I also announce when my spells are resisted (mostly mezzes and the rare paci that fails) via a hotkey, because this normally means that said mob is headed my way and I might need help. It also helps explain why the mob I am supposed to be mezzing isn't quite mezzed yet.

My preferred method of casting and announcing is as follows. It's a bit of a deviation from the method described in this thread.

I mapped my keyboard so that I can cast a spell using the CTRL+NUMPAD(1-8) keys. For my Mez, AoE Mez, and Paci spells, I created a hotkey on the corresponding number that announces that the spell has landed. For example, my mez is in spell gem #5. My mez announcement is on hotkey number 5. To cast mez, I press CTRL+NUMPAD5 until it lands (working thru fizzles/interruptions/resists), and when it lands I press NUMPAD5 to announce that creature X has been mezzed.

I prefer this method because once you initiate a complex hotkey, you have to let it work thru all the commands on said hotkey before it will let you use another hotkey (I think). Also, it is impossible to predict how many times you will fizzle/be interrupted/be resisted before a spell actually lands and a pre-programmed hotkey isn't flexible enough for the odd times where you get several resists/fizzles/interruptions in a row.

I've used this method on about 100 adventures and continue to love it. It provides the flexibility to be able to interrupt the spell if needed and switch to another spell instantly, as opposed to waiting for the hotkey cycle to complete. It also can be done without a minimum of keystrokes and hand movement over the keyboard. I'm not saying it is the best method out there, and probably isn't for everyone, but I've gotten a lot of successful mileage out of it.

And I don't think you are limited to 3 commands per hotkey, but I might be wrong.