Parser / Dps Meter!

[Kraggy]

If there's an MMO model to follow, simply because of sheer revenue the game has, it would be WoW.

If you like WOW so much go play it, FF doesn't need the "play for you" toys the WOW kiddies need.

[Karbuncle]

If you like WOW so much go play it, FF doesn't need the "play for you" toys the WOW kiddies need.

I'm not saying FFXI needs to be more like WoW (It really doesn't, I like it being FFXI >)

But if there is a good idea floating out there from another game, rather it be the UI, or otherwise, It should be considered. I don't care if it was from Barbies Princess adventures, If the Idea was sound it should be looked into. Where it originated does not matter.

[Leonlionheart]

If you like WOW so much go play it, FF doesn't need the "play for you" toys the WOW kiddies need.

Like I said, WoW could be the crappiest game in the world. But the GUI is beautiful compared to the absolute crap that FFXI uses. Not only that, but what harm could possibly come from players knowing their own accuracy, rather than having to use a computer with ffxi-calc to figure it out for them?

Not only is using that program not against the terms of service, but it helps players TREMENDOUSLY when figuring out haste, STP, accuracy, and other things that could easily be reworked into the status screen of ffxi.

Note: I don't want FFXI to play like WoW, but how can you not agree that being completely blind other than relying on what other players, who you may or may not trust completely, to know what your accuracy and accuracy rate is? Honestly the fact that we are so blind to our own stats in game is the only real reason we rely on mathing things out so much.

[Karbuncle]

Ranged Accuracy and Ranged Attack won't matter to know.
Check your target and you'll get the information on how likely it would be to hit your target. And then take the necessary steps to max out your performace or better the performance of your party/alliance.

When checking a mob, It bases the check info on your Main hand weapon, Ranged Accuracy and Ranged attack are not considered. Theres no way to check your R.acc or Ranged attack at all.

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On knowing what stats influence what, the thing is, We already know the gist of it, What this would do is make it much easier to determine latent effects, and exact numbers on certian things. Which isn't going to change much since most armor already has known values, This would make it easier in the future to determine these things, and make it a lot more accurate.

Knowledge of Armors still is not going to suddenly make people switch to 3rd party tools by the thousands, it just won't happen. If they're using them now, They'll continue using them, If they're not, they wont or will, I don't think more making it easier for us to determine some bonuses will suddenly switch people to windower Macros.

I understand your concern for it. I love FFXI, but its obvious its UI is kinda awful. The game is easy enough to pick up, But at the same time, Not being able to ever check your current Critical hit rate, damage... R.acc, R.atk, Evasion, or basic things like that is not good UI.

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On the macro thing, 2 macros can switch every piece of armor you have (not including Weapons). The way my macros are set up are confusing, but I've gotten used to it. I do something like this for THF

CTRL/Alt1 = WS gear
Ctrl/alt2 = TP Gear
ctrl/alt3 = Eva gear

Its not exactly that (theres a lot more macros), But basically I hit Ctrl1, then alt1 to switch to WS Gear, then use Ctrl2/alt2 to switch back to TP, Its really quite quick and can fit all things into it. on jobs like RDM it takes like 2-3 Macros "pages" because of the large amounts of gear.

So even if i had to buy more gear, I wouldn't suddenly begin using windower macros, Mostly because the set up i have no is easy enough for me, Most people these days who dont use windower macros are probably the same way. They got it working for them.

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To address your Final points.

- There is no need for a parser nor more informations about your character or your target.

First part, You're probably right. Second part i can't say I agree. We shouldn't have to spend hours parsing ourselves just to figure out information the games UI should already tell us. The UI is terrible in this game when it comes to things like displaying our stats. We shouldn't have to use parsers and guess work to identify if Loki's Kafhtan gives +5% Critical hit Damage, or +10%, We should be able to put it on and see the Stat changes. (i.E Add more info to our Inventory screen).

Use your experience and decide for yourself what's the best and not a stat on a spreadsheet.

Sadly, Math is always better than Eyeballing, If you want to do the best, You learn. giving us the ability to more easily learn and decide which armor is good, and which is bad, Is just something that should be part of the game already. This would actually help both types of players, the casual and the number-crunchers.

The number crunchers will be able to more easily and readily test the values of armor that aren't 100% Clear. Examples like the Homam Body, or armors that don't specifically tell us their numbers (Like Loki's only saying "increases critical hit damage", not by how much)

Or "Enhances Triple Attack effect" as i said earlier, on Homam body. is it so hard to write "Triple Attack +1%"? What does it add? etc. This information we shouldn't have to guess around with. There is nothing wrong with giving us more information.

While I'm not saying everyone needs to number crunch, but truthfully some level of learning is required in ANY MMO. I play to have fun, so do a lot of number-crunchers. but they find doing their best always is fun, I find playing with my friends and doing my best is fun.

Each persons definition of "fun" will be different. This kind of improvement would actually help more than just number crunchers, It would make it easier for less-in-depth players to understand what their gear is doing for them as well.

Don't let FFXI become another WoW clone. This game is easy enough!

Having a UI that isn't terrible is not going to make FFXI a WoW clone. We don't 'need' a parser, but things like being able to see what your actually EVA, R.acc, R.atk, Crit.hit.rate, and Crit.hit.dmg are should be something thats always shown somewhere. These are important stats, as important as Attack or Defense. Even FFXIV's UI incorporated some of the above.

Fun/miracles/blur knowlede/the will to improve your character and storyline is what makes a game addicted not numbers

Some people enjoy it for that, Some enjoy not sucking at their job. Theres nothing wrong with either. adding a place to view relevant stats would not ruin this game. Just because its been like it has since day 1 Doesn't mean it wasn't crap from day 1.

Again, I Agree we don't really need an in-game parser, but we do need to be able to view basic stats. AT LEAST Ranged Accuracy/Attack and Evasion, those are important.

Edit: And really, the sad part is, that this Equipment screen is probably unchangeable. We will probably never be able to check our EVA, R.acc, or R.atk values.

Also look at items like "Flock Earring" or "Flock Ring". Those latent effects will be nearly impossible to test. But if we could see our EVA, and R.acc, We could see those stats change when latent is active, Making them more used/known depending on their bonuses.

Edit2: I'm really trying to make this not sound like a RAGEEEEEEE reponse =.=a its hard work.

[Amoklauf]

I'm a bit sad that we won't be seeing an official parser-like addition. It'd be nice if everyone could (and would) get an indication of how much they are (and are not) contributing to events where numbers matter. Not just damage over time, but also HP cured, debuffs removed and buffs applied. Also, being able to tell my evasion rate against a mob makes it much easier to optimize gear.

[RAIST]

seem to recall SE touching on this a long time ago in one of the many DEV Q/A sessions and it was an issue with real estate in the GUI. PS2 has a lower resolution cap, and they can only fit so much info in there or something without a MAJOR overhaul to it.

It may be more easily done for PC and 360 simply because there are more columns/rows to work with at the higher resolution, but then there is the potential additional cost of maintaining the different GUI's with each update. At this stage of the game, SE simply is likely not willing to throw such resources into a game this old.

As for the font thing, changing a system-wide font is not as big an issue as it may seem. Once you determine which font you wish to use, et's basically just a handful of libraries for each font...change a few files and all the text based off those files are changed in one shot. Worst case scenario, you install the new font alongside the original under a differnt name and have to go thorugh and change the pointers in the panels so it loads the new font. The latter is like updating the look/feel of a web app--change the default font referenced in the CSS on one line, and every bit of text on that page using the default font gets changed in one shot. Then you have to find any remaining custom font references and change them to a similar font to match it--usually this also has a similar placeholder so you just change a few more reference fields and it's done.

tldr: seem to recall SE looked into updating the GUI once, but it is too impractical on the PS2 and not worth the resources to do it for 2/3 the platforms supported while having to maintain it differently for just one platform.

[Tamarsamar]

While more in-game stats most definitely do need to be shown, I don't think that a "Parser/DPS meter" is one of those.

The less that e-peen stroking is promoted, the better. :P

[Leonlionheart]

While more in-game stats most definitely do need to be shown, I don't think that a "Parser/DPS meter" is one of those.

The less that e-peen stroking is promoted, the better. :P

If you don't play to stroke your e-peen, you'll just continue being mediocre.

Strive to do the absolute best in the class/job you play then you'll realize why it is that people don't melee on RDM or SMN, or why SAMs used to use Polearms even when they had Hagun/Amanomurakumo. You'll realize why special flowers and unique snowflakes aren't the best thing to be in FFXI, or any MMO based on damage formulas

[Puyopop]

uch.... I don't like the idea of a FFXI recount.
could imagine /shouts having a minimum dps or something which would be kinda cool I guess, but not if you're new to the game because you'd never be able to get anything done. Ever.

[Malamasala]

If there's an MMO model to follow, simply because of sheer revenue the game has, it would be WoW.

WoW also knows how to make pet classes from what I've seen. No mysterious perpetuation or other global timers from what I've seen. But someone has to be the one doing all the mistakes in MMOs.