Is a Parser ever comming?

[ispano]

Also if a DPS is constantly taking threat from a tank, the tank is in 99% cases at fault. Tank enmity generation ability in this game is extremely high.

Not in all cases. There are cases where you can go all out with JUST your enmity abilities and the DD still creep up on you. This is more prevalent at lower levels however. Or when you have two DD doing different things, like one doing heavy aoe and one heavy single target.

[KoujiMoreno]

If I remember right DCUO's 'parser' displayed information at the end of the dungeon. Or that might've just been PVP...hard to remember.

[NintenPyjak64]

If I remember right DCUO's 'parser' displayed information at the end of the dungeon. Or that might've just been PVP...hard to remember.

Our PvP displays total damage dealt so SE does have the capability to do exactly as you say, but they aren't doing it

[Kat_Manx]

Could anyone tell even one "non-mean" way a parser will be used? Is any group just gonna be like:

"Oh, player C did the least damage this round. Cool to know! Now let's continue without kicking him."

[Viridiana]

So, I've seen a number of complaints and fears throughout the thread, and I'd like to respond to some of them.

1) "People are already getting kicked from groups without parsers. Parsers would make this worse." My response to this is that most people who will kick someone for being a bad player are the types that will kick with or without a parser. Even when I see people doing crap dps, my first response is never to kick them. Heck, I've tanked a dungeon run with a DRG standing directly in front of the mob spamming TTT combo the whole time, and I never said anything to him until after the run because at least he knew boss mechanics and wasn't dying. You think people need a parser to see something like this and kick?

2) "Just use the aggro meters!" Doesn't work if one DD is constantly using threat dumps and the others aren't. Heck, MNK is the only DD this would be even remotely reliable for. Even then, you don't see any actual numbers, just bars and a rough ordering (assuming you can see the differences in bars).

3) "And third-party tools are a crutch for lazy players who want to easy mode the entire game. Parsers are not used to self-improvement. They're used to alienate others. And they do not take into account dodging, killing adds, DoTs, pets, etc. People with area effect skills can also pad their numbers by spamming. They promote laziness in players who would rather stand in one place and spam their rotations rather than dodging attacks (which would lower their DPS scores). They undermine the entire basis of the way this game is played."

Yeah, this whole post is getting a response; it's that bad. First, if everyone has access to parsers, players can only be as lazy as their teammates allow them to be. Remember, if everyone has a parser, everyone is accountable. Second, parsers are easily used for self-improvement by anyone who actually wishes to improve themselves. They do take into account dodging (Incoming Damage), killing adds (Damage done by combatant), DOTs (for the last several versions), pets (about as long as dots, if not longer), etc. About the only thing they don't make clear is people being hit by things like conflag/gaol and thus having less uptime (except there's also an uptime column). People spamming AOE is fine as long as things still die in time. Heck, a lot of time that's faster, anyway. People who don't dodge so that they can finish their casts are the same people who will be called out for constantly making the healer's lives harder. You can't say that they undermine the very basis of the game when pretty much the entire endgame consists of DPS checks. I mean, clearly you can because you just did, but it's silly to say the least.

4) "Parsers promote tunnel vision!" The same tunnel vision that will get a player killed, at which point the group leader will tell them to pay attention to something other than their parse. Problem solved, unless it repeats, and then you get to replace a player until they learn some discipline.

5) "It's only going to be used for harrassment!" This is seriously the kind of thinking that leads to our inability to send tells during dungeons. . .

6) "I'm sure you're incredibly "skilled," what with needing third party programs to help you play a game that tells you exactly where to go and what to do, but there's really no need for most players to bother with parsers or anything else."

Again, this is just bad. . .We don't *need* third party programs to tell us how to play. Heck, most of the analysis of rotations happened before we had working parsers and haven't changed significantly since then. What parsers allow us to do is work out some of the tedium of trying to manually run numbers on extremely large chunks of data, such as the attempts I've seen by some to work out an actual parry rate -> % conversion. That's not something SE is inclined to provide us, and manually running the numbers would take more hours than is feasible. It's also useful for things like working on rotations and such, because it allows you to just give the rotation a trial run instead of sitting there and mathing it out over the course of an hour or so (depending on detail and math skill).

7) "Have it only parse your own damage." That's cool, but then I never would have noticed that DRG who didn't use a single oGCD ability. Or that MNK who never used Snap Punch. I'd notice the BLM only casting Blizzard III either way, but that just means that without a parser casters would be held to a higher standard than melee. That's hardly fair.

8) "PF requirements are already horrible. It'll be worse with parsers!" People who set up horrible PF requirements are a distinct problem. Is there some overlap between the two? Certainly. Will we see a fresh batch of silly PF requirements if parsers get implemented? Most likely. Is that a reason not to allow a basic tool into the game? I don't think so, and neither does a fair section of the community. I'd actually rather see some of the more toxic elements be given a few more tools to be toxic with so we can just ban them and be done with it.

9) "Vote to kick every 5 minutes!" That's harrassment. See my last sentence above for my thoughts on the matter.

10) And lastly: "Could anyone tell even one "non-mean" way a parser will be used?" Aside from the above mentioned self-improvement? I've given examples already in this response of players I'd have calmly corrected (well, sarcastically corrected, but I'm always sarcastic) on their rotations had they stuck around a little longer. It's not just a matter of "Oh, you did the least damage this time around." It's usually either "Ha, you lost to the BRD (but we still won, so whatever)!" or "Hey, you're gonna need to step it up for us to clear this. Any reason you can think of that you're lowest DPS?" Granted, that last example is in a more civilized group. I'm fully aware there will be a number of "L2P /kick" groups, but those, again, should be getting banned for their actions so we can clean up the community. Overall, I'd say parsers have a very good potential to be used for benefit instead of detriment. It's up to us to hold the community accountable, though.

[Massterchef]

If you think it's bad now imagine if parsers were legal.

I'm pretty sure majority of the people that used parsers prior to the announcement, still use them regardless of illegality. A parser is still the best overall method to evaluate yours/others performance. If you are concerned and troubled about people removing you from groups due to low numbers, then you shouldn't be running with these people in the first place.

If you don't like or want to run with people you discern to be elitist, then why does their availability to a parser make a difference when you're ideally wanting to avoid them?

[rhemi1]

Could anyone tell even one "non-mean" way a parser will be used? Is any group just gonna be like:

"Oh, player C did the least damage this round. Cool to know! Now let's continue without kicking him."

If a group downs a boss with no issues, unless the disparity between the highest dps and lowest dps is just incredible, it's unlikely anything will happen to that low dps.

Parsers can be used constructively. If you are pulling lower numbers than that player playing the same class with nearly equal gear, then there's something wrong going on, and you can use that as a motivator to look up help or ask someone in your FC for help.

You'll find, however, fewer players are willing to use this information in a constructive manner, because the likelihood of a player blowing their top and getting incredibly defensive over it is high. The "I play the way I want to" crowd has made the community just as toxic.

[indira]

if you get kicked for not doing that extra damage its harassment report the people that kicked you. even if its a legal parser they still cant treat you like crap.
we still dont know the rules on add ons yet.

[ItzKris]

Point A: I'm pretty sure majority of the people that used parsers prior to the announcement, still use them regardless of illegality.

Point B: If you don't like or want to run with people you discern to be elitist, then why does their availability to a parser make a difference when you're ideally wanting to avoid them?

For point A, your right people are still using parsers. But the only way you can get caught using one is if you tell someone they suck.
For point B, there's duty finder that matches you with random people and not "like-minded individuals". Party finder is for like-minded people when people state "Kill party, experienced only. Must have already beat before".

Just wait for addons though, then parsers will be included. They were already overdue so they shouldn't be long.

[ispano]

if you get kicked for not doing that extra damage its harassment report the people that kicked you. even if its a legal parser they still cant treat you like crap.
we still dont know the rules on add ons yet.

If it's a DF run, yes. If it's a premade, then they can kick you for any reason. If they think you're underperforming, even without a parser, they can kick you.