Did the game get too complicated, or am I just an idiot?

[RapBreon]

There are hardly any major bosses that don't have enrage timers, outside of dungeon bosses. Several of those even have them. DPS checks outside of raid content are generally quite forgiving, and inside raid content, a failed DPS check is nearly always met with an instant wipe, so you never really have to wait long to know DPS isn't up to par.

As for DPS in dungeons, I don't need a parse to know when a particular DPS is doing poorly at all. You can generally tell within a few dungeon pulls and having even very basic knowledge of rotation to look for key abilities to know if someone's pulling their weight or not. (A prime example being whether or not someone is properly using AoE abilities, which tends to be one of the most visible reasons a particular DPS might underperform in a dungeon.)

It doesn't really matter if they're doing more poorly than the tank or healer so long as the group isn't wiping when you get down to it though. SE does not and has never held players to community standards in terms of competency, and if you were to complain/harass someone because the run isn't moving quickly enough for you but is still proceeding without failure, you would really just be rude.

Though I think my point was lost (possibly due to my own failings), I will agree that you can spot an under-performer without the aid of a parser most of the time. I was probably just splitting hairs for sake of being argumentative. However, for various reasons I have trained myself out of the habit of making judgments with out data and dislike making said judgments based on my 'feelings' - a necessity of my life. If I was to call someone out, I'd like to do so with evidence backing my claim. This is what it really revolves around for me.

It's fairly clear at this point our positions are entrenched in our ideologies (as are most ultimately). To me a DPS doing less damage than a tank/healer is them failing their job (exceptions withstanding). You do not view it this way. I doubt we'll convince each other otherwise. Do I guess we'll agree to disagree.

None of my posts condone harassment (though some staunchly opposed to my views may read it as such). Though I don't condone an embargo on the ability to tell people to pick up their game based on 'hard evidence' rather than my 'gut feeling'.

Their main argument is they encourage toxicity in the community, and from years of playing WoW with Recount, I'm inclined to agree with them. They've discussed the addition of in-game "tests" you can partake in (basically a solo DPS check) so that someone can make sure they're doing competent DPS, but we're not likely to ever see official meters (though if they ever get around to creating add-on support, it's possible there might be one created through that).

Mind you, you can still, essentially, use parsers for your own edification. As mentioned before, Yoshi's all but said they're fine so long as you don't harass someone over their DPS, using the parse as the basis for it.

Encourage? Quite possibly, but this really would be a case of treating a symptom before the cause. It merely gives them a hook in which to latch onto; a conduit which to channel if you will. Otherwise dicks will still be dicks, just without 'hard' numbers to entrench their dickishness. Though this argument remains firmly in the realm of sophistry rather than tangible evidence.

Thankfully Yoshi has his head screwed on and have no problem with his views on the subject. Square's 'official' stance, in which 'mentioning it' is 'forbidden' I still have problems with.