DPS: Why is it so dang taboo?

[Ilitsa]

First, that's not treating a person like a human being. That's treating them like a deranged individual that could end your life if they get the impression that you don't think the world revolves around them. Carefully guarding every word you say takes way more effort than just being honest. Not everyone can be president or a professional athlete and no one born outside of a royal family is a princess. Its OK to say that.

And to your other point, in all my experience in the year and a half ive played this game, the best I've seen someone take positive, constructive critisism from someone they didn't already know was "lol k." It doesn't matter how nicely try and give advice, you'll most likely be met with yhe most common thing I've seen: " stfu I know my fucking job."

I'm not saying people should walk on eggshells or anything, I'm talking about manners, politeness, things expected of an adult individual in the real world. I don't know about you, but I treat and carry myself online the same way I do irl. I was raised to not go out of my way to be crass towards people, to treat them with respect until they've proven to not deserve it, and to treat people the way I wish to be treated. I say please, and thank you, and I don't find the general "trolling" to be appropriate human behavior. There's a LARGE leap from being respectful, and mindful that you're interacting with another human being and what you're implying.

As for the other point, I did say I know not EVERYONE acts the way I said, so I don't know what you're trying to point out with that, sorry.

[Mixae]

I was in 3 trials back to back on which we wiped many times. I was blm. Garuda both groups were bad DPS wise. In extreme mode I should say, I was the only one killing feathers doing etc. They did nothing but no one said anything and vote abandoned after 6 wipes or more. 2nd party not as bad we did it in 3 wipes and tank was amazing and patient. Steps of faith I told everyone what to do and still DPS didn't do very much. I'm so confused why be DPS if you are going to be brain dead/lazy? It makes it so hard. But I didn't want to yell at anyone because usually when I say something and I'm nice about it the person gets mad. Although ive also had tanks and healers be really rude but at least they were pressing buttons!! Lol

[Tyrn]

Why is everyone so touchy about their dps when they're told to step it up?

Because everyone is a winner, that means they're always a winner and winners are never wrong, seeing something that might make their ineptitude apparent would break the delusion of always getting gold stars. They would rather stay ignorant and let the other people who get grouped with them put more effort in to make up for their shortcomings than come to terms with the idea that spending a few minutes on their class forums and 30 minutes on a dummy could give them a lot more power than what they got from weeks of grinding their relic and tomestones. Using the softest kid gloves on the planet still won't change how most people react to even the slightest suggestion of them being wrong which is their mind telling themselves "he's calling me dumb isn't he" and getting defensive. /rant

[AlphaFox]

I kinda have to agree, in a generation where you have to walk on eggshells to avoid offending anyone, at least in the US. People will find any reason to get mad, but I also can see it being in the way it is brought up to the person. I will gladly take advice and often ask for it but only if its done in a polite way and not one where I am being attacked.

[Ironos]

I kinda have to agree, in a generation where you have to walk on eggshells to avoid offending anyone, at least in the US.

I love how people act like this phenomena is new, and people love even more to blame "this generation." This isn't new, it's been around forever. It is impossible to not offend everyone, it's just much more obvious nowadays. Let's not forget the ages of when people were outright executed for "offending" certain people. The claims in this thread of so many people being coddled and "everyone is a winner mentality" seem kind of baseless too, unless they can provide objective proof of people in the world being so coddled. Also, connotation and tone are conveyed very, very poorly through text. Something that is meant politely might be read by the other person as offensive. The statement "Could you AoE please?" for example, can be read as either snide or polite.

[Darkstride]

We live in a world where people are empowered to feel a sense of entitlement. When anyone threatens to take away this security blanket of "it's my game, I'll play how I want", they get defensive.

Not everyone responds the same way, but it does seem to be a common issue as far as people underpeforming and being unwilling to improve or accept criticism (constructive or otherwise). It seems they would rather remain ignorant to the fact that they actively affect how others are able to experience the game in a group setting.

[Laraul]

Why is everyone so touchy about their dps when they're told to step it up? Almost every single other mainstream MMO has some form of in game metric for dps aside from 'can i clear xyz.' Healers and tanks don't get a free pass, why do dps? Most dps complain too when a tank or healer makes one slip up, but 2/4 dps can drag 8 people down and suddenly you're a 'toxic' player for pointing it out.

A 'toxic' player is someone who complains on the blames things on the obvious, or making unhelpful remarks like "stop dying."

If you know what it's like to be yelled at for making a slip up as a tank or healer, then you should know how dps feel when they get singled out.

The problem stems from several sources. We currently live in the society of the participation trophy. Self esteem is considered more important than hard work so everyone gets a prize. People are coddled from a young age and any form of criticism, whether its constructive or not, is immediately evil. Our society's overblown focus on political correctness has demonized anything that could possibly be construed as slightly negative. Everything must sound like a my little pony commercial or you're a hateful bully that can't be tolerated.

This is what I tell my self all the time. It's not my fault I can't clear savage! It's society! :P

[Vele]

Depends on how the criticism is presented, the individual in question, and the content. I've resigned myself to babysitting or carrying bad players in roulettes without protest. No matter how nicely I've tried asking bards why they don't use minuet in lv60 content, or why "ice mages" don't use their fire skills, or why tanks try to do the entire dungeon in their dps stance, it's always met with very aggressive resistance, "this is how I do things", "don't tell me how to play", "you don't know what you're talking about", etc.

Hell I have a friend I've known for a couple years, she plays summoner, but one day I noticed she was leaving her garuda on sic. I kindly suggested she put it on obey so she can control when it uses contagion, and she immediately snipped at me that it's hard to control pets on ps4 and "I don't tell you how to play your job so don't tell me how to play mine".

I just stay quiet unless I'm actually asked to teach things, any advice I try to give (even if it comes complete with ":3" or "\o/" to seem more friendly) or any mention on playstyle is taken as a personal attack.

What are you supposed to do with this "I'm always right" mentality that so many players seem to have? It's especially detrimental in end-game raid progressions, I've seen a lot of groups disband once they hit the a3s wall because some people would rather throw a fit and blame everyone else than admit they made a mistake.

[Asmodai]

The biggest issue I've seen is that it's never "Hey, you should try this buff with this rotation" or "If you stack this and this, it increases x by y", it's always "Zomg I m teh 1337 DPS dood an u suk! U needa hurt more thing narf POIT derp!".

I have never once been in a static raid group that did not try and help people up their dps.

[Nagrom]

Honestly the answer is complicated, and I mostly see this asked from people who are dedicated tanks or healers. You notice bad dps cause each party gets 2-4 of them, and as the aforementioned classes you very rarely outside leveling/full party run into another tank or healer.

Now that's out of the way, we can unpack the answer to the question. Dps have no tools to know how much dps they are doing cause SE is more worried about feelings than results. Since dps always come in 2-4 per group, it means the slacking dps may not even know they are bad cause the other 1-3 dps provide the results needed to get through all but the toughest dps checks. It's akin to someone being moved up grades without being taught anything, then slapping them with the unfeeling hand of reality when their professor reads aloud their essay that sounds like a 5th grader wrote it while high on cough syrup to the thunderous laughter of their peers.

The above is enough, but frankly it gets better. Most dps have a chip on their shoulder, placed there by the fact the game makes it crystal clear they are replaceable low value resources. The bonus for a duty is almost never for dps, commendations hardly fall your way, and if a group is awful you often grit your teeth cause 30mins for leaving on top of the 10-30mins you'll wait to get in another one means you wasted most of your playtime for the day.

Now mix those two together and you have the witch's brew that answers your question.