Letter to Mr. Yoshi

[Vanitas]

Don't worry, if you yell loudly enough then Yoshida will bend to the demands of the community. It just means we need to be even louder if we want to get a basic MMO functionality as badly as people want to wear bunny ears as a catboy or play as Viera or Dancer or Blue Mage! Louder! Rise!

RISE WITH ME! RISE WITH ME! RISE WITH ME! (RISE NOW!)

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

Not even on PS4, but I've always been of the mind that personal parsers would be nothing but beneficial to have. It still makes it easy enough to compare to other's parses for open discussion and advice, but avoids the whole "we don't want people being harassed by others in dungeons over them" worry SE has by keeping the parse limited only to the individual player.

And at the least, it'd give PS4 players a slightly more even playing ground - since gods only know the PC parser isn't going anywhere, if they ever do give us all personal ones.

[Aylis]

And at the least, it'd give PS4 players a slightly more even playing ground - since gods only know the PC parser isn't going anywhere, if they ever do give us all personal ones.

Sadly the problem with the PS4 is the PS4 itself. To create an installable add on to any game means needing permission directly from the games company to get a license to which Sony gives the okay for it to be uploaded so players can download and install. PS4 has too much red tape and hoops to go through.

[KaldeaSahaline]

I'm in favor of a fully open unmitigated parser and personally believe that it will be a considerable asset to the game, especially to PS4 players.

Harassment can easily be fixed via reports, the same way it is now. People act as if being kicked or removed with no reason is somehow better than being told they aren't contributing enough?

A personal parser is near useless because it offers very little context. So are grading systems. I don't want to know that a MNK was dead-weight at the end of the run. I want him to know it as early as possible so he has a chance to fix it.

I used to play games where numbers dictated people's worth, and it wasn't pretty. The mere thought of dealing with that in FFXIV doesn't make me happy, so I'm glad that parse users aren't allowed to be vocal about their results.

Let me ask you a question. Do you believe in accountability? As in, if you contribute considerably less than the sum of the total, is that ok?

How about this - do you think it's ok to be active approx. 30% of a dungeon? Is that fair to other party members who may be trying harder?

See - from my perspective a player who does the above 2 things is actually being toxic, not the player asking more of his teammates.

[LaylaTsarra]

Let's further escalate this. If you're performing below par (let's say contributing less than 90% of your max DPS on average over the course of an engagement), the game will automatically boot you from the duty.

Here you go development team have a close look at the toxic nature of at least one of the proponents for official parsers. Play to the level they deem appropriate or get auto booted from duties. Got to love it.

[Raldo]

Here you go development team have a close look at the toxic nature of at least one of the proponents for official parsers. Play to the level they deem appropriate or get auto booted from duties. Got to love it.

I guess this means you're okay with DPS that just auto-attack then.

[Elamys]

I guess this means you're okay with DPS that just auto-attack then.

Oh, come on, someone that's worried about possible elitism from a parser doesn't mean they're also fine with DPS auto-attacking. It doesn't need to be that extreme.

Why can't we just have a medium? Make a parser available, but if it becomes evident that people are using it to harass (kicking people who ARE doing fine but may not be up to the best of standards, kicking people that are contributing reasonably, etc) then they get in trouble.

[Raldo]

Oh, come on, someone that's worried about possible elitism from a parser doesn't mean they're also fine with DPS auto-attacking. It doesn't need to be that extreme.

Fair point, I read it backwards. I thought the poster was saying the equivalent of "less than 10%" (i.e. roughly the amount you do via auto-attacks; probably anyway, idk the game doesn't give me parser), not "less than 90%". A 90% threshold is indeed extreme.

[Elamys]

They will never add an automated system that will block someone like that because it's not reasonable and it excludes way too many people, people who probably do play just fine but aren't that great, people who may be having a bad day, people who may have some serious problem that prevents them from reaching those determined levels (but they're still contributing).

I'm not sure where people get the idea that the majority of people in this game can't clear content, because I clear 98% of the stuff I do. So do most of the people I play with. Once in a while someone (or multiple people) is getting carried, but it's not preventing anyone from clearing. Is it annoying? Yes, but let's not pretend like there's some epidemic of players so bad that nobody's clearing. This only matters for randomized matchmaking. If someone in your static or even randos for Ex primals isn't performing to your standards or even if you just don't like them you're allowed to kick them, for pretty much any reason.

And if you are having that problem, perhaps you need to look at the common denominator.

Also, your DPS numbers aren't the be all, end all of a good player. Someone could pull the best numbers in the world but if they can't do basic mechanics like stacking with the group, getting out of AoE, knowing what to attack jesus christ please attack the adds etc are they really that good of a player? Your suggestion wouldn't be able to account for something like that. And your DPS is a dummy is not wholly indicative of your DPS in an actual fight.

[LadyKairi]

Where to start.... First I need to say that someone asking for proof when you say things like “the community behavior needs to improve first”, doesn’t mean they’re being toxic or rude. If you are going to make blanket statements about the community as a whole, you need to cough up proof, please. Acedotes do not count. We are trying to have a discussion, and it is not wrong if someone to ask you to contribute more than false accusations. What is your proof that an official parser will cause the community to go down hill?

What bothers me about the “but people are going to get more toxic” argument is.. what makes you people think harassment over parse numbers is gonna magically okay with SE? Harassment hasn’t been and never will be okay. An official parser WILL NOT CHANGE THAT. It pisses me off to no end to hear someone complaining about “being harassed over their numbers” and when asked if they reported said person they say “well no”. BRUH. If you are one of these people, you have zero right to complain. In fact, you are CONTRIBUTING to the problem!

How in the seven hells is the behavior going to get corrected if you keep letting people get away with it? People already get too comfortable with the veil of anonymity the internet gives them. If someone is harassing another player for their numbers and don’t get reported for it, they will keep getting away with it and, in turn, make their behavior worse. They usually become a repeated offender because they think nothing will happen to them, and it usually escalates. You cannot expect negative behavior to get fixed on its own. The devs need these things to be brought to their attention. And don’t give me the “but it’s a game, I should just be able to relax and not worry about it”. No. Just. No. Yes, XIV is a game, but you are playing with REAL PEOPLE. People on the internet tend to forget their actions have consequences, and they need to be reminded that certain behavior in the game is not acceptable. Either they shape up and be a decent human being, or they lose their account. Either way it’s a win, imo.

I’m sick of people saying that us raiders are the toxic ones, yet they are far more toxic (in my experience). More often than not, I see pro parsers trying to get data from anti parsers to try and understand. To properly discuss. Yet, more often than not, anti parsers come in here full of emotion and call those who don’t agree with them a variety of names. I’m trying really hard to understand the other side, but I don’t understand why is letting people be a detriment to their party okay? Why does their enjoyment mean more than the others? Why is their sub money worth more than the others? Just like others here, I’m not saying you need to be the best at your job, but at least pull your weight.


Let me give an example. Someone goes into sigmascape savage and their party clears. Say this person is a smn and they only do 3k damage with only 0-1 deaths. All of the tanks pass them and the healers are only 100-200 dps behind them. How in the world is this okay? Because they cleared? Not in my book. I personally do not care about normal dungeons. BS all you want there, who cares? However, if you are coming into savage content, performing that low should not be okay regardless of what floor you are on. Why should people carry others through savage content? I take it easy in any other content, however, going into savage I do my best for the sake of the party. That should be the mentality when doing high tier content, imo. I do not want to go carrying people when it’s on savage content. Everywhere else I do not care, but savage content is not the place for people who expect carries. So many med 2 spamming healers, “only use instant cast spells” casters, and the like. It should not be okay. People should be held accountable in savage content.

Finally, DPS is everything in this game. You are considered a good player if you do a ton of damage while still being able to support your party and do mechanics properly. Sorry to say, but you are not going to do amazing numbers if you don’t do mechanics. If you are dead, you do zero damage, raise sickness gimps you pretty badly, and many mechanics that don’t kill outright inflict a damage reduction debuff. Why people think neglecting mechanics magically increases someone’s damage, I don’t understand. It’s just plain false. And please remember that this is mostly in regards to people who know a fight. People learning a fight get a pass, because mistakes happen when you are learning. Those who are past the learning stage have zero excuse, and that is when the true test of damage comes in. To be honest, the same visual effects for mechanics are used while leveling. There should be no excuse why people at level 70 don’t know what a stack marker looks like by now, in my opinion at least.


Sorry for the novel, but wanted to reply to some big things I’ve seen so far.