Letter to MR Yoshi: Why parses system is destroying the ffxiv world.

[ShadowHunterrX]

Hmm. You remind me of one of my tank friends, who many would swear is toxic when he tries to offer advice in roulettes, but in reality it's more of a difference in mentality and the language barrier as I believe he is from Argentina. I know enough about him to realize that the language barrier really obscures intent and severity.

...Right. I will back off. Sorry.

No worries. Misunderstandings happen alot and it's also my fault for some degree.

But I am never been kicked out of any raids or roulettes for being toxic. So If I sounded toxic in some way. My sincere apologies.

[Sigma-Astra]

To maximize up times is to know the scripts down to the second. For example, if you know you are going to need to dodge and run (before the fact) you can, sharp cast fire, thunder, have swiftcast ready, triple cast (best would depend on the specific time stamp) just before you have to run. There is also Aether manipulation and between the lines, using these well can maximize uptime and I rarely see people using all these for these purposes, if worse comes to worst shoot a scathe, but doing that REALLY depends how much you have to go without casting. if it is only .5 sec you lose in up time for example it might not be worth it. Always observe what tools you can use to maximize uptime, and not as an emergency button. If you know the scripts that well you shouldn't need an emergency button use from say between the lines.

I know, but thank you, I just need to practice more, but I also hate trying out new things on the fly while we're trying to get our weekly clear as well, it's a bit nerve racking and I don't like inconveniencing my 7 other teammates with something I want to try, but not 100% sure of yet. I wish we had an option where if players need to practice their rotations within the full fight while dodging mechanics to see how good they are and how they can improve, that we could queue up for Savage content that we've completed already with others, but with like....7 other AI's on jobs that you yourself pick for them to be, possibly mimicking what your static already is even.

However, I also realize how dumb as a brick the Squadron AI's are and that might be more worse than 7 actual people and hilarious times will be had....and sad, lots of sad.

[Baalfrog]

Nice logs.

[Vstarstruck]

I know, but thank you, I just need to practice more, but I also hate trying out new things on the fly while we're trying to get our weekly clear as well, it's a bit nerve racking and I don't like inconveniencing my 7 other teammates with something I want to try, but not 100% sure of uet. I wish we had an option where if players need to practice their rotations within the full fight while dodging mechanics to see how good they are and how they can improve, that we could queue up for Savage content that we've completed already with other, but with like....7 other AI's on jobs that you yourself pick for them to be, possibly mimicking what your static already is even.

However, I also realize how dumb as a brick the Squadron AI's are and that might be more worse than 7 actual people and hilarious times will be had....and sad, lots of sad.

I think I would trust my squad over .... idk.. like 80%? of the people you pug into.

For your static though I would just advice talk to them about all these concepts, there should be no reason to feel "inconveniencing my 7 other teammates" if they are willing to help you improve and such.

[24spencer]

some French have a different playstyle in doing raids/extreme then most players

that's certainly one way of putting it

[Bourne_Endeavor]

So I have to side with SE in regards to parsers sadly. As much as I'd love one, I love the environment of less hate more. It'd be great to track myself, and perhaps they could add that, a self-parser. Because if people can track others legally, the only thing that will come, is people bashing others without regards to anything other than a number on a list.

You are neglecting key difference. First and foremost, FFXIV is not WoW nor does it boast even a fraction of the equivalent playerbase. The two cannot be directly compared in this regard because you'll inevitably see worse offenders in a game with several times the subscription numbers. It's no different than assuming Balmung or Gilgamesh are terrible servers because you come across more jerks from there than anywhere else. Considering Balmung once had more than triple the players of smaller servers, it's hardly surprising you will see more jerks from Balmung than say, Zalera.

Secondly, WoW focuses almost exclusively on raiding. Therefore, it fosters a stronger competitive environment—a fact made all the more evident with open world PvP. This inevitably attracts a more aggressive element. None of this occurs in FFXIV, thus you will see less people openly abusing parsers because the mindset between each game is different.

Finally, it ultimately comes down to moderation. If players who do abuse parsers are swiftly dealt with, this becomes a non-issue long term. The only way this ever balloons into a serious problem is if SE allowed it to happen. Regardless, their stance is entirely counterproductive to the game's design. As someone mentioned elsewhere, we have a game dedicated almost exclusively to pumping out damage—so much so, even tanks and healers are expected to contribute—yet the game goes out of its way to conceal all that information. Even worse, they waste development time and resources on frivolous pursuits in the name of "improving player skill!" which accomplish nothing, i.e., the tacked on job gauges, when a parser does precisely what they want.

[Vstarstruck]

You are neglecting key difference. First and foremost, FFXIV is not WoW nor does it boast even a fraction of the equivalent playerbase. The two cannot be directly compared in this regard because you'll inevitably see worse offenders in a game with several times the subscription numbers. It's no different than assuming Balmung or Gilgamesh are terrible servers because you come across more jerks from there than anywhere else. Considering Balmung once had more than triple the players of smaller servers, it's hardly surprising you will see more jerks from Balmung than say, Zalera.

Secondly, WoW focuses almost exclusively on raiding. Therefore, it fosters a stronger competitive environment—a fact made all the more evident with open world PvP. This inevitably attracts a more aggressive element. None of this occurs in FFXIV, thus you will see less people openly abusing parsers because the mindset between each game is different.

Finally, it ultimately comes down to moderation. If players who do abuse parsers are swiftly dealt with, this becomes a non-issue long term. The only way this ever balloons into a serious problem is if SE allowed it to happen. Regardless, their stance is entirely counterproductive to the game's design. As someone mentioned elsewhere, we have a game dedicated almost exclusively to pumping out damage—so much so, even tanks and healers are expected to contribute—yet the game goes out of its way to conceal all that information. Even worse, they waste development time and resources on frivolous pursuits in the name of "improving player skill!" which accomplish nothing, i.e., the tacked on job gauges, when a parser does precisely what they want.

You have a point, forgive me if this feels like I am putting words in your mouth but this is my spin on the situation after reading that.

Remove all DPS checks and make the game more "unskilled friendly" or put in parsers. You can't have your cake and eat it too. All those gauges and attempts to lessen the "skill gap" did not achieve anything.

I forget where or who said it. The meaning was basically "parsers don't turn people into jerks" if someone is going to be a jerk, they are going to do so without parser, likewise those intend to be helpful and not toxic will continue to do so. I do think there is a type of person that is more or less "passive" until put in some environment that triggers them to say something. Basically I do feel parsers will increases minor harassment in trying put people down, but as your post says, it will not balloon effect if SE takes action on it. The other problem with this though, and SE may be aware of it, they would need to change their policies to make room for it. It is likely they will end up banning more people then they will like to with parsers with their current "3 strikes per lifetime = ban" Having parsers is likely going to see a large hike in bans just because 3 of the most miner things can = ban. (Though they should change that regardless, Oh made 3 "mistakes" in 10 year span? ban. that isn't fair)

Another problem is the target audience of this game. Look at all the MSQ complainant threads, some stated almost quitting because people leaving them behind getting kicked etc. What about those that did quit over it? or felt the community was too toxic for them because of it? That blanket change they did was to prevent potential sub loss. Now the point in bringing this up is what will happen to new players with parses being public okay? THIS was a LONG time ago, I do not remember when, but ironically I did witness parser harassment in a MSQ roulette dungeon. (the one doing the harassing STILL pestered the victim even AFTER 2-3 people telling them to stop they can get in trouble because of SE's zero tolerance policy on parsers). People are definitely willing to this anywhere, and even in low level content. What if the person being harassed left the game forever? costing SE a sub? GM policy has no reimbursement type actions when stuff like this happens. So even if that person doing the harassment is punished, the damage is done to the customer, and is not reversible leading to a loss in sub. I am sure that is SE's strongest motivation in deciding what to do.

so having a public parser means overhauling GM policy and I am sure SE does not want all that extra work, time, and money investment. Much easier to just say no parsers.

[van_arn]

They're not doing themselves any favors by making SSS "secret" content either. If they'd replace the guildhest daily with a solo SSS adjusted to the max tier of content a player has unlocked some of the more toxic casuals would riot at first, but we'd see improvement longer-term.

That or they'd stop unlocking higher tiers of content and we'd be better off there, too.

[AriaFairchild]

Come to PvP! We don't give a s*** about your numbers, we don't even need parser!

Wait...I think that makes us the most benign minority group in the game! Yes, the loveliest of people! We only trash-talk about our teammates behind closed doors! <3

Espurtz 4.4, YoshiPlz!

[Jijifli]

THIS was a LONG time ago, I do not remember when, but ironically I did witness parser harassment in a MSQ roulette dungeon. (the one doing the harassing STILL pestered the victim even AFTER 2-3 people telling them to stop they can get in trouble because of SE's zero tolerance policy on parsers). People are definitely willing to this anywhere, and even in low level content. What if the person being harassed left the game forever? costing SE a sub? GM policy has no reimbursement type actions when stuff like this happens. So even if that person doing the harassment is punished, the damage is done to the customer, and is not reversible leading to a loss in sub. I am sure that is SE's strongest motivation in deciding what to do.

so having a public parser means overhauling GM policy and I am sure SE does not want all that extra work, time, and money investment. Much easier to just say no parsers.

I just want to chime on this second part of your post for a very important mention, which shows it's the player, not the parser.

Did the person in this example use a parser? Ya. Was he being rude and toxic with it? Ya. But is it because a parser exists? No. He could have easily harassed over anything else. Could have harassed them for their glam, or their chosen race, or maybe that they're new and falling behind. None of those are related to parsing, but in this same example, you'd of course punish the player for harassment. So why would it be different if there's a parser? Guy is toxic with it? Punish them. Harassing a player for numbers and harassing them for being new would have the same effect, only people act like putting in numbers excuses the first one.