Thank you Yoshi for your stance on DPS meters

[linay]

How can you tell you're getting better at the game

If you can beat a fight that you couldn't previously, then you're getting better.

If you beat the fight with less deaths, then you're getting better.

If you beat each phase of the fight with the boss at lower HP, then you're getting better.

If you beat the fight at a faster time, then you're getting better.

If you're more comfortable at beating a fight, then you're getting better.

There are probably other ways to tell if you're getting better, especially if you play with the same people regularly.

[DevilsDontFly]

snip

While I do see your point that still doesn't tell if you individually are getting better at your dps rotation. It tells you're getting better at not being dead.
And even if you play regularly with the same people, that still doesn't mean you as an individual are pulling the numbers you're supposed to in order to progress a fight. This I say from experience, because I've been in many groups in which someone would execute mechanics flawlessly but still not be very good at their own class rotation to the point of severely underperforming. And when someone underperforms, someone else has to make up for it. A party being able to clear content, it being fast or slow, does not mean in any way, shape or form that all 8 players are on the same skill level. Not without numbers to back it up.

I was also on the other side of that same perspective, thinking that I was a really good DPS throughout fights when in reality I was being mediocre at best.

[linay]

While I do see your point that still doesn't tell if you individually is getting better at your dps rotation. It tells you're getting better at not being dead.
And even if you play regularly with the same people, that still doesn't mean you as an individual is pulling the numbers you're supposed to in order to progress a fight. This I say from experience, because I've been in many groups in which someone would execute mechanics flawlessly but still not be very good at their own class rotation to the point of severely underperforming. And when someone underperforms, someone else has to make up for it. A party being able to clear content, it being fast or slow, does not mean in any way, shape or form that all 8 players are on the same skill level. Not without numbers to back it up.

I was also on the other side of that same perspective, thinking that I was a really good DPS throughout fights when in reality I was being mediocre at best.

Your original question that I responded to asked how people can tell if they're getting better at the game, not if they're performing at a certain level. Getting better at your DPS rotation will help you with all the things that I listed and you would thus be able to see the change.