Parsers add replayability for casual players

[ForteNightshade]

I come from WoW, the number of times I see something on the lines of "LF (insert class here), 350k DPS minimum!" for something that only 250k could EASILY clear for is astronomical. It's on the same vein as ilvl 400 minimum for ilvl 350 content. Parsers breed elitism within the game's community.

How is this elitism? If I'm setting up a PF with certain DPS requirements, I'm doing so in the hopes of faster clears not to help any one individual. Faster clears means we have potentially less runs to do (for mount farms).

I would make the argument, OP, that you aren't really casual. Not that casual players can't learn a rotation and do decently in groups. Nor that they can't enjoy increasing their ilevel. But the flaw in your argument is that a truly casual player doesn't care about those incremental changes in their numbers. Once you start doing that, you're getting in the realm of the midcore to hardcore.

It's like with any hobby. There's a spectrum of involvement. Once you start getting into things like numbers and optimization, you're not approaching that hobby with a casual mindset anymore. It doesn't matter how much time you play.

Caring about your damage doesn't make you midcore or hardcore. It's simply wanting to perform at a higher level than the bare minimum. Even if you only play 2-5 hours a week, you can still want to achieve that. The crazy thing is, plenty of players genuinely think they are contributing huge damage. I can't tell you the number of Samurai (because it's typically that job) who think they're topping the charts only for me to glance over and see they're barely ahead of the tanks.

On the flipside, when people were less afraid to say anything in chat. I'd actually get casual players asking if they're damage was good. I'll never forget a Monk who was downright baffled his damage was so low. Not only was his appreciative but wanted to improve. Met a Dark Knight who was farming normals and asking people his parses because he played on PS4. Neither of these players set foot in even Extreme yet but still wanted to be better. The problem is FFXIV hides everything because it doesn't want people to see and potentially feel bad. Which is ironic when they turn around and design a system like Astro's seals, which are entirely dependent on a parse for you to notice the damage difference your cards offer.

[TaleraRistain]

How is this elitism? If I'm setting up a PF with certain DPS requirements, I'm doing so in the hopes of faster clears not to help any one individual. Faster clears means we have potentially less runs to do (for mount farms).



Caring about your damage doesn't make you midcore or hardcore. It's simply wanting to perform at a higher level than the bare minimum. Even if you only play 2-5 hours a week, you can still want to achieve that. The crazy thing is, plenty of players genuinely think they are contributing huge damage. I can't tell you the number of Samurai (because it's typically that job) who think they're topping the charts only for me to glance over and see they're barely ahead of the tanks.

On the flipside, when people were less afraid to say anything in chat. I'd actually get casual players asking if they're damage was good. I'll never forget a Monk who was downright baffled his damage was so low. Not only was his appreciative but wanted to improve. Met a Dark Knight who was farming normals and asking people his parses because he played on PS4. Neither of these players set foot in even Extreme yet but still wanted to be better. The problem is FFXIV hides everything because it doesn't want people to see and potentially feel bad. Which is ironic when they turn around and design a system like Astro's seals, which are entirely dependent on a parse for you to notice the damage difference your cards offer.

I would make the argument again that you aren't talking to casual players there. Just like your play time doesn't, your content doesn't make you casual. It's the way that you approach the game.

There are people in the game that are hardcore crafters, hardcore in glamour, hardcore in Mahjong or chocobo racing, hardcore in adventuring etc. They will min/max, count the numbers, and optimize no matter what content they're tackling because that's the type of thing a more hardcore outlook focuses on.