Parsers add replayability for casual players

[Goji1639]

To be honest it is the opposite it is rather simple. This is why I prefer my black and white approach. I mean maybe those interacting with me may find it complicated but for me honestly it is rather simple. Though I am also not out to make friends or be friendly with people either.

There are plenty of situations in life where it's in your best interest to prioritize being friendly over being honest.

"Hey boss, your wife is fat!" "Hey waiter, if you were better educated you wouldn't have to be a servant working for tips." "Now why do I keep getting fired, and why does all the food at Denny's taste like urine?!"

[WoW]

There are plenty of situations in life where it's in your best interest to prioritize being friendly over being honest.

"Hey boss, your wife is fat!" "Hey waiter, if you were better educated you wouldn't have to be a servant working for tips." "Now why do I keep getting fired, and why does all the food at Denny's taste like urine?!"

Hey you, if your DPS was good you wouldn't be bothered with a parser!

[Shurrikhan]

The meta only exists because of parsers though. If people didn't parse you'd just clear the content on whatever job you want. Being familiar with a job is more important than if it's the meta job or not.

Let's not pretend that theorycrafting only starts when people hit the content in question and begin parsing it out. By now, given what we know about what is and is not queuable, oGCD gaps, ghosting, etc., raw ppm measurements can be accurately and precisely charted out for most job designs (the remainder needing only to test certain new skills for ghosting and delays that may move them in or out of bonus windows) with pre-expansion patch notes and the on-paper bests under such and such fight-lengths or segmentation tend to be scarily accurate to the real content to follow. If anything, parsers provide a balancing element against theory-crafted assumptions (though they are rarely disproven except by way of ease of execution in less than perfect play) and skewed community perceptions, though in XIV's case they are themselves reliant on post-combat metrics like indirect contribution if they are to provide the full and precise picture.

Moreover, you seem to be forgetting that sites like fflogs could exist without any real-time display, using instead the mere data of the combat logs themselves. As compiled/aggregate data -- even abstracted as it is from visible contexts of skillful play, surrounding composition, or others' related mistakes (PKs, raid damage debuff penalties, etc.) -- will tend to hold far more weight of assumed authority than anecdotal data (however contextualized and specific it may be), that should be your primary concern in regards to the spread of any meta.

Even then, however, such sites wouldn't likely be the primary cause of that meta's formation. Actual imbalance, gameplay quality, and typification (such as double-Ranged+DRG comps, all-physical Monk comps, or all-caster RDM comps back in StB, or even just 60-, 90-, or 120-second GCD [greatest common denominator] comps) will obviously form metas, and it seems a bit backwards to blame the diagnostic for the disease. Blame the way data is presented (including context or the lack of it) for unnecessary panic over said disease (job imbalance), sure, but know that for many, at present gear levels and reasonably expected skill levels, deficits due to imbalance (especially early in an expansion, for instance) mark a real and practical concern. Naturally, the most direct solution for otherwise excluded players, then, is something that can quickly, easily prove out that one's skill is high enough to make up for that known (or, perceived) deficit. But, the only tool that does that, at present, is a parser.

[Divinemights]

I will repeat myself again, no one ever expects anyone to have a "perfect performance". Just be decent, even if you're a casual.
Time and time again I am disappointed that it's a sin in this game to be good, yet it's completely fine to be an absolute pepega gamer that just presses one button or none at all. Others will carry right? Don't you dare asking someone to do their job, what if they are having fun and you will ruin it? And I am in no way talking about NEW players. I couldn't care less if new players in lower level content are *bad*.

Are you over-exaggerating on the issue?
The parser is only useful at nitpicking at the difference between DPS 24000/s and 25000/s. (for example)
You don't need a parser to tell a player is literally "one bottom"

[Miracle_Diva]

Are you over-exaggerating on the issue?
The parser is only useful at nitpicking at the difference between DPS 24000/s and 25000/s. (for example)
You don't need a parser to tell a player is literally "one bottom"

Are you, perhaps, not even trying to read what I'm saying?

[Divinemights]

Are you, perhaps, not even trying to read what I'm saying?

I read what you said and I believed you over-exaggerating on the parser.

[Miracle_Diva]

I read what you said and I believed you over-exaggerating on the parser.

Too bad for you, I wasn't even talking about parser.

[Shurrikhan]

I read what you said and I believed you over-exaggerating on the parser.

What claims do you believe Miracle_Diva has made that are exaggerative?

It's difficult to meaningfully evaluate a claim (as exaggerative or otherwise) if it's not the one that was made, after all.

Perhaps Miracle_Diva has made further related claims on other threads, but it's difficult to specifically find what you'd have felt is exaggerative regarding parsers among any of her three posts here, especially since so little of it has anything has anything to do with parsers.

For instance, is it that parsers are a vital part of figuring out what rotations are optimal? Is it that parsers are only as necessary as they are because content tends to be designed around sustained pure-throughput goals (e.g. hard enrages with few if any notable dps checks prior)?
No other of her claims here (i.e., any since her first post 2 days back) directly involve parsers.

[RushRiviera]

Just a thought; what if they were to add an official parser or rating system that is only available for solo, open-world content, such as fates?

It would be unuseable in instances and parties to prevent harassment and it would give Lvl 80 players a real reason to re-visit lower level fates (other than being forced to for relic weapon quests).

What are your thoughts on this?

[Goji1639]

Hey you, if your DPS was good you wouldn't be bothered with a parser!

I don't really mind parsers. I do mind people picking fights with sprouts in easy content, though.

Unfortunately a lot of you don't seem to know when calling people out is useful, and when it's just pointlessly contentious. For that reason, we can't have parsers.