What is parsing?

[Ranaku]

Players that make job guides use parsers. Combined with analyzing tooltips, they also spent countless hours on dummies and using rotation simulators to find out the most optimal openers and rotations. DNC and GNB theorycrafters were crafting openers and rotational guides before Shadowbringers even released. I’m sure it will be the same for Sage and Reaper once we have tooltip and potency information on them.

This game doesn’t give you anything beyond tooltips and dotted lines around 1-2-3 combos. It doesn’t tell you anything more than that outside of quest blurbs about new skills (though those certainly don’t tell you how to use said skills). It fell to the playerbase to determine things outside of the bare basics of pressing 1-2-3 in the correct order—and the ones who did all this theorycrafting utilized numbers and parsers.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this game isn’t as straightforward as you think. It may handhold a lot, but it doesn’t handhold when it comes to rotations.

I never denied that the players who make the guides use parsers. Never denied it isn't helpful for new players etc. who maybe want to get into the endgame quick buy boosters and need to learn quick how to perform well.

But sorry to burst your bubble, the game is really straight forward when it comes to rotations. There isn't any variables like for example on world of warcraft where you can use differend specs or talents and all that stuff. In XIV there is one fix rotation made by the developers, there is one way how a job is meant to be played. And you don't need a guide to tell you that especially if you play from lvl 1 up to max level where you can get used with every new action to said action and new combo chains they give you.

And it still doesn't answer the question, how do you guys (and gurls) think they did it before parsers and guides? Guess fellas never cleared stuff before these people descended from the heavens to bless us with their wisdom cause we can't use our brains. Guess back then in ARR all our clears were just pure luck, especially when the game came fresh out. Weird.