Quote Originally Posted by JanVanding View Post
Advertising you're going to use it in PF is saying you'll use it to scrutinise others that join. The thing SE doesn't want people doing. You wish to use your Abacus great, fab, I like writing math on a sheet too...

But that's my business
First, let me say that if you have ever been bullied by another player for anything relating to play-style, that's terrible, and I am sorry. There are plenty of ways for players to get what they need from the party finder without bullying a stranger. Period.

However, I disagree that an advertisement of "barsing" in the party finder is automatically "saying you will use it to scrutinize others that join." For many, it is an identifier letting other players know that party wishes to approach the content from a perspective that is different from say a "Practice" party." The party finder already has built in identifiers that literally lock players out of parties who are not at the same point in a fight. By this logic, one could argue that this function "scrutinizes" players that have yet to clear a fight. But we still have "Practice," and "Duty Complete," to let people know how the group will be approaching the content without directly saying to an individual "you may want to get more experience in this fight before joining." "Barse" or a "farm" parties serve this same function. And it accomplishes this without directly scrutinizing an individual player.

These last two are not implemented as official identifiers in the party finder because Yoshi P. has, rightfully, banned "compelling players to use a certain play-style" and discussion of damage meters to prevent the blanket scrutiny you are talking about. If these were “officially” implemented, it would be saying that the end goal in FFXIV would be to "barse" or "farm and Yoshi P. is on record saying that he doesn't want FFXIV to be “all about efficiency.” (July Liveletter). This is also why these identifiers have not been outright banned from party finder either, because there are some players who approach content in this way, and as long as they aren't directly and intentionally hurting anyone doing it, why bother them? That’s my problem with your post. It appears to be attacking a community that is just trying to do their own thing. For some, the best part of FFXIV is optimizing their kits on the field. While there are some unfriendly people, there are also many players who use "barse" and "farm" parties to achieve personal goals. Not to scrutinize individuals like your post suggests.

In terms of overall success in FFXIV, I personally find that reading thoroughly and using good judgement in communication with others are as important as knowing your classes’ toolkit in battle. As such, I tend to not join parties who are approaching content from a place of which I am not yet comfortable.