Quote Originally Posted by LeonKeyh View Post
Reducing damage variability is not to please the parsers, it's so that you're not singling out and gimping certain classes for certain fights. I imagine that parsers would LOVE to put together the perfect "Slashing team" for a boss that is weak to slashing with +slashing buffs and 6 SAMs/NINs and cackle gleefully as they top all of the parses. The problem with that is the _casual_ or _semi-casual_ players that only have MNK or a caster leveled being kept out of that fight because maybe that boss is strong against crushing/magic. It's so that fights are arbitrarily nerfing certain classes because if that happens you'll absolutely see bad players not taking those people because they don't understand that the difference between a good play and a bad player is even more important.

Variability isn't fun when it results in you not getting invited to a group because of the job you play/want to play.
I don't agree with this, because you are kind of blurring the line between the two.

Damage typing was removed yes, to make all jobs "viable" and accessible for casuals/midcores.

Damage *variability*, particularly when it comes to critical hits, buff windows, and rotation bloat, is what has been consistently removed for the sake of parsers.

There is some overlap and the two do affect each other. A lot of changes made for the sake of casuals like removing of elemental/damage typing, TP, etc. do *de facto* affect damage variability even if that is not the primary purpose. But reduction of crits and the homogenization of buff windows is purely in service of hardcore raiders.

Which, in a similar vein, I have been hearing a lot of people whinging for Blood Weapon stacks on DRK along with Delirium and it is something I just don't agree with. I don't want *every* ability on a job to be a stack. I *like* weird buff windows. It's not efficient but it at least keeps gameplay interesting.