FFXIV parser/DPS meter

[Viridiana]

I take contention with the notion that these parsers are "Intercepting, collecting and mining game data using unauthorized software is against ToS." as defined by SE.

They don't do anything of the sort...

I believe all current parsers read some of their information from the memory, which I'm pretty sure is not normally accessible to the end user. That said, I still think it's pretty silly, but I can at least see this as a possible justification.

[Sparky]

I believe the original parser read purely from the log .txt file. There may have been improvements such reading from memory, however I don't currently use it so I really don't know.

[Doomhammer]

The only justification I could rationalize for anyone to be against damage/healing meters is that they don't play well, they know they don't play well, and they're too stubborn to improve. Half the fun in an MMO is gauging your performance and how you improve over time with gear/execution. I don't understand how this is even a debate. I completely disagree with the notion that you should only be able to gauge your own performance. I like being able to see how I stack up against others and if/when I'm not at the top it only pushes me to get there. I like being able to analyze what others of the same class are doing differently than me if they're outperforming me and if they're not, I can gauge what they're doing wrong and guide them in the right direction.

[Bubba_Drunk]

@Doomhammer I can only disagree, as main healer for most of my MMORPG career and my brother being a main tank for a vastly longer period of time, we would both say that the DPS meters and such in WoW only became a hindrance for quite a few dungeons. Especially with FFXIV, the numbers do not reflect skill and neither does gear. I repeatedly out heal higher geared characters with ease, and I can DPS with the best of them. The actual numbers mean nothing to me, so long as the job is being accomplished, gauging yourself is easy for a tank/healer. For DPS you gotta learn your class and its abilities, all of this only comes from experience, not a meter.

I was kicked once in Titan hardmode because someone looked at my gear after a wipe, but (surprisingly) everyone failed to question the players getting hit by plumes for no reason at all. This kind of attitude only gets worse with meters and its unacceptable, this is a game not a job.

[Niwashi]

I like being able to analyze what others of the same class are doing differently than me if they're outperforming me and if they're not, I can gauge what they're doing wrong and guide them in the right direction.

But not all others are of the same class. If you've got a bard who could use his songs to boost the black mage's damage output and dramatically help the group's overall damage, or instead could focus solely on his own personal DPS, the use of DPS meters would encourage the later. They make people less apt to work together because they're being judged individually and not by their contribution to the group.

[Viridiana]

If you've got a bard who could use his songs to boost the black mage's damage output and dramatically help the group's overall damage, or instead could focus solely on his own personal DPS, the use of DPS meters would encourage the later. They make people less apt to work together because they're being judged individually and not by their contribution to the group.

Foe Requiem has no effect on a BRD's dps beyond the 3 seconds it takes to cast it. Most fights have a gap where you can use it while the boss is invulnerable, meaning it has 0 effect. Any BRD using that as a justification needs to learn what he's doing.

[Niwashi]

Foe Requiem has no effect on a BRD's dps beyond the 3 seconds it takes to cast it. Most fights have a gap where you can use it while the boss is invulnerable, meaning it has 0 effect. Any BRD using that as a justification needs to learn what he's doing.

It doesn't (apart from that 3 seconds) affect his DPS when compared to itself (e.g. his DPS in this fight as compared to his DPS in another fight where he used slightly different tactics). If he's the one looking at his own DPS, that's the sort of comparison he's likely to be making.

If, however, it's the rest of the group looking at everyone's DPS, and comparing the Bard's DPS output to the Black Mage's DPS output, it does hurt him there. It sets up a situation where, instead of trying to help the entire team, he's effectively competing against his own teammates to try to out-DPS each other. That situation does discourage things like Foe Requiem or any other support skill that helps your teammates perform better.

This is why a number of people (myself included) would only support a DPS meter if it's limited to showing you only your own DPS and not anybody else's —to avoid competition within what's supposed to be a cooperative team.

[Zacban]

I don't really see a problem.. If you're getting kicked because you're underperforming, then that's on you. And just what is the point of any of the parses if you have absolutely nothing to compare it to?

What's the problem with a little internal competition in your raid group? It'll help keep your dps entertained on T1 on farm run 86 on your way to T5. If people are using it to point fingers in a tight knit raid group then I am sorry to tell you. The problem isn't the meter.

[xEscaflownex]

Niwashi, you keep bringing up these hypothetical situations, I AM a BRD, who has done all the content in the game repeatedly, I apply Ballad and Foe's when and where it is needed, and am still almost always at the top of DPS, running a meter in no way impairs my ability to use skills when they need to be used...

Anyone who would be distracted so much by a parser that it would negatively affect their performance, are the same people parsers are needed to identify, those incompetent at playing their jobs.

In many instances where some DPS check isn't met and the party wipes, someone(s) always says "Why is Damage so low, anyone running parse", no one knows who to point the finger at, until someone says yep

"BRD xxx, MNK xxx, DRG xxx, BLM xxx"

"oh hey (Job) you are pretty low on DPS"

"oh crap, really, I'll do better this time"

his DPS improves and win fight.

This happens all the time, some people need a kick in the butt, they get distracted or mess up their rotations and don't even know how bad they are doing until someone tells them, then they get in gear and perform better.

[Viridiana]

If, however, it's the rest of the group looking at everyone's DPS, and comparing the Bard's DPS output to the Black Mage's DPS output, it does hurt him there. It sets up a situation where, instead of trying to help the entire team, he's effectively competing against his own teammates to try to out-DPS each other. That situation does discourage things like Foe Requiem or any other support skill that helps your teammates perform better.

"DPS was too low that time. BRD, why aren't you playing Foe?"
"I don't want to. . ."
"Too bad. That's your job."

Just saying, if the group isn't meeting DPS checks (and thus replacing someone is even an option), the first person I'm going to look at is the BRD who's not helping the group any. Unless one of the other DDs is just doing abysmally. And by "abysmally," I don't just mean "a little below average." I'm talking "just above the tanks."