"I play the way I want" -Randomperson

[LunarEmerald]

Why are people defending baddies?

[MeiUshu]

Why are people defending baddies?

arent you full of yourself.. might want to take a good look in the mirror and see if you dont fall into the category of those very people that insult berate and demeant players that arent as good as them or supposedly not as good as them,

Keep in mind that there is always someone better then you and you are a baddie to someone else....

Mei

[Dyvid]

"I'm paying for it!" is by far the worst comeback to this debate. Guess what, so does everyone else so you're not special. If you don't want to be a team player don't play team sports. You know what happens to the QB that says I play how I want? The offense line steps aside, and let's the QB "Play how he wants."

[Velthice]

"I'm paying for it!" is by far the worst comeback to this debate. Guess what, so does everyone else so you're not special. If you don't want to be a team player don't play team sports. You know what happens to the QB that says I play how I want? The offense line steps aside, and let's the QB "Play how he wants."

Pretty much this. You can play however you want, that's fine, but you have absolutely no right to be mad when no one else wants to play with you. You have no one to blame but yourself.

[Staris]

When I join a duty and the dps is beyond terrible (based on time to kill mobs / threat meter built into game), I just leave and take the 30 minute penalty and go do something on my alt or Q as a full group instead. Let the bad DPS sit in Q for another Hour.

No reason to try to fix people when they are bad, it takes little effort to be decent. They just aren't trying. Ignore and move on, any time spent otherwise is time wasted.

[Kenji1134]

Its always amusing how people tend to link the words "parser", "performance", and "elitist" together in any available context.

I have been using an old, yet very very good parser for nearly a decade now, across many games.
This parser, like any parser, will tell me your dps. But I can examine your gear, look at your weapon, and glance at the level of your armor to get a pretty good idea of where your dps will be anyway.

The parser "can" also tell me about your rotation. That is, IF I have a second monitor open, and dig into the very guts of the parse, until I see ALL of your outgoing damage in order by timestamp... And actually analyze it, since I still wont have any info about what procs you got, your positioning for each attack, or whether you are properly using your dots (reapplying in a timely manner).
OR, if I know the class, IE I have it at 50 and have played it in some endgame content, then I can look at your castbar, for casters, or just look at your character animations to get a sense of your rotation.

For a BLM, it is extremely simple.
A BLM "should" have 3 blue orbs around them for 2-3 casts, and 3 red orbs for 6+ casts... so 1/3 blue, 2/3 red. Without even looking at WHAT they are casting.
Now if their MP drops to exactly 0, and they get 1 blue orb, then I know they just used Flare and Transpose, which may or may not be a good choice for a given situation.

Lets see...
DRG.
They should be doing at LEAST 1 attack from the side, and 1 attack from the back every 30 seconds.
They should also do their rather distinct "thrust spear into the air while jumping" attack (sequence) no more than 2 times in a row, unless the mob is dying.
If they never flank, they are not using Heavy Thrust. If they never do a back attack, they are not using Disembowel and Chaos Thrust.
If they are doing the 3 attack sequence that ends in the upward spear thrust every 8 seconds, then they are just spamming their base combo for minimal damage.

Monk.
They should do the lovely "breakdance kick" almost every 10-12 seconds.
They "should" be doing 1 set of attacks from the back, then another set that starts with the breakdance kick from the side, pretty much every 20-25 seconds (for both sets).
If you see a monk who never flanks, they are doing ~21% less dps than they should be. If you see a monk who never does rear attacks, they are again gimping their dps output.

Bard.
Its kinda hard to tell if a bard is being "terribad" in an 8 or 24 man. No cast bars and no positioning requirements means that they only ways to tell what a bard is doing is by animations, and the 2 dots they should generally have on the target.
If you have 4 people and 1 bard, you can tell. Too many people or multiple bards means there's too many debuffs flying around to check.
Still, if you know what Heavy Shot looks like, and you see a bard doing NOTHING but that single animation... congratulations, you got a bad bard.

SMN.
A bit of a cross between bard and blm.
If you see a SMN casting Ruin ALL THE TIME, thats bad. If you NEVER see a SMN cast Ruin, but their MP keeps dropping, then they are probably spamming Ruin 2, which is also bad (well, its wasteful if you dont have to move).
Likewise, if the pet is standing there doing nothing... Bad.
If you never see them cast Bio 2 or Miasma, or you see them CONSTANTLY casting Bio 2 and Miasma... also bad. (SMN typically has 4 castbar abilities: Bio 2, Miasma, Ruin, Shadow Flare, and Shadow Flare is not used all that often.)

I think thats all the dps classes we have atm.
And I just described how you can, with proper knowledge of the class, tell if someone is frankly "doing it wrong", without actually touching a parser.

Now onto the other issue...

Yes, its your money. Its your character, and its your monthly fee.
But when you enter into a group, you are essentially signing the following agreement.

In order to complete a task that I am unable to perform using my own power, I agree to join this group of like-minded individuals who's goal is to complete this particular task.
As such, I will perform my role at the minimal level required for the completion of this task, and expect the same of all other members of the group.

If you want to "play your way" or have a hardcore "I does what I wants!" mentality... Then by all means, go solo.
If you now want to beat a group dungeon, and find that you cant do it alone, then you can either give up, or find other people who couldnt do it alone, and go do it together.
But when you do that, you are setting a goal for the group, and are agreeing that you will work towards accomplishing that goal.
Of course, if you manage to find a group of "I does what I wants!" and your collective goal is to wipe repeatedly on dungeon trash for 90 minutes... Well by all means, go ahead. But if you join a group of people who's intention is to NOT wipe on trash for an hour, then you are ruining THEIR fun and not letting THEM play the way that THEY want... Think on that for a minute.

Frankly, when I go into a dungeon, I assume that everyone there joined that DF or PF group with the intention of winning.
I also assume that they will perform at a minimal competency required for the content. I do not expect Blue Gartr level performance in a DF roulette group. But I do expect you to have sufficient gear (DF/PF ilvl check), and sufficient skill and knowledge of your class to get the job done without significantly slowing down the group or needing to be outright carried.

If for whatever reason you DONT have the required level of knowledge, cause its your first time in the dungeon, you just got the class to 50, this IS your first 50, or this is your first MMO... Then please, by all means... ASK!
State that you are new, and that you dont magically come with nearly a year of in-game multi-class/role experience like some of us do. And then say that you would be receptive to advice, insight, tips from more experienced players... You might be surprised how many people remember what it was like to be in your shoes, and we can be quite helpful... (cept the natural born trolls)

Closing thoughts,

It's not "elitism" to expect someone to perform at the minimal requirements for the content. It is not "elitism" to want to improve yourself in a mathematically reliable way.
However it IS "elitism" to say that your way is absolutely correct and utterly infallible in all possible circumstances... because... I SAID SO! Thats why! Cause its my monthly sub and I DOES WHAT I WANTS!!! <- That is Elitism.

[LunarEmerald]

You can spot a bad bard by hearing how often they straight shot and bloodarrow. They have distinct audio effects.

[Tridus1x]

I don't understand why so many people are against one player trying to improve another players performance.

Oh well, Titan EX/T5 sells still line my pockets. Please continue.

[Ghetto_Ganker]

Im going to go ahead and clarify what it is i meant by the elitist comment.

So, noone explained anything of relevance to me, with the exception of complaining that i was using some wrong rotation. Whatever, I said if you are going to sit there talking shit then kick rocks, if you want to actually help than do that. Kicked.

I qued for garuda extreme, got in there, and before the shit even started i had some elitist clown tell me how square enix dont know jack about their own game and the recommended item level was wrong, and since i wasnt in full 90 or close, i was kicked. Now thats bs

[Ghetto_Ganker]

Keep in mind that it takes us BLM's sometimes OVER A DAMN HOUR to get into an instance and the last thing we want to hear when we finally get in there is the opinion of some guy that is a nobody. I dont honestly care if there is a way to optimize dps when its being told to me as if its common sense when it isnt. I had 10 bad experiences in the beginning as a black mage, and only 1 good experience. The sad truth is that most of the people on this game that have been here for awhile are dicks. I have received next to no help when i needed it, I almost quit playing because of that elitist attitude.

Last example, My old FC leader really told me that I shouldnt get mad at being kicked, its my fault for queing up for something i wasnt geared for.... He had every class at 50.... Elitist? I guess not