What's the point of being elite at your job?

[Outfoxed]

Square doesn't let elite players really separate themselves from the pack. I was a diamond player in League of Legends because of my mechanical skill. My decision making was pretty mediocre, but then again, when you're mechanically better than most people you meet, almost every decision is technically a good one. If there's one thing I'm good at it's playing things at a mechanical level better than most people.

Now I go on FFXIV and my ability to outshine any goofball who can spend 20 minutes reading how to play dragoon is severely diminished. There's only so many ways an elite dragoon can press 1-2-3-4-[4th]-7-8-9-0-[4th] better than someone else. And if you're using all your oGCD abilities when they're off cooldown like you probably should most of the time, that gap is probably <10%.


Yeah sure you can double geirskogul during blood for blood (for all of 60potency/min), or you can use your ogcd abilities a couple gcd's earlier.... But for what? Single digit DPS bonuses for perfect execution?


Preemptively position yourself for elusive jump at t10 to jump to the next set of mobs? Congratulations, you got all of 2DPS points for that manoeuvre. Oh you dealt with wild charge without missing a single GCD? Your DPS went up all of 1 point. Congrats... You can do the W shape thing with Earthshakers and not miss a single GCD? Sorry, but your DPS only went up by 1.7 points.

It's even worse because the amount of dynamic decision making in this game is almost non-existent. Mechanics are scripted to the millisecond and there's not much you can do to do your stuff better than someone else. 3:27 Nael Deus Darnus uses Stardust. 5:46 Nael Deus Darnus uses Heavensfall. 7:21 Nael Deus Darnus poses for vanity fair (call me Nael). 9:21 Nael Deus Darnus goes to the bathroom. How does one outplay someone who knows exactly what's going to happen the moment it happens? There's only so many ways you can be at point A better than someone who is at point A 5 seconds before the boss casts his ability that requires him to be at point A. There's only so many ways I can dodge shivas icicle pattern better than someone who's already dodged the ability before shiva cast it (yes you can get another GCD or two... for 5 dps).

Square needs to reward players who are elite at their job more. There's no point in being an elite dragoon with skyscraper DPS numbers when Uzumaki Sasuke (real name: Jack Caldwell) can just spend 10 minutes reading how to play dragoon and maybe an hour practicing to be roughly 80-90% of an elite player. There's only so many ways you can press 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 better than someone else.

[m3eansean]

Ur so l337 brah.

I award you special snowflake status, here is your gold star sticker.

[Reinfeld]

Your Reward: Farming tome grinds 3 minute faster and clearing Bismarck EX

[Skullhack]

You are wrong. Elite players in MMORPG separate themselves by a perfect knowledge of boss and enemies paterns for PVE, and by skill and knowledge of all classes in PVP.

Now you put yourself in PVE context, and try to compare your skill to anyone else. Sure, hitting an optimal DPS is "easy" for everyone by reading guide and everything, but being able to deal your optimal DPS while applying boss strategy perfectly to make your tank/heal job easier is totally different.

Compare what can be compared first.

Sry for my spelling.

[Eye_Gore]

You want to know how to tell if someone is an elite player? Wait for it.........they'll tell you.

[Outfoxed]

Your Reward: Farming tome grinds 3 minute faster and clearing Bismarck EX

the actual mechanical skill required to clear phase 2 of bismark ex is minimal. it's just a straight dummy parse with a tornado that can be avoided with ease if you lock on properly.

and even then, a player who knows what they're doing can clear bismark ex no problem. dps checks at bismark aren't hard if you know your rotation. you don't need elite dps to clear bismark, a lot of people clear in i160's. to clear bismark ex, your dps just has to be not braindead aka learn your rotation.

[Bishop81]

On a side note, maybe you should ease up a little with the "me me me" thinking.

The game isn't just about you.

The game is about us. It's about people playing together to have fun.

DPS meters were one of the worse things to have entered the MMO genre. Over time it became less about "Are we beating the boss?" and more about "Am I beating other raid members in the DPS meters?".

Not everything has to be a "race" you know.

[Aiselia]

Want to feel like you're better than other people?

Play PVP.

[Outfoxed]

You are wrong. Elite players in MMORPG separate themselves by a perfect knowledge of boss and enemies paterns for PVE, and by skill and knowledge of all classes in PVP.

Now you put yourself in PVE context, and try to compare your skill to anyone else. Sure, hitting an optimal DPS is "easy" for everyone by reading guide and everything, but being able to deal your optimal DPS while applying boss strategy perfectly to make your tank/heal job easier is totally different.

Compare what can be compared first.

Sry for my spelling.

"Perfect knowledge of boss and enemies patterns for PVE"

Any clown can spend an hour studying a book to know when Nael Deus Darnus decides to blink. I hardly get how that makes them elite.


Skill requirement != time requirement.

Knowing what a boss is going to do at every single second isn't skillful, it's just plain memorization. It's like doing a math test. You can a) memorize all the answers or b) actually know what you're doing. If you're dodging a bosses move before he actually uses his skill then I question the design of your game. That's like breaking into a safe when someone tells you the combination. You don't need to be an expert safecracker, you just have to have minimal brain functions.

[Typhoria]

Snip.

I disagree with this sentiment. DPS meters are great. It shows who needs help with their rotation so a group actually can tell why they didn't meet a DPS check.

Personally I like to compete with others and it improves my DPS if I can see how I'm doing compared to others. Plus an official DPS meter would cut down the complaining about a certain class not parsing properly and looking like a terrible class to play.