However, the only way to know for certain if you are doing well as a damage dealer is to have a good parser and a rotation guide. Over the years, a lot of us WoW vets developed a type of "common MMO sense" for doing damage because everyone used the same general combat system. New players who have never played an MMORPG before are left to the mercy of their gaming background. Some experiences will transfer well to a theme park MMORPG like FFXIV:ARR, while others don't hold up.

As long as damage dealer is a role and enrage mechanics are present, parsers will become indispensable tools for conquering hard content. There really is no way around it.