Parsers make you stupid

[justinjarjar]

Already said but it is a tool for you and your static. If someone is using it as anything but a tool can be reported and banned for harassment. Nothing wrong with getting a parse on a dummy and then seeing how close you can get on a boss, or figuring out that "bob" is having a bad day and you should just give it a rest this week.

[SQBoard]

Already said but it is a tool for you and your static. If someone is using it as anything but a tool can be reported and banned for harassment. Nothing wrong with getting a parse on a dummy and then seeing how close you can get on a boss, or figuring out that "bob" is having a bad day and you should just give it a rest this week.

Yes, it is not harassment if you're using parsers for personal use.

But to clarify, ANY use of unauthorized 3rd party software to collect information from the game CAN be reported for violation of the terms of service you have agreed to in order to use SE's software, regardless of intent.

FFXIV User Agreement

2.5 Data Mining. You may not intercept, mine or otherwise collect information from the Game using unauthorized third party software.

2.6 Hacking and Circumvention. You may not hack, disassemble, decompile, or otherwise modify the Game or server computer code, whether the Game code is located on a DVD, Blu-rayTM disc, your computer/console or on Square Enix's servers, except as expressly permitted by Square Enix or applicable law.

Parsers collect information from the game otherwise there's no use to them.

Now, whether or not SE actually exercises their rights will depend on them, but technically they can.

[Krylo]

Snip

From what I understand, they need to make them against ToS because they want to make datamining patches and what not against ToS and there's no real way to word 'you can't mine this data but you can mine that data', PLUS it makes it much easier for them to punish people harassing other with the programs. Yoshi P himself has stated he understands the importance of parsers and they've posted world first clear videos/screens with parser overlays.

It's basically a DADT situation with parsers where they're technically not allowed but everyone knows people are using them and are fine with it as long as it isn't abused.

[KisaiTenshi]

From what I understand, they need to make them against ToS because they want to make datamining patches and what not against ToS and there's no real way to word 'you can't mine this data but you can mine that data', PLUS it makes it much easier for them to punish people harassing other with the programs. Yoshi P himself has stated he understands the importance of parsers and they've posted world first clear videos/screens with parser overlays.

It's basically a DADT situation with parsers where they're technically not allowed but everyone knows people are using them and are fine with it as long as it isn't abused.

Data-miners spoil the game. The entire reason "data-mining" is even possible is because of people hacking the game with a goal to make bots, and this "information" is shared widespread. It doesn't matter that the same software's intent was to be a DPS parser, the exact same software also enables 90% of the RMT activity in the game.

[SQBoard]

Yoshi P himself has stated he understands the importance of parsers and they've posted world first clear videos/screens with parser overlays.

It's basically a DADT situation with parsers where they're technically not allowed but everyone knows people are using them and are fine with it as long as it isn't abused.

Can't find a verifiable source where he said he was "fine" with parser use, but i have seen a video where he mentions that he "knows" there are people out there using parsers and if you use it you should be discrete about it.

ZAM Yoshida Interview (6:04)

However, his very first comment on the subject was that officially outside tools are not allowed.

And it's good to point out that, yoshida is not the one that enforces corporate policies. I think he was talking as a fellow gamer, giving parser users a favor to not brag or abuse it. He repeats that as a dev, external tools are not allowed.

Side note: He also mentions that he believes parsers do not give too much of an advantage and it depends mostly on the player's skill. Take that as you will.

[Bishop81]

Can't find a verifiable source where he said he was "fine" with parser use, but i have seen a video where he mentions that he "knows" there are people out there using parsers and if you use it you should be discrete about it.

ZAM Yoshida Interview (6:04)

However, his very first comment on the subject was that officially outside tools are not allowed.

And it's good to point out that, yoshida is not the one that enforces corporate policies. I think he was talking as a fellow gamer, giving parser users a favor to not brag or abuse it. He repeats that as a dev, external tools are not allowed.

...

In general, he (i.e. SE) reserves the right to ban your butt if you use parsers.

Seriously, can't people just clear raids without parsers? Why do you need that clutch?

[AdamFyi]

Seriously, can't people just clear raids without parsers? Why do you need that clutch?

Simple; you can. Parsers do not provide any sort of significant advantage against those who don't use them. A lot of players use it to gauge the party's performance in an encounter, or to see how well they can hold themselves up during the encounter.

Problem is that some encounters do not allow you to turtle through the fight, as evident with the many enrage timers in a lot of the encounters. Having your party wipe to an encounter due to lack of damage output is easy to see, but as to who or what is causing it - you would need to take a few to go through the battle logs and calculate everything by hand. Parsers just compile the data to make it easier to see.

Unless, of course, you would rather sift through the battle logs; then by all means do so. As a PS4 player myself, I would love to have an official parser to gauge my own performance. I really don't care about other people's output, with the exception of high-end encounters like savage and extreme primals. I want to know how well I'm doing without needing to bother other people to gauge my performance. :u

[Bishop81]

Problem is that some encounters do not allow you to turtle through the fight, as evident with the many enrage timers in a lot of the eencounters. Having your party wipe to an encounter due to lack of damage output is easy to see, but as to who or what is causing it - you would need to take a few to go through the battle logs and calculate everything by hand. Parsers just compile the data to make it easier to see.

/start rant; no offense, just needed to get it off my chest (edit: not necessarily targeted at you)

What do you do with that data? Compare it with the rest of your teammates? What will that prove? You failed the encounter because your raid DPS wasn't high enough.

What are you going to do? Come to the forums and QQ that your DPS is 1% lower than the top DPS in your group and beg for buffs? Great, just great, we need more of that. Ever thought that different Jobs might have different DPS in different situations because *grasp* they have different mechanics? Or are you one of those that insist that everyone has to output the same DPS in all situations? Homogeneous classes. Is that what you want?

To quote Ghostcrawler,

If the WoW devs read this, how likely would it be for them to agree? http://t.co/CIM3r2TTrL
I never felt like all classes had to be equal in all things. Can't someone just be better at burst AE? (OccupyGStreet)

Does Blizzard worry most about dps balance as raid tiers open, and not that much about balance as ppl start farming the tier?
Can't speak for it now, but when I was there, we worried more about new content than farmed content balance. (OccupyGStreet)
The idea being that a low performing spec might get sat on a new boss, but unlikely when stuff was on farm. (OccupyGStreet)
At some point we as a community started worrying about an individual's "right" to high DPS rather than the DPS of the entire raid. (OccupyGStreet)
Rather than "Did we beat the boss?" it became "Did I beat my warlock friend?" (OccupyGStreet)

DPS check will be overcome with time anyway as you get better gear. Is it really necessary to kill yourself over it? It's a video game.

/end rant

[Velox]

Seriously, can't people just clear raids without parsers? Why do you need that clutch?

Well you can. In fact, parsers really only have been in the spotlight since WoW became a thing. Older MMOs were a time when parsers and other applications really didn't exist. Back then we simply beat enrage timers and DPS checks through brute force trial and error. Because we had nothing helping us, we learned to watch everyone, including ourselves, simultaneously and gauge DPS based on visual performance (rotational requirements, skill timings, gear, planned buff rotations, movement keys, party announcements, etc.) Basically we all developed a unique skill for gauging an entire party's performance without using numbers directly. After countless battles, you could watch an entire fight going down and say to yourself "Wizard A is not pulling his weight, especially during phase 3 of the battle" all while doing your own thing at the same time.

Parsers simply make that content easier and more accessible for the people who could not hone that level of skill. In a good sense, they opened up difficult encounters to a wider audience. In a bad sense, modern MMO community has grown too dependent on them.

As a metaphor, parsers were supposed to be wheelchairs when they first started appearing. You could use one to help you get around if you didn't have the strength or ability to walk yourself. The problem is that modern gamers started using them simply out of laziness because it takes a lot more work to walk a distance than letting a chair do it for you (even if you don't have the disability that warrants the wheelchair). It's not all their fault though, it's the gaming culture that's driving them in that direction. Most are oblivious to how dependent they are on parsers now simply because they are ignorant of any other way to complete things. To them, it's the "norm" of MMO gaming, and is continue to spiral more and more out of control because of that.