The Real Problem with Parsers

[ShanaShirayuki]

Parsers have -never- lead to anything positive in an MMO, no matter what people claim their use and benefit is they are always used (almost exclusively) as an excuse to belittle and exclude other players over insignificant dips in DPS. A personal parser is fine, but the second you force others to show your their statistics, it becomes problematic.

Please stop with this fear mongering, give us facts that parsers turn saints into sinners. No more confirmation biases, no more hyperbole.

[Attarik]

Please stop with this fear mongering, give us facts that parsers turn saints into sinners. No more confirmation biases, no more hyperbole.

Anyone (provided they have a brain and have played any mmo) can tell you what parsers end up doing. Provide solid evidence that this doesn't happen and that people somehow benefit from being harassed in a video game, no more stating opinion as fact, no more blatant lying, no more complaining about a strangers dps checks.

[SlyRoyale]

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Parsers are not always used to belittle others over insignificant dips in DPS. Parsers are used to calculate all readouts of damage, how much damage is being done during certain phases or the course of a fight, and all sorts of objective information that provide further insight to how an encounter went. They are used to gauge where players are in regards to the amount of damage they do, and provide evidence on whether those numbers are fine or could be improved on. If someone has a parser and abuses it to harass others, we already have the means to deal with those people. Should SE implement an official parser, there would arguably be little difference in how parser abuse would be handled.

Despite the fact that tools can be abused, the fact remains that the benefits outweigh the negatives, especially against embellished claims how parsers are always used to belittle and exclude people over minimal DPS dips.

[Attarik]

char limit.

So, they're not used to exclude others based on dps drops, they're just used to exclude players who don't do the dps you think they should. Wonderful.

[SlyRoyale]

So, they're not used to exclude others based on dps drops, they're just used to exclude players who don't do the dps you think they should. Wonderful.

I have not said anything along those lines. All I explicitly stated was that parsers are used to calculate DPS and provide evidence to support those calculations, and such boons are more valuable than the exaggerated fears against the tool. Anyone who abuses that information should be dealt with appropriately through harassment reports. Please do not twist my words around to fit your fear mongering anti-parser agenda if you want your stance on the matter to be taken seriously. All you are doing is shooting yourself in the foot.

[Elazu]

So, they're not used to exclude others based on dps drops, they're just used to exclude players who don't do the dps you think they should. Wonderful.

This again.

If a tank or healer is not doing their job, causing your party to be unable to beat the content they'd be called out on it and replaced. Why is it fine for a dps to hold people back? I take it the anti-parser crowd still has no answer for this question?

A DPS who makes it impossible to beat certain content should absolutely be replaced, just like a tank or healer. They don't deserve a free pass just because they play a dps job.

[LunaHoshino]

Parsers have -never- lead to anything positive in an MMO, no matter what people claim their use and benefit is they are always used (almost exclusively) as an excuse to belittle and exclude other players over insignificant dips in DPS. A personal parser is fine, but the second you force others to show your their statistics, it becomes problematic.

A parser helped my friend learn the proper rotation for his class and increase his DPS by almost 200. The two of us (both DRGs in gear of the same ilvl) had been running Odin with my FC, and one of my other FCmates noticed that his DPS was significantly below mine, which shouldn't be the case in a fight where the only mechanics to deal with are AoEs that both of us had to dodge. So we decided to go check out his rotation on our striking dummy, and sure enough, he was doing several things wrong. Once those were pointed out and he looked up the proper DRG rotation, his overall DPS increased significantly-- a win-win situation for everyone.

He had no idea he was doing anything wrong rotation-wise until it was pointed out to him; had my FCmate not said something, he would never even have had the chance to improve because he didn't realize there was room to improve in the first place.

[Malevicton]

This is what you said:

I don't have to claim that. The pro-parser side already proves it by saying that they'd totally take people to task over low DPS even in content that doesn't have DPS checks at all. Regardless, that's not my claim. That's SE's fear. It's irrelevant if I make that claim because you still have to prove SE wrong. If I stayed out of this thread completely? Yeah, SE would still think the same thing.

Who says it's unneeded? Remember, SE already has the stance that they don't want people to turn into mouthy jerks if they let them talk about others' DPS. If you want to try to help get parsers, you've got to somehow convince them that they're wrong. Which means dispute is absolutely needed.

You were leaning pretty hard on it being a dev position.

And then many posts after this was disproved you pulled back to the whole I'm-just-going-off-what-I-heard (which doesn't make it better, btw, you shouldn't be spreading that kind of stuff around based on unsourced rumors you heard on the forums). Pretty much every time your position turns out to be provably wrong, you just abandon it and pretend you never actually argued it. And then if someone asks you to clarify your position you just insult their reading comprehension. It's getting old.

I'm also not sure what you mean by your last sentence.

[Anze-chan]

I haven't really read those 53 so I guess my post must be random right now.

The only thing I honestly see SE doing is adding a damage/healing points counter tab with not that much detail outside of the current combat log. Something similar to PvP end results but it's an actual live feed. I think it would be nice if there was an option to view the best record for every instance on the most damage done by each job as well as damage taken/mitigated and total healed/restored points (not overhealed)

[drmambo1999]

One thing I will say that I have noticed from players in regards to parsers that does kind of irk me, is that some players will pick what they consider to be the best rotation based on parser results off Youtube or Reddit and hold that as the "One way to play the class." This mind set is limiting in my opinion and I think that might be a factor as to why many dislike parsers.

I do think, however, that parsers can and should be used to encourage players to experiment with their jobs and find new better DPS results. I for one would really appreciate a tool like that as I play on PS4 and don't have any FC buddies that can Parse me as my FC is made up of IRL friends. I find myself doing a lot a research and trial and error with my job because of this and it would just be so much easier and faster to know if I am holding up with my DPS if I had a personal Parser.

I think adding parsers you can use on others might be a step too far, at least at the moment, but I see nothing wrong with having personal ones.