PS4 Players want usable parsers

[Velox]

They technically violate the TOS, but SE's stopped punishing people for using a parser as long as you're not being an asshole with them.

If you're being an asshat or using one without everyone's consent, you can be suspended if someone decides to report you. Unofficially, you only want to be parsing a group of friends, FC, or static where everyone agrees to it. If you parse a random PF or DF group with people you don't know who haven't consented to being parsed, you will probably end up getting hit with the ban-hammer.

[Callinon]

If you're being an asshat or using one without everyone's consent, you can be suspended if someone decides to report you. Unofficially, you only want to be parsing a group of friends, FC, or static where everyone agrees to it. If you parse a random PF or DF group with people you don't know who haven't consented to being parsed, you will probably end up getting hit with the ban-hammer.

No. You don't need everyone's consent to parse combat data. You don't need anyone's consent to do that. The data exists in your combat log. You don't need permission to do math.

That being said, it usually isn't super useful to parse a group of total strangers. You use a parser to improve performance over time, which is not a thing that's going to happen in a pick-up group that will likely never encounter each other again.

The only time I've found it useful to parse a DF group is when I'm trying to make sure my own numbers are in-line with other people. Sometimes when I'm not super comfortable on a particular job, or if I'm trying out a change in my rotation.

SE's only objection to parsers is that they hook into the game's process to do their jobs. This could easily be solved by giving us the addon API they've been promising since before ARR launched and we could create a combat parser that operates entirely within the game itself through that API. Until then, we have to rely on third-party tools to do it. SE is, fortunately, not stupid. They know that this is data we need to have. So as long as you're not using a parser to be a jackass, they don't care.

[Laraul]

If you're being an asshat or using one without everyone's consent, you can be suspended if someone decides to report you. Unofficially, you only want to be parsing a group of friends, FC, or static where everyone agrees to it. If you parse a random PF or DF group with people you don't know who haven't consented to being parsed, you will probably end up getting hit with the ban-hammer.

If your being an "asshat" they have reason to report you for harassment. If you're just using a DPS parser, there's nothing to report you for. You aren't cheating, nor are you harassing players.

SE's only objection to parsers is that they hook into the game's process to do their jobs.

They care about using something that hooks into the game that would allow you to do things not normally possible, like teleporting or showing the locations of mobs, mining/harvesting points that you would normally never be able to see. This is called cheating. And is obviously a valid reason for a reprimand.

Right now, with all the RMT Spam tells that currently flood the game, not to mention all the reported legitimate cheating that goes seemingly ignored, the last thing they should be doing is punishing players for using harmless tools like a battle log parser. Parsers are not alienating players. RMT Spammers are!