Quote Originally Posted by Critical-Limit View Post
I read dPS forum stuff all the time. It's usually "theory" on potency like you said but then people run it through the parse to "test it" its one of the things they did to find out if clipping certain dots was worth it.

Plenty of times people were wrong on theory proven through parse. Fracture being a par of monk rotation back in the day people believed in theory fracture was DPS loss. Turns out no there is a small window of time where it's dPS gain.
Spreading misinformation to this degree should be a crime against the human race and you should go to jail. You literally just said that try and error and measuring can possibly be better than theory. There's no such thing as "theory proven wrong by parse". That means there is either a bug in the parser (likely) or the person doing the theory had some fundamental flaw (which does not fault anyone else doing theory). Please in detail with proof give an instance where a perfect rotation (which are all published by dates here) was not a perfect rotation (contradiction?) This a tautology; the rotation cannot be improved by definition. Also theory is based on relative value (that is potency). Unless the potencies displayed in the game are incorrect, then there is no better value to compare other than a potency per second rotation. There have been cases where there was actually a bug in the game regarding moves (in 2.0 for example, flaming arrow always crit, effectively giving it 350*1.5 potency instead of 350*(1.5* crit chance) but this translates ultimately to a bug in the parser, since it bases values like DoTs from the information written the game. So even in this case, the parser will just give you in accurate numbers. I'll give you a metaphor:

You just told me that I should build a prototype space ship and keep reinventing the wheel, making random "design" decision instead of spending the overhead designing it properly using physics. If you some how think this a valid argument, then I'd advise you to keep it to yourself so you don't confirm to everyone your degree of stupidity.

Quote Originally Posted by Ryel View Post
No, what's ironic is that you don't realize the two are actually the same thing.

You cannot have one without the other, how can one improve if they don't know where improvement starts?

Self improvement and party evaluation are not mutually exclusive concepts, they go hand in hand.

Finding the weakest link in the party also means that player now has a point of reference to start improving, any player can sit there and spike high numbers on a stationary dummy parse because it doesn't move or hit back, the real test is going into live content where it matters and seeing if your skills and gear hold up while you deal with fight mechanics.

Maybe that player learns they need to hold a GCD between a certain move? Maybe that DRG knows they are going to lose BoTD due to a phase change so they need to adjust before hand? Maybe the BLM has to change the timing of when they toss down Ley Lines in order to get the most out of it's duration? Maybe your accuracy was too low for the encounter or maybe you're overshooting by 100 points and can swap out a piece of gear?

These are things you learn in live content and are exactly how you improve your play.

The thing is this happens at the same time you are also trying to clear content and this is where proper evaluation and data helps and if a single player isn't up to the level of the content it doesn't mean that the 7 others in the party aren't either, they should have every right to know this and adjust accordingly if they need to in order to continue making attempts on the fight.

The key is not taking critique as a negative.

It's entirely possible to be the weakest link one run, get some practice in and turn around to top the charts the next time around, but if you had no idea that you were under-performing before then how would you have any idea whether or not you needed to improve?

Please, step by step, tell me how a parser giving me a 1245 will tell me to use BoTD before a phase change. In detail.

I think I still missed the part where the parser actually improves your dps. It's a measurement tool which only tell you how much damage you did at the end/time. Knowing this arbitrary scalar value will not tell you to put raging strikes before the iron jaws reapplication, common sense does (which incidentally does not require a parser). It's only literal use is to determine if a piece of gear you swapped was beneficial. Parsers cannot improve your rotation, just as your boss telling you that you are productive only 46% of the time cannot improve your productivity. Every single person (disclaimer: assuming people use a brain) knows when they perform poorly for a fight. Every time you deviate from the perfect dummy rotation, you have a dps loss. A parser does not tell you what the perfect rotation is, nor does it give you messages about what you did that was not part of the perfect rotation. Using a parser will not improve your rotation. You should have known your perfect rotation from the start! Please do not argue in favor of using a parser if you do not understand it's usage and what the number means.

I'm pro-parser btw; I know exactly how to use the values that are issued.