[Feedback] We need a solution to help players improve... Simple Idea.

[Shurrikhan]

<Seriously solid stuff>

This. In my case a lot of this is exactly why I support parsers, personal if not group. You should know when you're under-performing. Sadly, that only fixes roughly half of the problem, though the awareness parsers provide, in combination with clear speed, is almost entirely linked with the second half.

Too many people do not understand the idea of tracking other party members' abilities or raid dps. Gear, skill, and CDs determine kill speed. Party composition and mob output vs. party output determine kill spread. In the end, numbers may not be a complete indicator of individual and party skill (the dps numbers of that AoEer padding by letting mobs linger at 10% rather than just killing it and reducing tank damage taken by ~1/n are still being carried by healer and tank, who are usually losing proportionate or greater dps to support that if mass-DoTs aren't able to be maintained or tank stance dropped)--but instance clear time is always thus representative. Always.

The thing is there's a fair portion of people who don't really seem to think about how to clear an area quickly, how to maximize their party potential. Sometimes this is because they lack the incentive; there are plenty who simply don't like looking for maximization in the few ways that XIV offers proof thereof. But in many other cases it's because, having gotten use to under-performing even in an individual aspect, they lack the vantage point by which to even start that step, be it through speedrunning or just being really damn competent in general. And that's what's really sad to me. It's like a good portion of the game is just going unseen. And half of that is simply because there's a world of numbers under the game, which parsers alone cannot reveal but they can at least make you much more aware of, that just goes by the wayside while they spam certain rotations for ease or aesthetics, either incidentally or purposely unaware that it doesn't line up with the gameplay that everyone else is going through, and leaving them, too, eventually by the wayside. Getting a new ability should be exciting. Mastering it should be exciting. It shouldn't be something that you take off your bars because it confused you the first time you used it (e.g. Gauss Barrel, Wanderer's Minuet, Blood of the Dragon, Enochian). Of course, all but the mastery portion should be clear without parsers, but with parsers--and with some manner of training via revised job quests, improved guildhests, new adventurer training halls, or whatever else to think in a raid dps-oriented manner--it all couldn't be clearer.