This game needs better DPS feedback

[Preypacer]

How to tell if you're doing well (DPS edition):
[ ] Are things that are supposed to die dying?
[ ] Are you using your cooldowns when you can and/or when it's appropriate?
[ ] Did you avoid all avoidable damage unless the healer/raid leader told you not to?
[ ] Did your group successfully complete the encounter?

If you're 4/4 on these, then congratulations! You're playing the game adequately, and no one has any right to tell you otherwise.


If you're not, then you need to work on your own gameplay.

There's so much more to being a good player than putting out good numbers. Putting out good numbers is a good thing, but I would much rather take someone who knows how to avoid AoE, or who plays their class to boost the rest of the group, than someone who's so fixated on their rotation that they die 50% of the time.

Great post/point. The thing is, many gamers these days - particularly in MMOs (in my experience) are obsessed with numbers. It's all about numbers. Everything is numbers.

Based on what I've seen I could well imagine some counter-points to your checklist (which I agree with) would be:
[ ] Are things that are supposed to die dying?
- "But they could have died faster if "so and so" was doing at least 500dps, which according to my parser they're not, which means they are not playing their class/role optimally (translated: "not up to my personal arbitrary standards which I'm convinced they are obligated to by virtue of being in a party with me, another player, picked randomly from a cross-server pool of players")

[ ] Are you using your cooldowns when you can and/or when it's appropriate?
"Yes, but are they using them at the optimal times (translated: When I, or some guide on the internet says they should) thus ensuring the best possible DPS? If not, then they're bads and need to "git gud", or not stay in my DF parties".

[ ] Did you avoid all avoidable damage unless the healer/raid leader told you not to?
The healer or raid leader should not have to explain the fights or what to do. That just wastes everyone's time because they have to take the time to explain something, which means the dungeon can take longer than it should (translated: "longer than I want it to"). You are supposed to watch videos before entering a dungeon so you know exactly what to do, even having never been in there before. If you haven't, then you're a bad and are being carried by everyone else"

[ ] Did your group successfully complete the encounter?
"Yes, but we should have done it faster. According to my parser - aka "God" - such-and-such role was not putting out optimal DPS. They were 50dps short of where they should have been, which means it was taking far too long for us to clear the dungeon. These "bads" need to "git gud" and "learn to play", because I'm tired of carrying them."

And by the by, those quotes are pretty much a mash-up of many, many such responses I've seen from some people for whom the game is all about numbers, and whom believe it should be for everyone else as well.

As for the OP, well, all the tools someone needs to learn and play as well as they'd like are available. It's not as though they're withheld from some players, and only available to others. At the end of the day, it boils down to a simple truth:
"Not everyone takes numbers as seriously as you do, nor are they obligated to because you happen to insist they should".

No one is obligated to meet anyone else's personal standards. It doesn't work that way.

Believe it or not, many people play these games for enjoyment, to relax, to have fun. They aren't concerned about whether their DPS output is "optimal" or whether they need to spend another hour fine-tuning their rotations, for the benefit of someone else's parser numbers. Put simply, all the preaching and derision over them being "bads" is not going to change how they play, because they simply don't care. They're not playing for the same reason as you, and how you think they should be playing is of no concern to them, nor should it be.

Fortunately FFXIV provides a perfectly good tool for people to gather exactly the kind of group you want to. It's called Party Finder.

If you're dead-set on playing with people who believe in playing at the absolute peak of what's possible, then you should seek out and group up with those people. Someone joins your group who isn't up to your requirements, etc? Kick them.

However, if you're going through Duty Finder, well, you have no control nor say over who's in there with you. The convenience of having the game do all the footwork for you means you're not always going to get your ideal group. Can't have your cake and eat it, too. Can't demand everyone else "raise their game" to your personal standard.