Would you like an in-game parser?

[Krissey]

I use a parser to practice my opener so I know I'm doing it right. I still mess it up 80% of the time. Why is Dragoon so hard?

[ToasterMan]

I use a parser to practice my opener so I know I'm doing it right. I still mess it up 80% of the time. Why is Dragoon so hard?

The button bloat in this game is a huge problem. It makes a lot of classes much harder than they should be. I REFUSE to do anymore raiding until SE fixes it. I haven't had any fun with the classes at higher levels in this expansion. SE should make reasonable classes to play in hard encounters. Not the other way around.

[EsperPrimal]

what is a parser?

[Eidolon]

what is a parser?

Simply, a Parser is an application that measures the amount of damage a player does over a specified period of time, which gives you your 'Damage per second.' That's the most base people use for it.

There are other applications of the most popular one - ACT - such as Healing per second, tracking how people used their cooldowns, seeing what kind of damage people died to (Great for seeing if there was lack of a Mitigative CD from a tank or if it was a shot-hit etc.)

Basically, it's a tool that measures and presents information in a cleaner and easier-to-digest manner than the Combat Log.

[EsperPrimal]

Simply, a Parser is an application that measures the amount of damage a player does over a specified period of time, which gives you your 'Damage per second.' That's the most base people use for it.

There are other applications of the most popular one - ACT - such as Healing per second, tracking how people used their cooldowns, seeing what kind of damage people died to (Great for seeing if there was lack of a Mitigative CD from a tank or if it was a shot-hit etc.)

Basically, it's a tool that measures and presents information in a cleaner and easier-to-digest manner than the Combat Log.

Thank you I was kind of thinking a might be a DPS/HPS counter by some of the comments I read. I appreciate the info.

[Ghishlain]

The amount of strawman in this thread is getting amusing, to say the least.

Here's an intentional strawman argument for you anti-parser posters:

The performance of an AST is completely dependent on the performance of the party members they are buffing. Buffs that give 10% more damage to a single target should obviously be applied to those doing the most damage. Because you don't support a group parser, you guys are intentionally preventing AST from performing at the same level and optimization as WHM and SCH because ASTs don't have the data available to gauge who their best DPS is in their current group to give these buffs too. You guys are telling ASTs "too bad, so sad, go play a different healer if you want to play at your best".

Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way.

Most players who support a parser understand what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior. For example:

1. [ACCEPTABLE] An i180 BRD joins a Bismark EX farm party. They wipe to Serpents on the first pull and after looking at the data, they determine this BRD is only doing 400-500 DPS. They see if they can make it work but because the BRD isn't pulling their weight, they leave, respectively tell the BRD that they should improve, and remove the BRD from the party.
   
2. [UNACCEPTABLE] An i170 MNK queues up for EXDR and gets put into their group. The parse shows the MNK is doing 1,000 DPS which is really good for someone who's new to the job and still of low ilvl to current standards. The SMN in the party who's i220 and rocking 2,000 DPS (when combining boss and trash numbers) starts to bad mouth the MNK about their numbers and initiates the boot. The MNK is then booted.

Most people understand that example #2 is grounds for harassment and should be reported and left to the GMs to deal with. There's no evidence to suggest that an introduction of a parser will suddenly increase the number of times example #2 will occur. And even if it does occur, report it and move on. We don't want that kind of toxicity in this game and if people can't keep their entitlement in check, they need to be punished for it.

At the topic of third party tools - Most players understand the a DPS measuring tool is not the same as a DPS (or any performance) enhancing tool. Things like Bots, Big Boss Mod, Trigger Callouts on ACT - these are all definitions of enhancement tools that directly change how the game is played.

A DPS meter doesn't play the game for the player. It gives the player data on their performance so they can adjust themselves and improves their performance. Note that the measuring tool itself doesn't suddenly make a player get instantly better. What it does is gives them a starting point to gauge where they are and they can experiment themselves to see how they can get that number to increase. The tool isn't playing the game for them or telling them "Do this so you don't die to that".

Every role in this game has to be able to perform. DPS unfortunately don't have a way to gauge that performance at this time. Again, most players playing this game understand that there is more to an individual's performance than their numbers. They also have to understand the mechanics of a fight and how to answer those mechanics while completing their primary role. If a DRG gets targeted by mechanics in a fight, their number will obviously be lower than if they were targeted zero times. What I'm trying to say is that the DPS measuring tool itself is just one piece of the puzzle that determines how well a DPS is performing and unfortunately that puzzle piece is hidden from view at this time.

[EDIT] Yes, I also understand that I contradict myself in some respects because a DPS meter would be an enhancement tool in the niche case of an AST. It's something I don't mind because without this tool, an AST really cannot perform at the same level as WHM or SCH and they would have to rely on a third party tool to do that.

[EDIT 2] Also, yes everyone's "standard of acceptance" will be different and while there are some extreme cases that are very obvious, there are also grey area cases that are much less obvious. This is also why I suggest S-E implement a minimal DPS requirement for all content if they were to introduce a DPS measuring tool so that the "standard of acceptance" is defined by the developer and not the player base. This should help stunt a large number of "grey area harassment" cases.

[Seraphix2407]

Totally agree with you. Last night I was in midas 4 and saw 2 dps with 210weapons. Okay they could done slightly more but then again the gear wasnt soo good, few 220 230 and 210 book. Then you have the 222mnk with 230 weapon doing 1.6. For me this was acceptable and I honestly rarely call out people in fight like that or dungeons. Whats not acceptable is when you have 230 weapon and 220plus ilvl and do less 600-700less than he should its a problem.

[Eifahlwyn]

I absolutely do not want a parser. You can look at the history of other MMOs to see exactly what happens when parsers are embraced by the community or developers. It does not magically make people get better at the game or want to improve. All it does is widen the gap between “elitists” and “casuals” while making the playerbase as a whole more toxic.

But hey that’s exactly what pro-parsers want. To be able to call out a “bad” player for only doing X amount of dps and, ergo, wasting their precious time in the DF.

[Seraphix2407]

But hey that’s exactly what pro-parsers want. To be able to call out a “bad” player for only doing X amount of dps and, ergo, wasting their precious time in the DF.

I know this isn't game related but I will tell u regardles.
I work at one of the biggest companies in Norway and I'm a leader among with 4-5 others at that department we work at. Now, we recently had 2 guys appying and we tested them both. However one of them was doing shitbad, like propper bad. His excuse was because it's not needed to perform 100%, as bad that sounds we told him he has to search for another job, because when you work you are there to do it 100% not half ass.


To reply to your respons, if he was never bad I wouldn't call it out, but he was so it was needed. If people wasn't bad they would never got called out, so that's their own fault, not the c*unts you mention.

Another example this ninja ilvl 210 did 700 dps in bismarck and we never killed it, I told him he can be a lot better, at first he was a bit off, since he didn't know it was that bad. 1 week later after talking to my ninja friend, whos really good his dps incrased up to 950-1.2k dps. ON a dummy it incrased by 500 almost, insane isn't it? Now he never has ANYONE ''badmouthing'' him, because they have no reason to. Just because some one said you are bad, don't ignore the fact you are, start improve, if you don't you keep getting those harsh things coming your way. If you want it to stop, improve, don't ignore it and feel bad for yoruself or make a whole group and then say how bad life is because some one was mean to you for 10 seconds saying you didn't pull of your weight.

I haven't played a lot of MMO's but there are bad seeds in any MMO, both a-holes and those who refused to take advice. Can you please tell me how people can improve if they don't take advice? Or should I just ignore the problem and think it's okay? If thats how you want it to be, you will bet for sure many will be left out in the future, not because people aren't doing their job propely, but simply because many ignore it and that leaves out people get enough and do things on their own. And the LAST THING YOU WANT IN A MMO IS TO LEAVE PEOPLE OUT Being left out is a choice, if you keep being bad, that's a choice. Improving is a choice, if you don't want to, you bet you will be left out and that's the reality.

[Krissey]

I absolutely do not want a parser. You can look at the history of other MMOs to see exactly what happens when parsers are embraced by the community or developers. It does not magically make people get better at the game or want to improve. All it does is widen the gap between “elitists” and “casuals” while making the playerbase as a whole more toxic.

But hey that’s exactly what pro-parsers want. To be able to call out a “bad” player for only doing X amount of dps and, ergo, wasting their precious time in the DF.

90% sure WoW always had Recount since the beginning essentially - and actually things only started getting "really bad" around the Gearscore era in WLK with Achievements.