Would you like an in-game parser?

[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.