Would you like an in-game parser?

[Kosmos992k]

I have been with this thread since page 1 lol.

I honestly believe page 131 is the only page with just ONE anti-parser comment. Maybe the anti-parse community either died out or are asleep still.

No, people opposed to parsers gave up responding in these topics because it almost always ends with them being piled on, why would anyone willingly do that? Me? I'm a Paladin, getting piled on is kind of our thing.

Nothing has changed, parsers are still an invitation to abuse, and it's not like we need more of that. The argument usually ends up coming down to some people willing to be open to optional, personal parsers - so that those who wish to parse their data can; vs those who want personal and party parsers that are always there and available to all - so that they can flag people who don't perform to their standard. Generally someone throws in some BS about some kind of utterly subjective (but they talk like it's completely objective) standard of badness. Things descend from there.

Personally I could do with out Parsers, but I have no issue with personal, private parsers that individual players can use to sharpen their performance, if they want to. Anything more than that I do not want. I also believe that parsers create tunnel vision with players feeling that they have to hit a specific DPS number to the point of standing in stupid to maintain positionals and not lose out on a move or timing because of dodging. This is not good play and puts more stress on tanks and healers. Further I think that parsers only really matter to players challenging hard content since everything else can be completed with average play. So for someone looking to get into raiding, I could see an argument for a personal parser that they can use to improve their personal performance.

On the flip side any good player knows whether they are doing decent damage or not, and they don't need some kid with a calculator trying to tell them how to play. A good player already learned the rotations, an any dips in their performance are going to be due to actually dodging AoEs, operating mechanics, status attacks such as Paralyze or minor timing changes of button presses - none of which a parser can help with.

In fact, the most help that a parser is, is telling you if you are able to execute an optimal rotation. You can figure that out without a parser, on an attack dummy or playing the game and watching what happens, or - read the battle log and do some basic math. But I understand that people say the parser makes it easier.

However, the salient point here is that the primary argument around parsers comes down to the difference between people who want to be able to see other players numbers and people who do not. It's not so much whether people agree with parsers as such, it's about whether the data should be personal or public. That isn't a parser discussion, that's a discussion about a whole other kettle of fish. Unfortunately, it's generally conflated with pro/anti parser arguments.

I think that many who are against the inclusion of a parser would agree to a compromise where parsers were implemented and are personal, and not public, and most certainly not mandatory. But I suspect that most pro-parser folks would not compromise to that degree because the fundamental thing they want is to be able to have access to someone else's parser numbers so that they can identify who they think is 'bad'. Regardless of how people try to argue, that it's about helping others to improve, the inescapable issue is this. With or without a parser, with or without a coach, with or without being berated over performance, players who want to improve will seek ways to improve and players who do not, will not. Parsers won't change that.