Well said.I agree that newbies are not taught well in this game. I think a big issue is the massive spikes in difficulty. Instead of something gradual that shows you how to do something easily, and then makes it a bit harder and then a bit harder, the dev team seems to just throw mechanics in at top notch at seemingly random intervals. It results in a very poor teaching method.
That said, I don't think that is the issue. DPS skills are given quite intelligently with job/class quests that make you use them, and their given to you in order and even light up to do appropriate combos. Doing simple rotations should be easy for anyone that pays at least a little bit of attention. That is all we need really. However, when a level 60 in 200+ gear does 500 DPS, they're obviously not doing a simple rotation.
I appreciate your attitude towards your groups, and I am somewhat similar. A slow run can definitely be improved with some fun banter or chatter. Unfortunately, most groups are usually quite quiet. As I mentioned, I find a lot of fun in doing my best, so I'm usually hammering out my rotation as best as I can. That leaves little room for me to initiate that conversation.
I must say though, that while I don't care if a DPS is say 1000 instead of 1800, I do care if they are 500 instead of 1800.
DPS parsers would do two things. Most specifically, they would allow conversations of DPS and thus result in peer pressure to improve. This can be done maturely and it can be done immaturely. I believe that most people are quite mature and would be able to handle it, while the fewer immature people would get reported and/or kicked. Conversations can be had such as, "Hey SMN, on that trash pack you only had 600 DPS vs my 3000, what kind of rotation are you using?". Second, that SMN in my example could see for themself that DPS discrepancy. it's quite possible up until that point, he had no idea his DPS was so low. He may have gone through all the roulettes getting caried and just assumed the single player duties were designed to be incredibly difficult. It's possible that when he saw that he was doing 600 vs another's 3000, that he might ask for help. He might go online to ask? He might just practice on a dummy. It's also possible he'd do nothing and continue on. The idea is that some people would improve, not all.
I feel you are mistaken on the number of players. The most recent census placed it at around 700,000 characters, and that doesn't account for players having alts (my buddy has 6 alts lol) so it's far more likely around 600k players. That said, obtaining information from the forum and reddit is biased. You are completely right, and not all of my reasoning was based solely on them. That said, they are also a source of information and support my argument. Do you have any sources to backup yours?
I do appreciate that you added the words might and may. However, I do not think people are below me. I'm actually highly competitive and prefer it when I am the top DPS. That said, when DPS are pulling less than the healer/tank, that is when it is a concern, imo.

Reply With Quote

