Because everyone Loves Parsers

[Laraul]

But as far as the general game experience as a whole is concerned, adding an in game damage tracker only serves to make it easier to harass people.

You stop harassment by reporting the harasser to a GM, not by preventing people from parsing.

The common claim that parsers increase player harassment lacks any real evidence that backs it up anyway. It's a misconception.

[HyoMinPark]

They could always add in options for the parser: Show self, Show party, Show alliance, Show none. People can then pick the setting they desire. At the very least, when I was on PS4, I wanted a parser so I could see where I was at, DPS-wise, and if I could improve. But I always had to ask my friends to parse me and let me know since we don't have an in-game parser, and there are no parsing options/ACT for PS4.

I know that there are some people that are just outright mean when it comes to parsers, and harassing other players. But I have played this game going on a year and a half soon, and I can count ONE instance, MAYBE TWO, where a player was harassing another player with their parser numbers (they were subsequently reported by at least 2 other party members and myself). Maybe I've been lucky, or maybe people are exaggerating the amount of people out there that harass via parser. Most people that parse do so for themselves, or to track the progress of their static/party. Especially since this game loves DPS checks (though they aren't as strict as they used to be). I frequently get in PFs for Ex primals or whatnot and people ask in party chat: "Was anyone parsing? I want to know my numbers please."

However, since people like to just automatically discriminate against those who parse, and assume we're all going to start harassing sub-par players, most people that parse don't speak up to reveal as much, even for someone who is truly genuine and not going to try and use "HA! YOU'RE PARSING! REPORTED!!!" against us. The same can be said for wanting to give someone tips to improve their numbers. Instead of being receptive, they just get outright hostile most of the time ("YOU DON'T PAY MY SUB" "FREAKING ELITISTS" etc.).

Parsers aren't a bad thing. It's the mean players that use them as a tool to harass others that are bad. Place the blame on the player, not the parser, because it's not the one harassing you. It's just showing numbers.
The people that are going to harass with just harass anyways, parser or no parser. They always find something to nit-pick about.

[Culfinrandir]

Isn't there Stone, sea, sky?

Yes, there is. There's also a website that allows you to input the data from SSS to work out a decent approximation of your DPS. It is, effectively, a parser without needing to add any dodgy software.

[Lambdafish]

Yes, there is. There's also a website that allows you to input the data from SSS to work out a decent approximation of your DPS. It is, effectively, a parser without needing to add any dodgy software.

Except its not, it is taking damage from an unmoving target that has no attacks. If someone came to me with their SSS numbers I would be like "cool, so what?"

The only benefit to SSS is knowing that your gear is good enough to beat the fight.

[Culfinrandir]

Except its not, it is taking damage from an unmoving target that has no attacks. If someone came to me with their SSS numbers I would be like "cool, so what?"

The only benefit to SSS is knowing that your gear is good enough to beat the fight.

But it does mean that your rotations are good & that you are playing optimally. After all, that is the excuse people who parse use to justify the use of parsers - to ensure players are using optimal rotations.

[Lambdafish]

But it does mean that your rotations are good & that you are playing optimally. After all, that is the excuse people who parse use to justify the use of parsers - to ensure players are using optimal rotations.

I guess, but I know far too many people who are like "I do 3000 dps on the SSS dummy" when the parser in content puts them at >1000 because they die all the time, flub their rotations under pressure, and don't know how to adjust their rotations situationally.

Like I said, the data is only valid on a boss that doesn't move or do any mechanics at all.

[Zojha]

Like I said, the data is only valid on a boss that doesn't move or do any mechanics at all.

More generally: Any parse is technically only valid for that particular boss.

Since every boss has a different set of mechanics, that means you'll have different uptime, might be more prone to lose Enochian, have to cancel casts more often, might miss positionals more often, there might be AoE in one boss to inflate your numbers but none on another etc etc.

And even then, not all comparisons are valid - Parse runs typically have two Astrologians feeding one person balance cards to inflate their numbers. That's not easily comparable to someone whose group might not have an Astrologian at all. You won't get his numbers, period.
Likewise, your MCH numbers in a comp without a DRG are not directly comparable to a comp with a DRG. The latter will systematically do more damage depending on debuff uptime.

So even if you got a parse number of a live fight, that's not telling the full story. You need to meticulously analyze the parse of the entire fight and tediously calculate out the synergy effects to get a valid number that can be used for comparison. Technically.

[Rongway]

Sorry, Sir, but you are wrong.

Yes, SE is not meant to hand out stat weights, but it is indeed bad game design to force their players use 3rd party software (Since when does a company want their costumers to rely on other companies?!) to get to know these weights.
Or maybe I am missing something, so if you are able to find out the exact numbers of stat weights without a 3rd party software then please enlighten me.

Your entire argument is based on the presupposition that we are expected to know all the stat weights in a given game. We are not.

Note that I am not denying that one of the goals of the game is to get better, and to put out high numbers. However, one can enact that goal without knowing squat about damage formulas and the microphysiology of secondary stats.

A: "Hey B, accuracy hat or crit hat?"
B: "Do you have X accuracy without the acc hat?"
A: "Yes."
B: "Crit hat."
A: "Cool, thanks. Why X accuracy?"
B: "I miss on Raid Z with (X - 1) but not with X."
A: "Oh, that makes sense."

No parser necessary.

Faced with a less obvious choice, like having to choose between a det+crit chest and a det+speed chest, you can go a few rounds with a dummy and see, "Hey, with the det+crit chest, I killed 5 dummies with a 2m50s average, but with the det+speed chest, I killed 5 dummies with a 2m30s average. Maybe I should wear the det+speed piece."

And hey, no parser necessary there either.

Is it nice to know, down to the permille, how your stats affect your damage? Sure. Do you need to know with that sort of resolution? No. Does the lack of a parser prevent you from forming judgements about what gear you should wear or how you should job? No. (If you think the answer to this one was "yes," see this post).

So no, it's not bad game design, and nobody is forced to use third party software.

[AmeliaVerves]

So no, it's not bad game design, and nobody is forced to use third party software.

I suppose you never entered a Savage raid and you never did Gordios savage. If you did, you would have never said that last sentence.
It would have been impossible to get those fights done (unnerfed and with minimal ilvl, which actually was, statics had to gear up as far as possible to be able to tackle a3s) without min maxing and pushing dps to its limit by maths and pars analysis.

Have a nice day in copperbell mines easy mode, Sir, in the meantime I will go on fighting for equal rights for PC and PS4 players and giving an ingame parser to finally give fair chances.

right now you have 0 ways of knowing this.

I think this is a huge problem as well.
A lot of people think they are doing pretty well, while in reality they are underperforming really bad. If they'd get a parser just for themselves it might open their eyes and they would be more open for suggestions and help from others instead of being butthurt if someone tells them they are not as good as they could be. :/

[rockint]

I suppose you never entered a Savage raid and you never did Gordios savage. If you did, you would have never said that last sentence.

Or even any normal (hard) primal or 24 man... SE LOVES DPS checks.

Yeah, I'll admit, from playing other games (haven't been serious enough about FFXIV), I know we've all called out people who were too low on DPS, mainly because there was a minimum required to mathematically kill the boss and they weren't putting in their fair share, so we wiped, over and over. On a boss where everyone has to average 1k DPS for this phase or we wipe, and we keep wiping while the blm is only doing 500 DPS and the utility isn't buffing anyone's damage, questioning his damage because of parsing it would be fair. Why have DPS checks if there's no way to know where you need to improve? These phases exist in the game specifically because your performance matters.