Built-in Parsers

[Tridus]

This discussion reminds me of the time my speedometer broke. Suddenly I'm being told that I can't go over 80, but also don't want to go too slowly or I'll cause traffic problems (and just take forever to get there), while having no idea how fast I'm going. On a busy road I can at least go the same speed as everyone else and just assume they're doing the right thing, but on a quieter road or a highway I'm blind to how I'm doing.

This is a DPS focused game, like it or not. Killing things is the primary way to interact with the world. Killing things faster makes everything easier on everyone, and going too slowly tends to lead to problems (as a trial roulette Lakshmi group learned yesterday). For hard content, you need to kill stuff within a certain time or you fail.

... and yet, the plan is to conceal how well you're doing at that? I normally heal, but I have a 70 RDM. I know I'm on top of rezzing and mana shifts and such, but is my DPS where its supposed to be? I have no idea. That's kind of a problem when I'm a liability to my team if it turns out I have room for improvement. Would changing melds to different things make it better? Luckily there's other people to do analysis and parses and let me know, because the game doesn't give me a terribly effective way to figure it out on my own. By default I can't even rely on a comparison to someone else (like I can in my car) because there's no way to tell how much of the health bar going down is me and how much is them.

Like any tool, it can be used badly. But it's such a fundamental piece of information that they're trying to conceal (and failing if you have a PC player do it for you) that it mostly serves as a barrier to people who aren't advanced enough to know where to look. I can't attempt to fix the problem if I can't tell where the problem is.

[uvuvwevwevweonyetenyevweugwemu]

This discussion reminds me of the time my speedometer broke. Suddenly I'm being told that I can't go over 80, but also don't want to go too slowly or I'll cause traffic problems (and just take forever to get there), while having no idea how fast I'm going..

I'm more confused by that analogy, that or you're not a very good driver. If your goal is going as fast as you can, why do you need a speedometer? For that matter, why bother with signs aka mechanics?

Anyway people keep repeating the same arguments, thinking they have some higher morale ground. I'm just here to play, not to be a speed police. I don't care what car you're driving, that's nobody's job in the game. The real harrasment I see right now is against the devs. How many threads people post about not having content, yet cleared it quicker than lodestone can put announcement for it. No one has any inkling to appreciate the little difficulty they crank up, even if it's old mechanics. Do you know what happens when nobody wants to play the game as intended? No matter how brand new, devs can't release anything without players breaking it so quick. Only way is to make it long and random. There is no new difficulty involved, just pure luck. Is that the sort of thing called playing? Do you want more that kind of content to be for public consumption? Worse part is I already see a post blaming ping of all things. This isn't issue for just ps4, pc doesn't have any parser. The topic is about making it builtin, only greedy devs milking your money will put one.

[Tridus]

Anyway people keep repeating the same arguments, thinking they have some higher morale ground. I'm just here to play, not to be a speed police. I don't care what car you're driving, that's nobody's job in the game.

Unless you can't clear because of lack of DPS, of course. Then someone has to care or it's disband time.

The real harrasment I see right now is against the devs. How many threads people post about not having content, yet cleared it quicker than lodestone can put announcement for it. No one has any inkling to appreciate the little difficulty they crank up, even if it's old mechanics. Do you know what happens when nobody wants to play the game as intended? No matter how brand new, devs can't release anything without players breaking it so quick. Only way is to make it long and random. There is no new difficulty involved, just pure luck. Is that the sort of thing called playing? Do you want more that kind of content to be for public consumption?

... what?

This isn't issue for just ps4, pc doesn't have any parser.

All the parsing that's done right now is done via PC, and it's relatively straightforward for anyone who wants parsing on PC to get it. It's effectively impossible to do the same on PS4.

[Shihen]

If your goal is going as fast as you can, why do you need a speedometer?

Because you're also driving with 3 other cars that you need to keep up with, only those cars are invisible so you can't just look over and see how you're doing. You also have 12 gas pedals that can be hit in various combinations at various times for various speed outputs, and a speedometer would be great for knowing when you hit the wrong one. You can look at how fast the trees are going by but it's hardly accurate enough to help. All you know is the total distance everyone has to cover, and that there will be candy waiting when you arrive. Also, if you don't get there within a given time limit your car will explode.

Most people don't give a crap about this because on short tracks with long timers it doesn't matter. As long as the trees seem to be going by kinda sorta fast, you'll get there. The problem is when the track is long, the timer is short, and every second counts. You need to be doing 80 to get there in time, but all your treedometer can tell you is you're definitely doing more than 50. Even if you do make it in time, there's no way to tell if you went fast enough or someone else went above and beyond to cover your slack. Everyone got their candy so it's fine, stop being so elitist. No, it ain't fine. It's knowing vs guesswork, concrete vs abstract, precision vs estimation, and the difference matters. It's how you become a better driver.

Not saying everyone should be applying for NASCAR or that there isn't plenty of fun to be had cruising the speed limit with friends, just saying it is incredibly odd to have a speed-focused driving environment where the cars don't come with speedometers installed.

For that matter, why bother with signs aka mechanics?

So people don't die.

rant

No one's asking you to be the speed police, or to comment on their car. They're asking to see how fast they themselves are going.
A forum search will show many people do appreciate the hard work the devs put in.
Not sure what this game-breaking unintentional play is, please elaborate.
If the new difficulty was pure luck, all the guilds with hundreds of UC attempts would have cleared it already.
A parser would only benefit people who are already playing the game, and it is not a feature you market a game on. There is no financial incentive for the devs to implement it.