Confessions of a Toxic Elitist

[KisaiTenshi]

Trademarks of a Toxic (FFXIV) Elitist:

a) Posts on the forum about how much people suck in general.
b) Posts on the forum about how much PUG'ing sucks, despite FC's and statics being a thing.
c) Posts on the forum about how lazy PUG's are.
d) Demands that players watch a tutorial before playing any content
e) Treats anyone who hasn't finished all content the same as someone who has completed no content at all.
f) Uses unauthorized third party software to track theirs and others DPS, when called out on it, lies.
g) Refuses to show video of how good they are or how bad others are when they play with them.
h) Instead of taking advice, looks at players lodestone to try and find a reason to dismiss their advice or opinion
i) Demands that players skip all cutscenes
j) Demands that players minmax their DPS, even if they are not a DPS job
k) Abandons any duty that they can't speed run, they'd rather eat the penalty than spend more than 10 minutes in a duty that has a 90 minute time limit.
l) Abandons any duty that they fail on once, blames everyone but themselves

In general, you may be a toxic elitist, if the problem is "everyone but you", if you can not play well with others, stop playing MMORPG's. Telling players to "git gud" is toxic behavior. Narcissists and sociopaths are the kind of people that feel joy when others experience misery. Using unauthorized third party software/cheating tools is what toxic players do as a ego-stroking contest.

Which to go back to the original poster, whatever you think you did to pick up that title, is most likely the way you argue for your subjective opinion about things, and not necessarily how you've been playing the game itself. I'm not going to look up your other posts to cherry pick anything. However you are under no obligation at all to take unsolicited advice from anyone, and if people in your FC or friends list are pulling you aside and telling you that your game play is actually awful, consider the source of that suggestion. Is it because you're tanking and the healers are complaining about how you play, or is it because you're DPS and someone is scanning your actions with a parser? Because really, how does someone know if you are not carrying your own weight? Looking at someone's gear is not the same as looking at their keybindings, macros and HUD setup.

I've played this game since V1.0 on and off, and walk away from it any time I feel like I'm spending too much time on conversations that go nowhere than playing the game itself. I avoided joining FC's and refused all FC invites to date mainly to avoid over-committing to this game like I did with the previous MMORPG. If you aren't enjoying the game, walk away from it, unsub for a while.

[KaivaC]

snip

I've been in SSS since my last post, so I'm slowly catching up on all the posts thus far, but I have a moment to respond to this one. My peers have been pretty supportive - in fact, it wasn't really an issue with them because I'm not playing horribly. But looking at my logs (I'm on PS4, so I can't parse myself, otherwise, I'd have more than what's uploaded), I can tell I'm not pulling my weight. I haven't had anybody really call me out on my DPS, but the thing with me is that I've come to hold myself to a high standard. I don't look to other party members to push their DPS, because in Savage raiding, since I don't have a static, the only thing I really care as far as the party goes is that we all get the clear as smoothly as possible. As far as DPS goes when I'm playing SMN, I care that I'm only pulling my weight DPS-wise, which I have not been.

I wouldn't say it's so much as that I'm not enjoying it, but rather, I have a lot of pride. Now, to be fair, I have no idea what kind of numbers I've been pulling lately because none of my logs have been posted since March 7th. But the DPS numbers are similar in the normal Sigmascape fights that have been uploaded recently. So it kinda screws with me that I've been wanting a stronger player base when I myself have been playing far below what is considered average. A poster above you said that this bout of depression was deserved, and perhaps that might be true. I admit that I was completely in the wrong.

But I don't personally judge others parses...never have. Not saying anybody here said that I was, just providing extra clarification.

[BillyKaplan]

A poster above you said that this bout of depression was deserved, and perhaps that might be true

That's like telling someone they deserve the flu. Your body responds in a way that is unproportional to a situation and is considered an actual illness. It's ok to feel a bit miffed about things, it's ok to take the time to reflect, it means you care, but if you're using "depression" in the way I do when I talk about it, no one deserves it. Least of all over a game.

[Slick7]

snip

I think you're way overboard here. It won't help any healthy discussion so I'll just leave here that being toxic is not limited to elitists. In fact, I find the biased perspective you're presenting rather toxic as well...

[akaneakki]

Trademarks of a Toxic (FFXIV) Elitist:

You forgot to mention that people who think they play good, but people give them advice, then refuse to take it and tells people how to play. It's like that one person on this forum who said regen shouldn't be used on tanks, because it generates too much aggro, while it's the best gcd in game when it comes to healing. Or DPS who think aoe is bad in dungeons? Etc, the list goes long. And how is it elitist to want people to skip cutsceene? I don't think you understand the word elitist at all honestly.

[KisaiTenshi]

You forgot to mention that people who think they play good,...

Aww, you felt left out. I was thinking of a way to say "Person who keeps digging up the dead chocobos from 2.0 content, or really ANY old content, to say someone is bad at the game." If you forget the context of that conversation it was because it was in one of those many "pure healer, vs idiot dps healer" arguments. Which was the point of "h) Instead of taking advice, looks at players lodestone to try and find a reason to dismiss their advice or opinion" Which is what you just did now, congrats toxic player, here's your award: nothing! you get zero internet points!

Only to those who don't know how privacy laws work. ACT simply calculates information already publicly available by reading the battle logs. This being uploaded is no different than if I were to copy/paste logs from the chat itself. There is not privacy breach because they weren't private to begin with.

From a legal perspective, Square-Enix owns all of the data, so people using the parser have no legal right to send the data anywhere else.

http://support.na.square-enix.com/ru...2&tag=users_en

2.3 Commercial Use. You may not exploit the Game for any commercial purpose (for example, advertising any product or service in-game, or use by the operator of a cyber café) without Square Enix's prior written consent.
...
2.5 Data Mining. You may not intercept, mine or otherwise collect information from the Game using unauthorized third party software.

7. PRIVACY AND USE OF INFORMATION
By playing the Game, you agree to Square Enix's Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into this User Agreement by reference. The Privacy Policy governs how Square Enix will use and share your information, except as modified herein. You agree that Square Enix may use the information you provide (such as IP address, e-mail address, or home address) in order to identify you and contact you to deliver notices, and may send you product-related marketing information. You acknowledge that Square Enix will be monitoring your use of the Game to help you play the Game, for our internal analysis to help us improve our games and services, to investigate disruptive activities or Prohibited Activities, and to confirm that you are abiding by the terms of this User Agreement and related agreements. In order to protect Square Enix's staff and customers, Square Enix may cooperate with federal, state and local law enforcement with or without the receipt of a formal subpoena or search warrant. You acknowledge and consent that Square Enix may provide your electronic communications and data, including e-mails and chat logs, to such government authorities, without any liability to you or any third party. You hereby provide your consent to such actions.

And there's the "you automatically lose" arbitration clause.

Also that Data Mining point is worded so broadly that it would include all the site wiki's and youtube/twitch videos.

At any rate, people who are "using" parsers, third party tools, hacking tools, etc to be better than people who do not have and do not want these tools, (or can't use them like PS4 users) is cheating in a loose sense. Which is why YoshiP/SquareEnix has generally not cracked down on such sites, because they would be gone in one easy DMCA request. Perhaps SE sees value in not being anti-consumer and crushing every bit of unauthorized infringement...

https://support.na.square-enix.com/r...5382&tag=authc

You may not use the Materials for any sales or commercial use, meaning you cannot receive license fees or advertising revenue, except as part of the partner programs operated by YouTube.com, Twitch.tv, Ustream.tv, or similar programs. If the operator of a partner program seeks to confirm our policy, please point them to this page as we do not have the resources to respond to all requests.
If you use a trademark (such as "Final Fantasy" or any related logo), then you must include a notice saying that the mark is owned by Square Enix, such as the following:
FINAL FANTASY is a registered trademark of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.
If you use any copyrighted Materials (such as screenshots or gameplay video), then you must include the following notice:
FINAL FANTASY XIV © 2010 - 2018 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.

That fflogs sites has ads on it, so it violates the materials use license, it also has a pateron link, so someone that is not SE is making money from this data mining.
ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com has ads on it, it violates the materials use license, it also has a patreon link, so someone else is making money from this data mining.
The FFXIV Wikia also has ads on it, thus it violates the materials use license too.

The thing people always fail to understand when it comes to legal use of materials is that "fair use" is a defense against copyright infringement. It is not a given. The only reason anything isn't taken down days after it goes up is because it stays under the radar, and doesn't appear to be portraying the game in a negative light. With that said, these sites all give players information that they would have to spend a lot of time figuring out themselves. SE can focus their anti-RMT efforts on the botters who are are larger threat.

I've been in SSS since my last post, so I'm slowly catching up on all the posts thus far, but I have a moment to respond to this one. My peers have been pretty supportive - in fact, it wasn't really an issue with them because I'm not playing horribly. But looking at my logs (I'm on PS4, so I can't parse myself, otherwise, I'd have more than what's uploaded), I can tell I'm not pulling my weight. I haven't had anybody really call me out on my DPS, but the thing with me is that I've come to hold myself to a high standard. I don't look to other party members to push their DPS, because in Savage raiding, since I don't have a static, the only thing I really care as far as the party goes is that we all get the clear as smoothly as possible. As far as DPS goes when I'm playing SMN, I care that I'm only pulling my weight DPS-wise, which I have not been.

I wouldn't say it's so much as that I'm not enjoying it, but rather, I have a lot of pride. Now, to be fair, I have no idea what kind of numbers I've been pulling lately because none of my logs have been posted since March 7th. But the DPS numbers are similar in the normal Sigmascape fights that have been uploaded recently. So it kinda screws with me that I've been wanting a stronger player base when I myself have been playing far below what is considered average. A poster above you said that this bout of depression was deserved, and perhaps that might be true. I admit that I was completely in the wrong.

But I don't personally judge others parses...never have. Not saying anybody here said that I was, just providing extra clarification.

Nah, nobody deserves to be depressed. Some people just get their schadenfreude by seeing people get hurt. If you want a stronger player base, the way to get there is by helping, not demanding, that players improve. That may or may not be the mentor system.

What chases good players away from games is when they feel bored, or something better comes out (let's be real, FFXIV is peak subscription MMO, everything else is has shifted to "publisher-in-your-wallet" lootbox gambling P2W.) I'd rather pay money for FFXIV and Netflix than be progress blocked in a game by not spending enough money on gachapon and praying to RNGesus that I get something that isn't vendor trash.

What attracts good players to games (not necessarily back to games) is a healthy supportive player base, not one that is driven by end-goals. If a total stranger joins your static, and they have none of the EXTREME content completed, are you willing to show them how to do it? Or are you going to tell them to watch a video and don't join until they have mastered it already by somehow only studying a video?

Like the thing I hope that happens is that the "duty recorder" , we eventually have a way to record the extreme primals/raids, and can somehow let other players play it back. That makes it more "sports"-like in that you can review and study where you made your own mistakes, rather then relying unreliable unauthorized tools, or telling people to watch it on youtube.

[akaneakki]

Aww, you felt left out.

I don't see anything about dps from healer in my post. I mention a healer not using the best healing gcd in the game even near end of HW. But please go check my post again where I mention healing dps, like I said you miss the true meaning of elitist. ''Make people cut cutsceene'' doesn't make you elitist. Telling people how to play a class but they aren't even 50% at, is ignorart and elitist. Many of those things you mention are far from elitist vs being a a-hole or just very unpopular things to do/say.
But yeah I'm waiting where you pinpoint that I mentioned healer dps in my post. And why would I look at your lodestone? I have no interest in doing that, again making up things.

[KisaiTenshi]

I don't see anything about dps from healer in my post. I mention a healer not using the best healing gcd in the game even near end of HW. But please go check my post again where I mention healing dps, like I said you miss the true meaning of elitist. ''Make people cut cutsceene'' doesn't make you elitist. Telling people how to play a class but they aren't even 50% at, is ignorart and elitist. Many of those things you mention are far from elitist vs being a a-hole or just very unpopular things to do/say.
But yeah I'm waiting where you pinpoint that I mentioned healer dps in my post. And why would I look at your lodestone? I have no interest in doing that, again making up things.

A toxic player would bring up anything to shut down a conversation they don't want to see, and you're still doing it. The context of those old posts were in regard to 2.0 content during 2.0.

The point is,

1. If you use a parser. You are cheating.
2. If you tell someone else to play the game your way or you suck, you're an elitist.

The game is balanced to play the way the developers intended it, and since they changed how all the combat works with 4.x that did, and no doubt still causes players to realize that the way they've been playing is not the most effective way to play. Look at all the crap thrown at the developers for the lily system when it was discovered it doesn't work with their normal minmax strategy.

[Tridus]

Look at all the crap thrown at the developers for the lily system when it was discovered it doesn't work with their normal minmax strategy.

And how did that work out? Good WHM players ignore the lily system entirely. Trying to fish for lilies makes you worse as a WHM. You could remove it from the game entirely today and people wouldn't skip a beat in terms of playing the job.

The trick is that players as a collective spend far, far more time actually playing than the developers do. Developers ignore that collective experience at their peril, lest they design something like the lily system where what they intend people to do and the reality are a country mile apart. Intentions mean very little when compared to what they actually do.

Or, as programmers often lament: "The computer does what I tell it to and not what I want."

[Mahrze]

And how did that work out? Good WHM players ignore the lily system entirely. Trying to fish for lilies makes you worse as a WHM. You could remove it from the game entirely today and people wouldn't skip a beat in terms of playing the job.

The trick is that players as a collective spend far, far more time actually playing than the developers do. Developers ignore that collective experience at their peril, lest they design something like the lily system where what they intend people to do and the reality are a country mile apart. Intentions mean very little when compared to what they actually do.

Or, as programmers often lament: "The computer does what I tell it to and not what I want."

This is true, especially when they have an "identity design" behind it that they use as a way to limit themselves on what they can do.

And then, when people asked for reduced CDs on DRK, they said Reduced CDs are not always a gain

Q: The adjustment made to dark knight’s The Blackest Night ability was nice; however the effects of Dark Passenger and Shadow Wall feel low compared to the MP cost and length of the recast time. I would like to see dark knight’s defensive properties expanded.
A: Since the major adjustments to warrior, the development team has received requests to adjust dark knight.

Looking at the usage rates of each job within the tank role, we believe that the balance between them is currently quite even, so we are carefully considering how we should adjust dark knight.

Content is balanced around the recast time of buffs, so a reduction in recast time may not always lead to strengthening the job.

Dark knight is under careful consideration at the moment, so please wait a bit longer.