Letter to Mr. Yoshi

[Ultima]

"So long as it remains illegal, at least people are more careful when it comes to harassing others about it".
Of course there hasn't been any storm of toxicity, people would risk being reported for using a parse if they were to be vocal about the results. This way, it remains a tool for true personal use; you check your damage output if you wish so, while at the same time you leave the rest of the world in peace.

I used to play games where numbers dictated people's worth, and it wasn't pretty. The mere thought of dealing with that in FFXIV doesn't make me happy, so I'm glad that parse users aren't allowed to be vocal about their results.

I'm gonna blow your mind, watch this. Okay, you see... people are already using the tool to get rid of people. You join a party, you do a duty, you underperform - you get kicked or they disband and reform without you and continue without saying a word because they can't mention your DPS, so they'll just wordlessly get rid of the underperforming players and continue without them.

This game dictates your worth by numbers because we're here to reduce the big bad's HP to 0 before we all die, you're your DPS numbers because that's all your character amounts to in the end to the game. I'm sorry that upsets you, but the reality you don't want to deal with has been here since ARR launched. You're not a hero, you're not anything special, you're a set of abilities that are made to keep yourself and others alive and reduce the big bad's hp to 0 before he does the same to you.

[SargentToughie]

"So long as it remains illegal, at least people are more careful when it comes to harassing others about it".
Of course there hasn't been any storm of toxicity, people would risk being reported for using a parse if they were to be vocal about the results. This way, it remains a tool for true personal use; you check your damage output if you wish so, while at the same time you leave the rest of the world in peace.

I used to play games where numbers dictated people's worth, and it wasn't pretty. The mere thought of dealing with that in FFXIV doesn't make me happy, so I'm glad that parse users aren't allowed to be vocal about their results.

I don't know what game you're playing, or what content you do, but a single cursory glance is enough to tell you that FFXIV is already to the point where your worth is dictated by numbers. Not just DPS of course. Deaths, the number of wipes you've caused, Healing Per Second if that's relevant to your role, etc. The truth of the matter is that parsing people already kick people that underperform without parsers, we would just need to call it "Playstyle differences" and move on without so much as a second thought about it.

Hell, if anything, parsers being a hush-hush type deal in-game likely just chokes off the actual good raiders from bothering with more casual players. Speaking from personal experience, I dread doing EX primals in purely blind parties for exactly this reason. And Savage? Absolutely not ever. Why in the world would I want to waste my time slogging through content I've already got under control, dealing with party members that would rather just put their fingers in their ears and say "If I don't hear about how bad I'm doing, my underperformance doesn't exist."

I'd much rather just stick to my own people, at that point.

And then there's also the fact that parsers being added to the base game is actually a boon for the casual audience, just because they would finally have some type of feedback regarding their performance. That way more earnest casual players, with a drive to actually improve themselves, would be able to do so without the usage of 3rd party tools or relying on more hardcore friends to guide them. There are a ton of people, either on the PS4 or just without the technical know-how to set up a parser, that would really benefit from that level of transparency.

Finally, you insist that parsers being illegal to talk about somehow prevents people from being assholes. Well... As I said in the other thread, the parser doesn't magically transform an otherwise quiet, mild mannered party member into a raging asshole. The raging asshole was already there, and they were probably going to be a raging asshole to you regardless of the tools at their disposal in doing so.

[KaldeaSahaline]

I'm in favor of a fully open unmitigated parser and personally believe that it will be a considerable asset to the game, especially to PS4 players.

Harassment can easily be fixed via reports, the same way it is now. People act as if being kicked or removed with no reason is somehow better than being told they aren't contributing enough?

A personal parser is near useless because it offers very little context. So are grading systems. I don't want to know that a MNK was dead-weight at the end of the run. I want him to know it as early as possible so he has a chance to fix it.

I used to play games where numbers dictated people's worth, and it wasn't pretty. The mere thought of dealing with that in FFXIV doesn't make me happy, so I'm glad that parse users aren't allowed to be vocal about their results.

Let me ask you a question. Do you believe in accountability? As in, if you contribute considerably less than the sum of the total, is that ok?

How about this - do you think it's ok to be active approx. 30% of a dungeon? Is that fair to other party members who may be trying harder?

See - from my perspective a player who does the above 2 things is actually being toxic, not the player asking more of his teammates.

[Clover_Blake]

How about this - do you think it's ok to be active approx. 30% of a dungeon? Is that fair to other party members who may be trying harder?

I've been in many runs where not everyone does the same damage. Some people might have worse equip, some might be practicing a new class, some might just be having a bad day. And it's never mattered; the run is always completed all the same. Luckily, even if many people seem obsessed with numbers and stats, this game has never put much weight on competing to see who is doing the best damage, or in making people feel like rubbish if they don't meet whatever the community's new standard is. There are some DPS checks, sure, but they tend to be passed even if not everyone does super shiny damage.

I'm talking about normal content, however. I understand that Savage/Extreme content is more for competitive players, so I guess I wouldn't complain if parses were allowed there. But I'm personally happy that such a system isn't implemented for everything else, as I don't want to be dragged into that kind of competition and pressure. I'm sure I'm not the only one who simply wants to enjoy the content and have fun.

And just for the record, I always try to do my best when I DPS.

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

Not even on PS4, but I've always been of the mind that personal parsers would be nothing but beneficial to have. It still makes it easy enough to compare to other's parses for open discussion and advice, but avoids the whole "we don't want people being harassed by others in dungeons over them" worry SE has by keeping the parse limited only to the individual player.

And at the least, it'd give PS4 players a slightly more even playing ground - since gods only know the PC parser isn't going anywhere, if they ever do give us all personal ones.

[Aylis]

And at the least, it'd give PS4 players a slightly more even playing ground - since gods only know the PC parser isn't going anywhere, if they ever do give us all personal ones.

Sadly the problem with the PS4 is the PS4 itself. To create an installable add on to any game means needing permission directly from the games company to get a license to which Sony gives the okay for it to be uploaded so players can download and install. PS4 has too much red tape and hoops to go through.

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

Sadly the problem with the PS4 is the PS4 itself. To create an installable add on to any game means needing permission directly from the games company to get a license to which Sony gives the okay for it to be uploaded so players can download and install. PS4 has too much red tape and hoops to go through.

Apologies for the late response, I was at work all day:

That is true, but I feel a good way around that would be integrating the parser directly into the game code - rather than making it as an optional add-on.

Obviously for the sake of fairness, one would hope there would be an option in-game to turn it off or on as desired... but at least when I think of SE giving us actual legal parsers for personal (or even open) use, I typically assume it being directly built into the game in some form. If for no other reason than PS4's red tape and hoops regarding add-ons.

[Aylis]

Apologies for the late response, I was at work all day:

That is true, but I feel a good way around that would be integrating the parser directly into the game code - rather than making it as an optional add-on.

Obviously for the sake of fairness, one would hope there would be an option in-game to turn it off or on as desired... but at least when I think of SE giving us actual legal parsers for personal (or even open) use, I typically assume it being directly built into the game in some form. If for no other reason than PS4's red tape and hoops regarding add-ons.

No worries!

Yes I do agree it would have to be more or less an official created by SE thing and injected directly into the games coding and put in a patch rather then a third party add on. Something I've long suspected as to why SE nixxed the add-on customization for the game. Due to the extra work needed to get them installed on the PS4.

I do also agree it's only in fairness an option would be allowed for the players that don't wish to use it can turn it off. I just hope the day comes when SE realizes that its a very useful much needed tool and despite their worries over toxic players abusing it how very important the tool is for those at the upper end of the game. I don't raid anymore but I used to in other games and I know how important parsing can be. Just as an option to turn it off, give those players that do need one to gauge themselves and recruit teammates the option to turn one on. To help start talks about how each of the team can improve and see if they learn.

[Elamys]

They will never add an automated system that will block someone like that because it's not reasonable and it excludes way too many people, people who probably do play just fine but aren't that great, people who may be having a bad day, people who may have some serious problem that prevents them from reaching those determined levels (but they're still contributing).

I'm not sure where people get the idea that the majority of people in this game can't clear content, because I clear 98% of the stuff I do. So do most of the people I play with. Once in a while someone (or multiple people) is getting carried, but it's not preventing anyone from clearing. Is it annoying? Yes, but let's not pretend like there's some epidemic of players so bad that nobody's clearing. This only matters for randomized matchmaking. If someone in your static or even randos for Ex primals isn't performing to your standards or even if you just don't like them you're allowed to kick them, for pretty much any reason.

And if you are having that problem, perhaps you need to look at the common denominator.

Also, your DPS numbers aren't the be all, end all of a good player. Someone could pull the best numbers in the world but if they can't do basic mechanics like stacking with the group, getting out of AoE, knowing what to attack jesus christ please attack the adds etc are they really that good of a player? Your suggestion wouldn't be able to account for something like that. And your DPS is a dummy is not wholly indicative of your DPS in an actual fight.