How would an optional, official parser be toxic?

[Sakuraluna]

I don’t see how a private parser that gives us only our own numbers, that we could then compare to the rest of the community on our own terms and use that information to gauge how much we need to improve and where, would be any more toxic than what we already have. There are always gonna be those who choose to seek out other players’ parses so that they can criticize those players, but IMO if players could more freely access information on how they perform in actual content, maybe there wouldn’t be the levels of negativity there are if more people were up to par. I’d completely support a private parser.

Wouldn’t be a fan of an official parser that lets players compare the rest of a party’s performance to theirs though. That would invite toxicity.

[Penthea]

have you ever played WoW? unless you want the FF14 community to turn toxic the last thing this game needs is a dps meter

I played WoW before parsers were commonly used. I saw a distinct change in the community when their use became very commonplace and it wasn't good.

Before people were happy as long as things died in a timely manner. That changed to people often complaining at others for supposedly not doing enough dps and often without taking things like gear, class level and class balance into account. It caused a lot of completely unnecessary drama.

Even though I mained a healer in WoW which meant parser drama was rarely aimed at me (dunno about now but back then healer dps hit like a wet noodle), I found it incredibly tiresome to watch. It frankly made me avoid pugging.

I will not dispute that parsers are very useful tools because they most certainly are. But the sad truth is they're often used as a platform to be needlessly horrible to people.

The day SE bring an official parser to FFXIV is the day I stop pugging. If I can avoid stupid parser drama then I will. Had enough of it in WoW.

[supaiku]

There is a simple solution: make the parser so all you can see are your own numbers. If you don't wan't to use it, just turn it off. Problem solved.
I play on PS4 and have no way of seeing how I am performing. Sure I can check Logs if my static members upload the fight once we are done, but that isn't optimal. I want to see my numbers while playing to get a better view of where I loose dps. Sure I can analyze the logs later, but that is also kind of inconvenient. And if the PC gamers can see their numbers, I as a PS4 player want the option to see mine too. Thank you.

[MoroMurasaki]

have you ever played WoW? unless you want the FF14 community to turn toxic the last thing this game needs is a dps meter

Did you literally just read the title and not the post?

[ElHeggunte]

A good portion of this playerbase believes that expecting basic effort is synonymous with being an elitist and you ask why they think a parser would be toxic.

PS: Personal parsers are borderline worthless for giving you meaningful information, especially on the fly in a group setting where parsers have the most use.

[Marxam]

How would something like that even lead to toxicity? I can't wrap my head how a personal tool that only you would see (unless you decide to do something like share it publicly) would equate to an increase in toxicity.

You just answered your own question. I'm on PS4 also and I gauge player skill based on mechanic execution and relative ease of combat flow. A dead dps will always do less dps than a decent dps who didn't die the whole fight. Anyone can smack a boss that is just standing around but not everyone can do that while dodging aoes, doing mechanics and still getting in your positional's.

[Hamada]

It seems to me that the dummies are not sufficient enough for those players who want to get better. It's nice to smack around a dummy in the 3 minutes that you get, but it's simply not enough, especially in a raid setting. The chances of Yoshi budging on this are low to null, but surely there has to be something that would assist with those of us stuck on PS4 that the devs could give us in an official capacity. If not an in-game parser, then maybe the option (key word here) to enable us to view how we personally did after an instance.

I hate having to be stuck on PS4 and having to bother people to help me figure out how I'm doing. Regardless of how many people have offered, I feel like a pest because at the end of the day, I'm still asking them to take some time out of whatever they are doing to help me. It would be nice to just have ...something on PS4.
Sure, there are the arguments that it would lead to toxicity, but if it's a personal meter that mimics what PvP has, or something similar, how can that be toxic unless you share the information with others? Anybody demanding to see what you have at the end of a duty can easily be reported. I just would like something on the PS4 side.

It's not cool that a select group of individuals rail against parsing in every form, incarnation, or whatever they want to call it and state that it's a crutch, cheat tool, an epeen stick, etc., then here I am desperately trying not to be a bad player and hearing their voices, I fear I'll never become at the very least a decent player, because they give so much opposition to even having an official option on consoles. Players who want to improve should be given something that allows them to improve, at their option. Again, bringing up that key word, option. Like Duty Recorder.

If the devs can bring in instruments, then I know they are capable of doing something like this. And honestly, until the devs finally cave in and put to work on something that a lot of people are actually asking for, this is just going to keep coming up by a lot of others. Honestly, if they can implement instruments, how hard can it be to put in some kind of parse tool compatible for PS4 that only allows you to parse yourself?

How would something like that even lead to toxicity? I can't wrap my head how a personal tool that only you would see (unless you decide to do something like share it publicly) would equate to an increase in toxicity.

Because the skill gap is too big. Even yoshi-p is aware of this as I heard something on the lines of "will think about it once the skill gap is less" A LOT of people simply do not know how to play, and when you try to advice them, they lash out, so can you picture what the situation will be when people can actually see it? Most people do not know how to see rotation issues without parsers. I am all for it, but i feel the general player base isn't. Given this is a forum for a game, most people that know how to play will be here, so this thread is more on the lines of preaching to the choir.

[Dualgunner]

You just answered your own question. I'm on PS4 also and I gauge player skill based on mechanic execution and relative ease of combat flow. A dead dps will always do less dps than a decent dps who didn't die the whole fight. Anyone can smack a boss that is just standing around but not everyone can do that while dodging aoes, doing mechanics and still getting in your positional's.

It's not anything you said but I want this pinned as the reason that beyond learning basic rotation, SSS is useless for gauging damage potential.

[Fyce]

They already give a table of a few metrics at the end of a PvP session. They could test it on dungeons to see if the community would suddenly turn into a toxic wasteland. Just display the numbers after you exit the dungeon (during the black screen), and that's it. If someone take the time to reach you outside of the dungeon you just cleared to be a jerk, just report, blacklist and voila. But I don't think people would even take the time to look at this table most of the time.

[van_arn]

Why have an official parser? Just require a certain damage threshold to be met or you're booted for being afk.