How do I know if I'm getting better?

[Dzian]

Without using parses. Is it possible? I know of SSS, but the pass/fail doesn't help me very much. I don't want a "good enough" check, I want to know if my rotation is improving etc.

SSS does tell you if your rotation is improving.. It's pretty much what it's designed to do. It's not a difficult tool to use.

If say you've gone from barely clearing a dummy with maybe 1-2 seconds left on the clock to clearing that dummy consistently with 10 or 12 seconds left then it's an obvious sign of improvement. it's measurable and quantifiable. If you then beat that dummy with 15-16 seconds left. then that's even better. So it's actually very easy to see if your rotation is improving or not. It's only a binary pass fail if you treat it like one.

Also in some ways SSS is actually a better comparative tool than a parser because in SSS the only variable is you. Parsers however have an almost infinite number of variables.
So if Jack can smash a dummy 10 seconds faster than James it's a much clearer comparison than say.. Jack parsing 500 DPS higher at the end of a fight than James.

In the case of parsers you might actually find James was playing better even if he's 500 dps behind Jack on parses. Jack probsably had a better comp and more DPS buffs than James did.

At the same time if you came out of a fight today doing 500 dps more than you did yesterday in the same fight that doesn't mean you've improved. You might actually have done worse. because again it could be any number of variables that account for the differences.