If running a parser makes you cynical and depressed, why do it?

[Ashiee]

If running a parse makes you cynical and depressed, you probably shouldn't run one, but that choice is on the individual.

I don't run a parse because they typically stresses me out and make me enjoy the game less while using it while playing. I have found that having my numbers be out of sight, out of mind works best for me. Saying that, I'm not totally oblivious to my numbers either, but If I'm looking to improve I generally comb through FFLogs after the fact for tweaks I can make on X fight if it's savage and above content difficulty. Enough people are using a parse and uploading it to FFlogs nowadays that you can do a lot of self improvement without having to have those real time numbers while you are playing.

[Nora_of_Mira]

I see a lot of people complain about tank DPS or other people's DPS, why look at others numbers?

if this is why you run a parse, then you have your answer. but not everyone runs a parser just to look down on others, they run it actually improve their play bc Square wont do it themselves.

people who are bitter/cynical about parses were bitter/cynical people before they opened the parse.

[Sated]

I lived for DPS in WoW and I was great at it; enhance shaman felt like an extension of my body and my numbers in Mists and WoD showed it. But here? I'm having too much fun to care about DPS - this game has enough interesting content that I don't care about watching numbers go up incrementally week over week.

I don't sweat the mistakes because they don't matter: we still clear. I'd rather pride myself on my use of utility than squeezing a few more damage out anyway, it feels more impactful.

The retired raider in me is still curious though; I've looked up my character to see if I was in anyone's parses. Considering I don't eat food, was missing a lot of materia until recently, and am sitting on like 1500 unspent tomes, I expected to be gray, but I was like green/blue and I'm okay with that (especially considering I don't even know what the standard is). Combat and gear optimization isn't a priority for me anymore and it feels great.

All that said, I can definitely still relate to the sense of accomplishment that can come from topping meters, and I don't see anything wrong with players enjoying that as long as they're measuring themselves against the peers in their statics instead of trying to set and enforce their expectations on strangers in roulette.

Logs are a tool for self-improvement, not a standard to measure worth.

[dasmause]

Parser doesn’t make me depressed or cynical, people being so lazy they can’t bother to read a single guide and then get offended when they’re called out on subpar performance do. People who get so indignant that instead of trying to improve start blaming parser tools and “raid elitists” do. Turning your eyes away from the problem doesn’t fix the problem.

[SerLuke]

Parser doesn’t make me depressed or cynical, people being so lazy they can’t bother to read a single guide and then get offended when they’re called out on subpar performance do. People who get so indignant that instead of trying to improve start blaming parser tools and “raid elitists” do. Turning your eyes away from the problem doesn’t fix the problem.

Does it? Or does it help you realize the problem isn’t as big of a deal as you thought it was when you aren’t putting it under a magnifying glass?

[dasmause]

Does it? Or does it help you realize the problem isn’t as big of a deal as you thought it was when you aren’t putting it under a magnifying glass?

Yes it does, and I don’t want to entertain the idea that it’s somehow my fault that I’m seeing bad performance. Me not looking doesn’t make lazy people good. The game is not that complex, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to understand you do more damage by AOE skills than single target, for example. You can learn the optimal opener and rotation in a mere hour of hitting a training dummy

[Miminming]

So that i know who to praise and who to not, nothing worse seeing someone praising a grey parse... and the grey parse think he is actually godly enough to provoke and look down on the others only to be mocked in 5ch(jp reddit)... and that grey parse is someone i knew... and they stop logging in for 3 weeks... ignorance is the worse...

(And i keep wondering who is to blame my friend or the one who keep praising him or me who know he is grey but never say anyhting ...

[SerLuke]

Yes it does, and I don’t want to entertain the idea that it’s somehow my fault that I’m seeing bad performance. Me not looking doesn’t make lazy people good. The game is not that complex, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to understand you do more damage by AOE skills than single target, for example. You can learn the optimal opener and rotation in a mere hour of hitting a training dummy

To be fair through you don’t need a parser to tell if someone is aoeing or not.

[Vidu]

To be fair through you don’t need a parser to tell if someone is aoeing or not.

See, thats why I believe your general assumption in this thread is wrong: Its not the parser thats making people "cynical and depressed". All the parser does is display something you can already see or suspect into cold, hard numbers.
I'm always doing my expert roulette together with my boyfriend - me as paladin, he as BLM (we both know our jobs, are fairly good at them and always try to give it out best shot). I dont need a parser to be upset about the other dps or a non-dps-healer after a 25 minute run. And I also dont need a parser to know that our PLD-BLM-combo will ensure faster runs - instead of me playing my favorite dps, bard, and having him come as DRK once in a while.
Both of those things might "upset" me without even needing a parser to see them.

I wont deny that theres the odd person who will beat themself up over a bad run or someone who'll drop a job alltogether (even though they were enjoying it) after being frustrated by the numbers they're seeing. But in general I dont believe that parsers are causing this problem, they're just clearly showing how bad the actual issue that people are frustrated about is. Posts that include hints that someone might have been using a parser and saw "that samurai only pull 5k dps" often mention the parser and the numbers as some sort of "proof" how bad said samurai really was - the reason someone is upset is "the samurai was bad", the reason they know that includes things like observing the playstyle, how fast bosses died etc. and the parser and the numbers are just a confirmation in the end. Hard evidence, if you like.
Something similar can be applied to job-balance: You can already observe that using certain jobs will influence the speed of a run. A parser makes that easier and puts actual numbers on it, but even without it you'll notice that a run with a paladin, WHM and two BLMs will be faster than a warrior, scholar, maschinist and bard (...I'm actually not 100% certain about tank balance here, but I hope my point is still clear).

Personally I rarely consider using a parser - and I still get frustrated by the things you mention, because I see them regardless of being able to put a number on them.
And I'm getting frustrated by those things because, as I mentioned before, I care.
And its frustrating to run a dungeon - yes, even a simple dungeon like expert - with someone who does not care. About their performance, their teammates, the run.
And its frustrating to know that me playing bard instead of paladin will do more harm than good.