Quote Originally Posted by SamRF View Post
In what way do they ever show its a bragging right ingame? And what's wrong with bragging in the first place?
There's nothing inherently wrong with bragging, it's just an obnoxious thing to do in a game like FFXIV which doesn't exactly cater to 'HARDCORE' content, the most difficult content in the game currently is Ultimate and the most noteworthy talent needed for it is co-ordination and memorization, that's about it. As far as I know there isn't any random mechanics in Ultimate or drastic changes on repeat fights such as rotation changes or boss line-up depending on which one, you have a role to play and you play that role to the T which means standing where you're supposed to stand, doing the DPS you're supposed to do, and making up for any failings or fumbles. It's great and it's an achievement to have but it's not really any more difficult or noteworthy than playing an instrument in a band, when everyone does their role you can do the content and you can basically farm it if you wanted to assuming your group remembered what to do, hence why people sell runs on the Party Finder.

Don't get me wrong, if you do it and you spend the time and dedication to complete it then you earn your accolades but you don't earn the right to look down on other players for not doing so, which is something I've seen in the game more than once and not even where it mattered.

Sure there are people that just don't care and will play their role with the skill and finesse of a brick, I think we've all seen a floor-tank at least once during our playtime or players that are at 80 with lvl 70 items that stand in every single AoE and use nothing but auto-attack, I've even seen a fabled 'ice mage' out and about before. There are bad players just as there are good players and I'd much rather get stuck with a bad player than a snotty up-tight braggart who thinks their farts don't stink because they managed to get carried through E8S by their FC, you know? And for some people a shiny parse is that E8S clear, it's that high number they can use to feel important and better than the unwashed masses and that's just always going to be the case, there will ALWAYS be people that look for whatever they can to try and pump up that self-worth.

Parsing is that for a lot of people, because at the end of the day pretty much anyone can do Savage/Ultimate if they have enough funds or know the right people, but a high parse is wholly their own work and there are people out there that will discriminate and will judge based on pretty numbers.

And the last thing FFXIV needs is to endorse a parse in any form that lets 'Alpha Mc Pro Gamer' 'dunk on the newbs' with a 'wicked sick fat parse'.

In my opinion, of course.