Quote Originally Posted by Lauren View Post
Searching your name on FFlogs, you have parses for Shadowbringers. However the majority are in post-Echo and you have parsed quite low. Have a lookie through what you cast and it should help you improve ♥
I'm assuming you didn't mean it this way, but I read this and it feels like we've reached a point where someone's performance is being shamed publicly on the official FFXIV forums, and I'm immediately thinking "this is why we can't have nice things".

I really don't care if someone uses a parser to improve their personal performance. The problem I have with it is that people try to sell the idea of a parser as a self improvement tool but it always evolves into something far worse - like judging the performance of another player. I've used parsers in other MMOs, both for myself and to decide who does and doesn't go raiding with a team. I have had to be "that guy" that has uncomfortable conversations with other players about their DPS whilst explaining why they're not being slotted again this week.

We justify it by saying that it's for the good of the group, but somehow parsing almost always results in toxicity or stupidity (e.g. ignoring mechanics in the pursuit of parsing higher than everyone else).

I'd personally prefer not having that happen in this game. I keep watching players pushing the line in FFXIV a little more each year and trying to normalize different aspects of parsing every step of the way, and anyone that has been down this road enough times knows it's leading to an increasingly toxic environment. It also can lead to a vicious cycle where developers are creating more and more content for a minority at the expense of the majority, and we eventually end up with a soulless game that has dumped all it's eggs into top-tier high-end raiding. Kind of like WoW.. which I left years ago because I could see the writing on the wall. I would prefer that not happen here.