Quote Originally Posted by Gyson View Post
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.
You've been around since at least 2014. You realize parsing has been around since before then, and even FFLogs goes back to HW. In essence, this has been around since the beginning. Since you have experience, let me ask you this. If you didn't have a parser, how would you have known who to have "that talk" to about DPS? Sure, people might not fail mechanics, but damage can still be low enough to not hit enrage. How do you determine if you have a weak link or not if everyone thinks it's not them? Take it one step further, how would one even know where they need to improve?