Any chance of an official data parser so we can test our character builds?

[BlaiseLallaise]

In regards to the OP, one downside I see is that it will give fodder to the elitist mentality of "You must have X or you will be gimp," or "Dungeon party. PST for invite. XYZ minimum parsers only." Such attitudes must be considered before deciding to put this in.

[Peregrine]

In regards to the OP, one downside I see is that it will give fodder to the elitist mentality of "You must have X or you will be gimp," or "Dungeon party. PST for invite. XYZ minimum parsers only." Such attitudes must be considered before deciding to put this in.

When elitism bears its ugly head, that's a desperate consequence of the stat system iteslf being unforgiving. Nothing inherent about a parser drives elitism, it only shows the stat system for what it is and that can't be changed. The parster only provides information that would otherwise be driven by either ignorance and biased placebo effect (My gear makes me better because I paid a lot for it compared to you) or just straight gearscoring for no reason (your gear scores 3500 okay but how much better is it than a score of 1500?).

XI's system went elitist well before parsers proved there were big differences in gear setups, because XI's system is inherently brutal to players who don't get in line. I think if you run a XIV parser, it would actually make you feel more comfortable in choosing your own path. I've stopped min-maxing altogether until the new battle engine. I have 90 STR DEX PIE and INT to cover meleeing and nuking. I don't spec to over 150 any more because I know for a fact it doesn't matter.

It's actually liberating and makes me less elitist to know, as opposed to not knowing. And it's not like you can't inherently tell the stat system in XIV is much more forgiving, to a fault almost.

But really when you look at a belt like penance...what is it *actually* doing for you? It's not actually doing anything. 2 str is nothing. It may be something after the stat system is repaired, but I think it's better for the players to go into the unknown with tools to figure things out intelligently and rationally instead of believing in the heart of the cards.

Basically the heart of the cards--placebo-- can also be used to support elitism, when a parser could remove that voodoo. If we don't know how much str affects damage, I can hold the penance over your head as much as I can get away with. If we DO know how much str affects damage, then everyone knows I'm no better than you are for having it. At all.