DPS is role name ?

[FrayL]

Hi, I'm Japanese player. sorry to my poor English.

I have heard "attaker" or "damage dealer" as damage sauce role.
But that role is called "DPS" at FF14. "DPS" means Damage Per Second, it's a measure of attackpower, not role name, I think.
From when did it come to say so in English ?

[Aixa]

Quite a few years now, probably because its shorter. From older games like Everquest or World of Warcraft. What the person does gets used a lot as the name of the role, heals, tank, dps (instead of healer, tanker, damager).

[Shneibel]

I believe it is back in Lineage 2, RFonline and wow (here is where it spread). And DD now is call DPS

edit: to say it clear "DD now is call DPS" does not say the the DPS is a role, it point out the common mistake. I still use DD when recruiting ppl

[Kopuno]

I like many others still call it DD or Damage Dealer, as DPS is what you do. Not what you are. Always annoyed me, it's like the word "toon".

[Thaliss]

Hi FrayL,

You are correct DPS is "Damage Per Second".

In the past in others MMORPGs when looking for group people wanted people with High DPS. So it became shorter to just write DPS

Lots of names and acronyms existed and still exists for such roles(Attacker , Damage Dealer, Melee, Magic...)

I started to see that term used by the time of EQOA & Everquest2.

[Fenris_Alnheist]

I prefer to use the term "meatshield" when referring to tanks, but to each their own. As for why the damage role is called "dps" is just like Aixa stated. It's short hand to describe someone whose class specializes in putting out as much damage per second (dps) as possible.

[UrbanLucrece]

Also I think since there are Hybrid classes, that can i.e both heal and deal damage, the PT leader in some scenarios specify their role for the task as "At this monster you need to go DPS", to clarify it.

[Uldi]

It's been at least 6 years since 'DPS' has replaced 'DD' or 'attacker'.

It became that way due to chat. It evolved from, "So what's your dps," I believe. It also describes how raids view attackers. They are there for the amount of damage they can do in a given amount of time. Even a healer can do a thousand* points of damage eventually, but probably not in 30 seconds.


*An illustrative number, not to be taken too seriously.

[Reslin]

Hi, I'm Japanese player. sorry to my poor English.

I have heard "attaker" or "damage dealer" as damage sauce role.
But that role is called "DPS" at FF14. "DPS" means Damage Per Second, it's a measure of attackpower, not role name, I think.
From when did it come to say so in English ?

Think about it this way as a role. "DPS" means "Damage Per Second" therefore a "DPS Class" is one that specializes in doing as much "Damage Per Second" as possible either through burst or sustain.

[dstyle]

in korea, the dps role is called 'damage'...so simple lol