What is the best DPS parser for FF14?

[Arkenaw]

While they help out for personal improvement and adjustment, I despise DPS meters. My group (which is arguably pretty bad, but a fun group of people) are so obsessed with maxing their dps on fights, that we have to use a 20 second long pull macro so the ninja can do his mudra, the bard can perfectly time foe requiem and when they start the fight, mumble is: "Oh, look who's on top now scrubs." (jokingly) and "Whoops, I screwed up my combo" and "This should give you a chance to catch up on dps." It annoys me to no end. lol.

[Grym]

FFXIV tried to focus more on getting the mechanics right, than to do maximum dps possible.

Most of the time this philosophy works, however there are some fights (eg T12) that they did put in a tighter than normal enrage timer (but still quite relax compared to WoW), and a lot of groups suddenly falling behind on dps and suddenly the need for dps meter rises again. SE refused to officially implement meters as it will exclude the lesser skilled players, however if they do that they shouldn't implement fights with enrage timer either, when you are timed to kill a boss, then dps matters, someone I know had to replace their BRD because she was only doing 280 dps which isn't enough for the contents they are doing.

Overall the dps enrage is really a lot more relax than WoW, however you'd be surprised how much dps can differ even when 2 person on same class with very similar level of gear....

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While they help out for personal improvement and adjustment, I despise DPS meters. My group (which is arguably pretty bad, but a fun group of people) are so obsessed with maxing their dps on fights, that we have to use a 20 second long pull macro so the ninja can do his mudra, the bard can perfectly time foe requiem and when they start the fight, mumble is: "Oh, look who's on top now scrubs." (jokingly) and "Whoops, I screwed up my combo" and "This should give you a chance to catch up on dps." It annoys me to no end. lol.

Some fight slowing dps by 1% can cause a LONG drag which cause enrage to be a lot tighter, such as T5 more conflag, T6 more bees and extra slime phase, T8 extra tower cycle, T10 extra dash phase, T12 extra birds, all contribute to potentially enrage.

My group announce dps chart on every kill or wipe due to dps.

[Nasriel]

I hope dps meters never get added. I personally think they hurt games more than they help. Classic example is wow. People care too damn much about some stupid numbers an add-on spits out. The real focus should be did the boss die? Yes. Is almost everyone alive? Yes. Did you enjoy playing? Yes. Job done

Not boss died but wah was you are such a bad. Your dps sucks. You need to fix it. WHO CARES. This game is much better because we don't have stupid dps meters and I hope they never get introduced or ff14 will turn to crap WoW style where all people care about are being ontop of a stupid add-on

[Senka]

I agree they do more harm than good. Besides, we have potencies (basically weapon damage %) that you can use to math out what's best to use in different situations if you care that much. This is a very straightforward game compared to WoW, meaning: Damage ranges are so tiny they're virtually non-existent, GCD is 2.5/2.0 seconds, and there's not nearly as much randomness and dynamic stuff happening in rotations compared to WoW.

Overall I predict this dev team will be extremely restrictive with addon creation even when they do implement that. Not only because of the concerns already stated, but to be honest, Japanese game devs don't seem to "get" open source design. It's way too scary of an idea to them.

However, this dev team has felt entirely different from any other Japanese dev team to me. I often joke to my friends that this feels almost like a Western game localized for Japan than vice-versa. Part of that is because of how incredibly good of a localization team this game has. I may not want them translating something like a visual novel for me, but for Final Fantasy I think they are a REALLY good fit.

As for the guy saying a DPS meter only matters if you're a Bard, I'm not sure what he meant either. Considering Bards are meant to do slightly lower overall DPS, I can only assume he means to see if your caster party members are worthy to take advantage of Foe Requiem and, if it's a long fight, if your meleers are worthy of Army's Paeon.

[Armbre]

I just started playing and im loving no meters approach, you'll know know if someone is doing awful dps because typically they'll also die to stupid things and generally be a poor player but this way a raid leader can help them and mentor them rather than the current wow approach which is "L2DPS gtfo" i dunno there is just something different about this game and i think once my trial is over i'm going to buy it and let me wow sub run out solely for the fact it feels more like an mmo rather than a queue simulator

[Lathais]

I hope dps meters never get added. I personally think they hurt games more than they help. Classic example is wow. People care too damn much about some stupid numbers an add-on spits out. The real focus should be did the boss die? Yes. Is almost everyone alive? Yes. Did you enjoy playing? Yes. Job done

Not boss died but wah was you are such a bad. Your dps sucks. You need to fix it. WHO CARES. This game is much better because we don't have stupid dps meters and I hope they never get introduced or ff14 will turn to crap WoW style where all people care about are being ontop of a stupid add-on

When used correctly though, they are a huge boon. Mostly in cases where the boss did not die. If the boss did not die, knowing why helps. If someone is not pulling their weight and that is causing the group to fail, that person needs to be talked to and needs to improve or does not need to be part of the group.

I get what you are saying though. People put too much stock in them and call people out in inappropriate ways at times, whether the boss dies or not. In the past, in Rift/WoW, I have seen some true asshatery over meters even when the boss goes down. Being the raid leader or at least an officer in most of the groups I was in though, the person doing the calling out is typically the one I kick/reprimand. If a person is not pulling their weight though, I will have a talk with them, outside of the raid, in whispers/private vent channel, and talk to them about ways to improve. From what I have seen so far in the community here, that is how most people would be with DPS meters here. The DPS meters that were made, were made with this type of use in mind as well.

[Grym]

Damage ranges are so tiny they're virtually non-existent

This actually cannot be more untrue, I assume you never used a meter, because if you have used a meter, you would not say that.

As I mentioned before, a friend of mine their group had to replace the BRD because she was doing 280dps, their new BRD is doing around 350dps (that is like a 25% increase!!!). Whereas in my group, we had a few melee pugs before, especially in the cases of MNK and NIN, some of them have MASSIVE dps difference with little difference in gear, makes you wonder if they were even using any CDs at all.

Our group uses meter, well, I do. The leader is on PS4 so he often ask me or the SCH for meter readings. Most of the time we don't care, especially if the boss dies. But for example, T12, if there is a 5th add spawn, means dps is too low, that is when we will announce the meter and see who had been slacking that round.

It may not be nice, but it certainly has its use, especially in fight when you needed that extra dps and you want to find out who is lacking behind.

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I just started playing and im loving no meters approach, you'll know know if someone is doing awful dps because typically they'll also die to stupid things and generally be a poor player but this way a raid leader can help them and mentor them rather than the current wow approach which is "L2DPS gtfo" i dunno there is just something different about this game and i think once my trial is over i'm going to buy it and let me wow sub run out solely for the fact it feels more like an mmo rather than a queue simulator

Once you hit 50, especially if you join a static that plans to clear all current contents, you most likely will be monitored in dps, whether it is announced or the leader keeps it to himself. I agree though it is no where near the extend of WoW, people in dungeons generally don't care at all, it is only in main raid (not the LFR 24man one) where most groups probably will use meter, and they only using it to see if someone is particularly low on dps, as long as you are not vastly below where you should be, people are usually fine with it.

[Delicious]

Is there somewhere I can learn more about my class? I am not 50 yet, but working on it. I've been playing a week and my BLM is about to be 38. Is there like a priority system, or "rotation" that I need to master?

[Senka]

This actually cannot be more untrue, I assume you never used a meter, because if you have used a meter, you would not say that.

As I mentioned before, a friend of mine their group had to replace the BRD because she was doing 280dps, their new BRD is doing around 350dps (that is like a 25% increase!!!). Whereas in my group, we had a few melee pugs before, especially in the cases of MNK and NIN, some of them have MASSIVE dps difference with little difference in gear, makes you wonder if they were even using any CDs at all.

Hmm okay, I get what you mean. You're right that output can be very different depending on the skill of the player, ESPECIALLY with BRD and NIN. I used the wrong term. Sorry for the confusion.

What I meant was literally the range of damage that skills will do. For example, my Fire is something like 1070-1180 damage. If you keep retrying a boss without The Echo over and over with the same people that keep putting forth the same effort, you'll notice that phase changes and the like will keep happening at close to the same times each attempt. I mean, this can happen in WoW but it feels like damage ranges are wider there, and it's not uncommon to see phase changes happen significantly slower or faster in WoW. But maybe that's more due to trinket procs?

It's either that, or I've been in some bad/weird groups in WoW and FFXIV where one person gets lazy and another tries harder. :P

Is there somewhere I can learn more about my class? I am not 50 yet, but working on it. I've been playing a week and my BLM is about to be 38. Is there like a priority system, or "rotation" that I need to master?

I don't recall a site off the top of my head, but that shouldn't be hard to find. For BLM specifically, at Level 38 you'll unlock almost its entire single-target rotation. Then it's the same as it has been, but better: Fire until out of MP, Transpose (Blizzard III now replaces in the ST rotation), a Thunder spell, use highest Thunder spell on Thundercloud procs, Transpose (Fire III replaces in the ST rotation) at full MP.

At 40, you gain access to a third stack of Astral Fire/Umbral Ice. With this full stack, the other element's spells' cast times are halved. At 44, you get Firestarter which is a Fire III proc on casting Fire. That takes priority over everything else, then Thundercloud procs. However, it is NOT worth it to cancel a chain-cast, or a cast that's half completed, to use a proc. Use it after you finish casting your next Fire. Chain-casting whenever you can is best.

Also, because of Thundercloud's extremely low proc chance it's usually worth it to not use it immediately but instead chain it from Fire. The natural delay from using it will give time for Firestarter to proc if it's going to proc, and you should then use that proc.

Finally, even on your last Fire don't wait to see if Firestarter's going to proc. Instead, just chain-cast Blizzard III and a Thunder spell like always, and once your MP is full from being in Umbral Ice, use Transpose and THEN use the Firestarter proc to get Astral Fire III. It's not a huge increase in overall DPS to do it this way, so only try it when you're more comfortable with playing BLM.

Uh, that ended up being a lot. Sorry. But this will all make sense at level 44. Trust me. I also was intentionally being a little bit vague here because you should learn everything else as you go! I was just letting you know the details of the more ambiguous things you may worry about later on. Oh, and by "chain-cast" I mean queuing the next spell before GCD finishes.

[Grym]

This is going to sound weird, for BLM, do whatever you want until Lv44, because at level 44 that is when you will see how BLM is played at end game.

A link for you for the different rotation and their rankings:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...=false&gid=170

Obviously you want to use the one that is 1st in ranking, it may not make much sense to you now, but trust me it will later.

That rotation is the basic rotation you will be doing (ignores any proc), you also need to watch out for timer for your first mana tick, as at that point you won't be using Transpose anymore, you will use Fire III and Blizzard III to go into Astral Fire (AF) or Umbral Ice (UI) respectively.

Your basic would be going into fight, Fire III to get yourself into AF3, Fire I (plus any Firestarter proc) until OOM, NOTE do NOT cast Fire if you have less than 717 mana or you won't be able to cast Blizzard III, anyway, when OOM or just under 717 mana, Blizzard III to get yourself into UI3, from here things can vary:

You have time to cast a Thunder plus either a Blizzard or Scathe. If you have movement coming soon, this is your best chance. If you have to move NOW, use Scathe (and move), then Thunder, then Fire III back into AF3. If soon but not right now, then Thunder first, then Scathe (and move), depends on when you need moving. If you don't have to move at all, then Blizzard and a Thunder (Blizzard will do more dps than Scathe, but Scathe you can move). There are times your delay is so much that you may even want to Scathe > Thunder > Scathe before going back to AF3. Basically, it is all situational dependent.

However your timing for your first mana tick when you get into UI3 is not always the same. Your target is always get back into AF3 with full mana, so this you have to watch out for: If the first tick is fast, you may get away with just a Thunder than back onto AF3 and still have full mana. If the first tick is slow, then you just do the standard rotation of Thunder + Blizz/Scathe before going back to AF3. If you have SCH in your group, watch out, if you have a slow first tick, and SCH has Spell Speed buff on, you may actually have time to cast 3 spells (Thunder + 2x Blizz/Scathe) before going back into AF3. Basially you want to cast as little as possible, but still make sure you have full mana when get back into AF3, this way you have the shortest time in UI but the longest time in AF.

Then is your proc. You have 2x proc to watch out for: Thundercloud and Firestarter.

Firestarter, if you are in a stand still fight, you want to use this ASAP, however, since it only trigger once your last Fire hits, by the time it proc, you should already be starting the next Fire cast. Let this finish, do not interupt it, as you have already incur the GCD for it, if you move now you lose a GCD doing no damage, so use the proc before the next Fire cast instead. However, in fight where you know you need to move soon, you may want to save it and use it on the move (as it is instant cast), that way you are always casting, compare to use the proc ASAP, then when you have to move you are casting nothing (or just Scathe), you need to try to maximise your caster ABC (Always Be Casting), which will ultimately determine your dps.

Thundercloud, pretty much same as Firestarter, you may want to watch when to use it so you can move with it (as it is also instant cast). However when you are using it in a stand still scenario, you can use it differently:
If use during AF3, use it AFTER a standard Fire cast. This is because Firestarter proc after it hit the target, and generally you have to wait a cast before you use the proc. But if you have a Thundercloud proc to use after a Fire, if Firestarter proc you save yourself an extra Fire cast before using the Firestarter (again, extend the time you spend in AF3).
If you are at the end of AF3 (like the final Fire cast), then use Blizzard III before using the Thunder cloud. If you use it at the end of AF3, then you go into UI3, cast another Thunder on top (Thunder I tick do less dps by the way)? Go into Blizzard III, then use your Thundercloud, then you have time to either use 1 or 2 Blizzard I (depends on the speed of the first mana tick).

That is all the tip I can think of for now for BLM, I am sure once you hit 50 you will find things that suits you more, so just look around (there are like 6-7 different BLM rotations out there) and see which one suit you the most.

[Museigen]

I hope dps meters never get added. I personally think they hurt games more than they help. Classic example is wow. People care too damn much about some stupid numbers an add-on spits out. The real focus should be did the boss die? Yes. Is almost everyone alive? Yes. Did you enjoy playing? Yes. Job done

Not boss died but wah was you are such a bad. Your dps sucks. You need to fix it. WHO CARES. This game is much better because we don't have stupid dps meters and I hope they never get introduced or ff14 will turn to crap WoW style where all people care about are being ontop of a stupid add-on

This basically comes across as, "I perform so poorly my groups fail to complete their goals." You then go on to say, "WHO CARES?" The answer is pretty simple, the people who's time and effort you turned into fruitless endeavor care. I dare say most people don't like their time being wasted. MMOs are group games, there happens to be more than just you in a group. Perhaps it's not a problem when the boss does die (except your feelings getting hurt that someone posts a parse with you being below them) rather it's a problem when the boss doesn't and you'd have no clue why or how to make it die.

[Zerg217]

Something like proving grounds in WoW is also a good idea if they don't want to add DPS meters. Or a better way would be a tutorial on how to play a class (concepts like keeping DoTs and buffs up, etc).

ARR is definitely a simple game in terms of rotations (it's mostly attacks with buffs > attacks with debuffs > DoTs > 1-2-3 > reapply buffs, debuffs, or DoTs, then 1-2-3 if needed; weave in cool downs in between each attack) compared to WoW "however" people new to MMOs in general probably won't get it.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are a tons of SMNs or DPS (for example) that never keep their DoTs up or buffs up because they didn't need to.

ARR is a new MMO to lots of people since it is one of the few new MMOs released on consoles. So there's lots of new players to MMO probably that don't know that they are doing their rotation wrong or that you are supposed to keep DoTs up (for example) or that you shouldn't use a DoT until it wears off (another example).

I think either a tutorial on how to play a class or something like proving grounds would work well.

[Remilia]

EDIT: Once (if) SE brings addons to the game, which they are sorta working on as a side project it sounds, it will open up the floodgates for meters. I have never had a problem with them in MMOs, either giving or receiving criticism, outside of a static with the stated purpose of, "We are going to do X as hard as possible. If you can't do X then you can go X out of the Xing X group, X."

They are going to, but I don't know how their API is going to be.
It really all depends on what they allow you to use and whether they allow reading of combat logs. The combat log they give you already has missing information like DoTs, so even if you can track what's read, you won't have the entire detail. All dps parsers have been about reading a log and compile the information. From when I used ACT in EQ2, and WoW, it's always been from a log. If something is being handled server side, aside from hacking them, it's not going to work so well.

[Senka]

ARR is a new MMO to lots of people since it is one of the few new MMOs released on consoles. So there's lots of new players to MMO probably that don't know that they are doing their rotation wrong or that you are supposed to keep DoTs up (for example) or that you shouldn't use a DoT until it wears off (another example).

I think either a tutorial on how to play a class or something like proving grounds would work well.

Yeah, I agree. They outright said multiple times from the beginning that they designed ARR to be people's first MMORPG and that's why so much of the game is extremely simple and easy compared to WoW and others. The class quests are supposed to teach you stuff, but they're just not difficult enough (except Summoner, especially final one) because this team is as scared as the Blizzard team of chasing away new players.

Though what's funny to me is that more often than not I actually see the opposite of what you're saying here. I see people applying DoTs (not Chaos Thrust) to monsters that are obviously going to die in the next 6 seconds or less. It seems so many people put TOO much emphasis on DoTs (or other periodic damage like Flaming Arrow/Shadow Flare) rather than not enough.

I think the reason for that is because the game visually combines all periodic damage on a target into one number, so they might get the wrong impression of what's going on. Or it could be because of WoW, where applying a DoT is a no-brainer because there's next to no opportunity cost. However, with a 2/2.5 sec GCD each ability used is much more significant.