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Deltascape Deleter

Verdic Aysen

Brynhildr [Crystal]

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The Infection of the DPS Race

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I don't have a ton of platforms to really pursue this argument. So i'm going to use my little blog here to post up my thoughts on the issues. As I get back into the game and start targeting end game in earnest my friend who got me back here has been slowly easing me into the current issues with the state of the game. The biggest common issue right now? DPS. More, always, at all costs. Having been playing MMO's since 1999 my eye brows shot up. This filled me with a dread and alarm that quashed previous eagerness to get back into the game. So let's explore the idea.

DPS - Where does this come from?



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DPS - Damage Per Second. This was a term that believe or not existed well before World of Warcraft and its open back end to allow for all sorts of UI add-on's and crutches that exposed the internals of the games number's calculations. I'm not going to use this space to debate the "right or wrong" of parsers. So let's focus on learning more about where it comes from.

Damage per second has been around for a very long time. The concept of keeping tabs on damage dealt against mobs has been around at least since the original EverQuest by Verant Interactive (Pre-SOE). The Wizard, Druid, and Magician classes were the ones who watched this in most cases and even in the age of dial up modems people were coming up with tools to keep track of these sorts of things. Whether it was analyzing them after the fact, or trying to do a manual track. It was a way to gauge the personal performance of our heavy hitters. People who we knew we could depend on to remove large percentages of an enemy's health total. For the most part though, performance was never terrible, the classes back then were meant to perform their role, with only Warrior being the notable exception in the matter of being able to bring slightly more DPS than other tanks.

As more MMO's were released, the tools evolved. Final Fantasy XI was another place where these things started to become more involved. From macro's timing your group combo's to warning group members of impending abilities (Like in EQ1) people's understanding of the back end would evolve into tools working the data in real time. This was popularized in World of Warcraft, (But was rampant elsewhere too. See "ACT Parse" if you aren't in the know.) and the rest as they say is history.

DPS - A Damage Dealers Issue, not a Tank, Healer, or CC's Issue

As early as EQ1 Warrior tanks had an advantage over other hybrid tanks due to poor game design. They were given the ability to use more offensive skills, and thus ended up being better at single target emnity than other classes in the game. They had all the pro's and none of the con's. In an attempt to counter act this the focus on the other tank classes were always utility. And as time went on, utility came to them in spades. Bouncing onto EQ2 - Paladins, Shadowknights, Guardians, and Berserker's were clearly marked up to do less damage in some cases, but were given far more utility to counterbalance in other's. As an EQ2 Paladin I was out heal parsing some Warden's in my raids. I was a tanking machine, and I loved the idea of torturing newer raid healers with my mad shielding abilities.

Enchanter's in EQ1 in particular had a more important role. They had a FF Bard like ability to restore MP - but it was a 30 minute buff that pushed the "MP" refresh rates at a server tick rate for that entire duration. They were depended upon to reduce group down time and allow a greater expenditure of mana at an accelerated rate. They also were given the power to control entire groups of mobs with long duration "stuns" we called "Mezzes". This allowed a well formed raid to control the pace of an encounter even if DPS wasn't "top notch". You have a bad tank that dropped? The Enchanter saved the day while the "DPS" classes cleaned up. Every role was important, they had unique utility - so much so that it was considered powerful and desirable in a group. EQ1, EQ2, Vanguard, DAoC, and similar games ensured that the trinity or quaternity focus was on making every role special and indispensable. There would occasionally be some spill over to do a little extra damage? But nothing on the scale of what we see today. Abilities that made players move faster, have enhanced health pools, faster mana regens, isolate entire groups of raid trash, enhance another classes skill set and vice versa, were the order of the day. This made people who identified with their classes proud to be those classes. It also ensured that there was little cross over in the "roles" department. With the exception of your goofy Guild that wanted to do things like "evasion" tanks, "all Druid" raids, etc.


Stressing DPS - is it bad for variety?

Looking at the most recent clear rate census on the FFXIV reddit proves out the argument that driving the narrative of more DPS in the meta isn't going to automatically equal higher clear rates per server.

Reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/5za5zx/lucky_banchos_unofficial_census_has_been_updated/

Closer investigation of video's, strat's, and directly asking groups their mentality of how they approach content shows there is definitely a schism between what North Americans and how the Japanese or other countries view the approaches to these situations.

Furthermore, stressing DPS against every role and every class in the game forces everyone to start focusing on the same benchmark. The same goal post if you will. Eventually, it has become all anyone talks about regarding any class. Or class changes! It's devolving quickly into being the only talking point worth talking about amongst community members. Final Fantasy XIV is a game with an enormous bevy of content. There is nearly no end for many, and the fact that we get class refreshes so frequently should encourage excitement for new utility, and more unique "flavor" coming to these classes to make them stand out and become specialists in their own fields. Instead, every change becomes a debate regarding what generates the most damage per second. Is that really what you have to look forward to as you invest thousands of hours into a game as a specific class - no matter the "skin" of the type of gear you wear - are we all just at the point where we have to be damage dealers?

I
'm not saying we shouldn't do SOME. Contributing to ending a fight quickly isn't wrong. But forsaking and neglecting what is supposed to make us professionals in our fields seems extreme. Is that how we really want to see the game evolve? I would encourage you to check out games like Lord of the Rings Online - and how they push classes being unique, with unique combat mechanics, buttons, and "scale" abilities. While we do have some classes like this, our Paladin, Bard, and even our White Mage tend to get left out in the cold. Adding this game play flavor might actually give them more of a shot in the arm than we'd believe at first glance.

W
hile the hour glass you have on your desk measuring your raid time may be the first thing you think about - I would encourage you to think more of successful clears, fewer failures, more people engaged in their classes so much that they want to even try the end game, and look at the big picture. How much more grand, colorful, and exciting would that picture be?


I
hope to keep posting topics like this. I welcome debate and discussion - please share this with your friends. However, let's keep this respectful - that includes intellectuals that think veiled insults are ok. :) Let's keep it chill.



Comments (6)

Noa Jean

Hyperion [Primal]

The game doesn't give us any guidance from main story and job quests to savage and extreme. Lots of people I run into in the duty finder don't look like they know how to do their jobs.
I don't think dps is a problem really, when something big happens in a raid healers and tanks are forced back into their roles.
I think we need better guides for people in game, I know there are outside guides.

Lolo Menehune

Siren [Aether]

Initiative to improve is by far the greatest challenge presented. I can speak from my experience as this is my first EVER MMO I had NO idea what to do, how to do it, why I should do it.
Finally after leveling up to 50 a TRUE mentor took some time and explained some basic mechanics to me. I had zero clue I was doing EVERYTHING wrong. I don't blame the game, or the large FC that I was in at the time, but myself for not noticing how others were performing the same job more efficiently.

Verdic Aysen

Brynhildr [Crystal]

I think my larger point is that DPS shouldn't be the measuring stick by which you determine whether or not you're good at your class. If you're a Bard, White Mage, Paladin, or any other non high DPS class you should be concerned with providing your utility to it's highest availability - not your DPS. Clears may be slower - but they're more ensured! :)

Kacho Nacho

Coeurl [Crystal]

Thank you for posting this argument.

I have noticed this trend also. It is disheartening to read posts stating such jobs as paladins are useless because warriors and dark knights do more dps. Everything else a paladin brings to the table is glossed over. DPS is king!

In the end, it has to be the content which thwarts this obnoxious trend. Only when we are repeatedly given challenges which cannot be defeated by high dps will our other skills be allowed to shine.

- Kacho

Kacho Nacho

Coeurl [Crystal]

Off topic: Wow, half a million players! That's awesome! So much for those naysayers saying FFXIV is dieing. I suspect we'll see over a million players come Stormblood.

Verdic Aysen

Brynhildr [Crystal]

I feel this post is now more relevant than ever.
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