They aren't important.
Players do not need DPS meters to play effectively.
In my experience, all DPS meters do is act as a ruler for people's e-peen. They also encourage tunnel vision and an obsession for doing as much damage as possible at the expense of everything else.
So if anything, they encourage playing badly - with a lot of poorly-made characters running around who can do a couple more damage per second but die by everything and constantly scream for nerfs and the gameplay usually suffers as a result.
I have seen this happen on many games.
I remember games without DPS meters (like at all, not no group meter) and players did massively different amounts of damage. And you would know it, because it could be seen. If you had no friends helping you with playing your class, you could have fun waiting for the social spots in grind groups...
DPS meters can help you to get better.
They make it way easier to test things.
Please dont mix group DPS parsers in WoW with the usecases they have been invented for.
It is not all black and white.
iroc57b14_ESO wrote: »I wish they would unlock the log like they did in beta. Monitoring your own dps is fine, but it doesn't motivate you to improve. Having always been a casual player, but still top tier dps, there's no excuse for anyone to not be able to pull their weight.
I've never looked down on anyone for having low dps, but I can't take them along for end game challenges if they're not willing to put some of the work in to improve their rotation. What's going going to happen right now under the current system, is organized groups are going to force people to have a meter, and to post their parses each fight in chat so that they can identify a weak link if there is one. Why make us go through the extra work? I hate to use WoW terminology (never even played it), but making it so that people never have to worry about having stupid low deeps is a little too "carebear" for me.
DPS meters = friendly competition.
Locked log = No competition
No competition = no progress
IF you don't like competing, fine. But you also don't get the bragging rights (which if you're a casual, should not affect you)
I remember games back before DPS meters too. Generally they were far more challenging and interesting to play, instead of this boring do as much damage as you can fast as you can mentality.
And in my opinion DPS meters are not a good tool to improve your character by. Playing the game and learning how to adapt to challenging situations is.
I'm not trying to mix anything. I just have nothing but scorn for DPS meters ^^ I think they have had a very negative impact on all games I have played that had them.
But i think dps and general awareness and reacting to mobs are not mutually exclusive.
I think the latter two are more important, but you can excel in all of them.
I for one would rather know if i do more dps with using weakness to elements before some other spell or if its a net loss.
I want to know whats my most efficient single target spell
I want to know if using magelight makes sense dps-wise
I would like to check for myself which abilities make use of weapon damage and which crit rating applies to them
i would like to know how high a critical is
Especially with how vague lots of descriptions and mechanics in this game are.
You know i get that you are pissed off by the way general population uses dps meters, but its not the fault of the addon.
The addon makes things visible, like for example how dumb people are (do as much damage as you can fast as you can mentality=dumb) but the traits of these people are there with or without addon.
Gearscore is also bad, and a lot of other things.
Forcing a tank into heavy armor and SnB is also bad.
and so on, but this behavior exists, and to ban Damage parsers will do nothing about it.
@Jeremy
But it exists?
I have 2 different damage parser installed.
I can exchange with other players about my results?
If you are refering to group dps meters, i will give you that, they most likely would do more harm than good.
DPS meters are a good thing and I will tell you why. If you can't perform up to your groups expectations then hopefully they will HELP you get the needed DPS out of your character. If you pug (which I do) then every little bit of DPS you can or can not inflict can be the difference between a total wipe or completion. If you have an exceptional healer and tank then you can almost fall asleep at the keyboard. ("DPS check" encounters excluded of course.)
Having said that, your ability to stay alive is paramount and if you are dead your DPS falls to the wayside. I'd much rather have a smart player with lower DPS than the dead one that I have to waste soul gems upon because he gets too much aggro or waits for the red circles to heal him.
Dead DPS = no DPS.
@Jeremy I feel that you misunderstand my stance or perhaps I did not state it clearly enough.
My point was and is this - if your DPS is low, for whatever reason, then that is an issue that can be easily corrected. If you are standing in red circles while wailing away at the boss...well ya can't fix stupid.
DPS meters are a tool to help you get better. As far as the elitism that comes from out of the usage of such tools, highly regrettable but a fact of life. Min/maxers should be more understanding and patient. They should also HELP people instead of insulting them. I suppose that was my main point.
Then we agree to disagree.
While I truly respect your opinion on the matter I feel that you fail to realize that in order to maximize your DPS you should have proper positioning, per your class/abilities, while also being able to put out as much DPS as possible in a certain allotted amount of time. Many bosses have enrage timers - if you do not kill it before this threshold then everyone dies. Simple as that.
In that regard a DPS meter would assist you, yes?
@Jeremy I'll quote an old favorite song of mine if I may....
"Ain't no wrong - ain't no right
Only pleasure and pain"
I like running the current addons to see what my spells hit for and overall DPS.
I will not pug hard content. In a guild run, a person should not want to bring down the run if he or she cannot contribute the DPS on an enrage timer fight. That person would be likely to bow out and/or seek assistance from guildies on increasing DPS.
Because to me that is how it works when you play with friends.
I eventually avoided pugs in WoW partly because of DPS meters. As a healer I would see DPS stay in bad stuff or easily avoidable one shot mechanics without ever moving just to pad those meters. If they died they would say "wtf healer?"
They did this because someone always wanted to scroll Recount in the chat after every trash and boss fight.
Outside of guild progression fights the DPS meter was abused as an epeen thing.
@Jeremy I use them on a personal basis. I judge only myself. Others may judge me but they can shove their meters deep up their...you get the idea.
So now, perhaps we have an understanding, that DPS meters have a use? Ideally it should only be for personal improvement. However, if you are in a great guild that runs as a specific group and you can get direct feedback as to your own DPS and others can keep tabs on your rotation TO MAKE YOU BETTER is this truly a bad thing?
As a solo player I suppose it is....I only think of one thing....I wish to ensure that I am the best player that I am capable of being. The metrics given in the "DPS meters" provide the feedback that I may not be normally accustomed to. That being anecdotal evidence - ie. "yes i killed it" or "it killed me".
Sorry, my friend, but such anecdotal evidence doesn't cut it.
The problem is that such tools are powerful tools (indeed, they wouldn't be used/asked otherwise). They are so powerful that you just can't not use them when other people start using them, as it tend to put you at a severe disadvantage.
And most people don't like disadvantages.
Um, you've lost me. So in ESO (not WoW), people who don't use damage meters are at a "severe" disadvantage? Would you mind elaborate on this?
Am I a in severe disadvantage for not using a single addon?
Oh and about people not liking disadvantages. Not true. Some calls it disadvantage. Some calls it challanging.