Why 'DPS'? It's a 'DD', isn't it?

jssriot · February 2018

This thread is effing hilarious. Like the game devs haven't been literally paid to study other MMOs and MMO players and culture to make sure ESO appeals to the right target audience since the moment ZOS decided to invest hundreds of millions of dollar into making this game.

ZOS_Mika · February 2018

We recently removed a few unnecessary and insulting comments from this thread. It is fine to have a difference of opinion as long as things remain civil and constructive. Please keep that in mind as this discussion continues.

klowdy1 · February 2018

Eremith wrote: »

klowdy1 wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

klowdy1 wrote: »

As long as you understand what is being said, what difference does it make? This is the only game I've ever seen use DD, so people coming from, literally, any other game probably won't be using it. Adapt, or adhere to your rigid ideas, just don't bash for not conforming to YOUR way of thinking.

While I agree it's no big deal - the OP never said it was - , it's important to emphasize that's it's NOT a way of thinking, rigid or not. It's a matter of grammar, vocabulary, and consistency of meaning. Language isn't a "way of thinking". It's an evolutive set of rules that allows us to communicate.

Which is why no one is quoted. That was directed at both sides, not just the OP. It's all semantics, and if people understand, then what does it matter?

Semantics matter. No?

Not if the point is acknowledged.

Izaki · February 2018

ak_pvp wrote: »

It stands for damage person sender duh.

/s

Genius.

Storms_in_Argonia · February 2018

From my Everquest 1 days, DD meant "Direct Damage", classifying how you dealt damage as opposed to someone who was "DOTS", or damage over time.

Samadhi · February 2018

Sharee wrote: »

DD stands for direct damage. As opposed to DOT(damage over time) and AOE(area of effect). Thus people use DPS for the role description.

This seems like it has some sense to it -- the frequent use of DD as a designation for a skill type
may play role in use of DPS as a role descriptor

Personally tend to think of the group as a unit
so "our DPS" refers to the damage players as a group
such that "DPS player" is simply more consistent with the expressed idea

my view may be partially informed by not really running trials much
such that any given group has a singular tank, a singular healer, and plural damage

but personally thought people saying "please pst" or "pst me" in zone chat
were making the 'sound' of a whisper
rather than abbreviating "please send tell"
as the system refers to direct communication as receiving a whisper,
rather than a tell

Saphayla · February 2018

On the topic of misspelled terms - Why do so many people call the Sorcerer Ultimate Overlord? It's Overload! I swear, I've seen at least 20 posts here referencing that ultimate and not a single person called it Overload, everyone wrote Overlord.

Yes, DPS stands for Damage Per Second, while DD stands for Damage Dealer. Damage Dealer is your role, same with Healer and Tank, while DPS is the unit used to describe your efficiency as a DD.
However, I sometimes use DPS when talking about DDs, because I feel like more people (especially newbies) are familar with the term. Besides, if you want to correct everyone who uses the wrong term, get ready to spend 90% of your playtime writing.

brimstone74 · February 2018

Well a Damage Dealer/Damage Per Seconder can interrupt, buff, off heal, debuff. etc...

Should we instead call them: IBOHDBDD or IBOHDBDPS?

As long as we're getting uppity about acronyms specifically highlighting functions....

I Guess it's more often SITRDD or SITRDPS (SITR: Stand in the Red)

Kiralyn2000 · February 2018

Eh, I've always seen "DPS" across all the MMOs I've played. And I don't remember anyone using DD. For what little that's worth. /shrug

But this thread does bring back fond memories from vanilla WoW, with "old school" MMO players complaining about what terminology people used for /whispers (Pro-"PST", anti-"PST", "why don't you kiddies use the same acronym us Real MMOers used to use in Everquest", etc, etc, etc)

Lexxypwns · February 2018

A DD is someone who drives me home when I’m too drunk. It’s good to always have one in your group, but it doesn’t help clear dungeons

Milvan · February 2018

For the eight and our lord and savior Talos.

Why is this discussion even happening

Kodrac · February 2018

DPS is a common term in MMOs. In ten years of MMOs I've never heard DD until this one. I can only guess that it comes from single player games since this game draws in a lot of Skyrim players that are new to MMOs (and expect dragon mounts apparently).

Ermiq · February 2018

Milvan wrote: »

For the eight and our lord and savior Talos.

Why is this discussion even happening

Because maybe this topic is more interesting than all those "Nerf this/Nerf that/Do it/Don't do it"

Ermiq · February 2018

Kodrac wrote: »

DPS is a common term in MMOs. In ten years of MMOs I've never heard DD until this one. I can only guess that it comes from single player games since this game draws in a lot of Skyrim players that are new to MMOs (and expect dragon mounts apparently).

Nope. I didn't play Skyrim (or any other TES games) much. And actually people bearly use any MMO specific terms when they talk about singleplayer games (well, they do it in some party RPGs such as NWN/Dragon Age, there're DDs/DPS, healers and tanks). But basically, singleplayer players are very little familiar with MMO terms and abbreviations, I would say that they probably don't even know neither DD nor DPS terms.
But in all of MMORPGs I've played people used 'DD' (damage dealer) for the role and 'DPS' for... DPS (damage per second). That was in Lineage2, WoW, Perfect World, Allods Online, BDO, Archeage, Skyforge...

The thing is, as people mentioned here, there's a difference between EU and NA MMO comunities. We here in Europe use 'DD' mostly, while players in America continents use 'DPS'.

Aeladiir · February 2018

Eremith wrote: »

Just curious. Here in ESO everyone says 'DPS player', 'DPS class', 'as DPS'...
Damage per second player? You queued as a damage per second?
It always've been a Damage Dealer, but in ESO it turned into DPS. Weird.

I've played many MMOs before ESO. All used DPS.

ESO is the 1st MMO where I found the term DD being used far more than DPS.

AhPook_Is_Here · February 2018

One thing not everyone realizes, you can be a DPS player, or a DPM player and still have the same average damage per average time interval as a DPnS player.

CyborgPlatypus · February 2018

Always said dps. Ever since warhammer online and eve. Never heard DD till this game.

Also never heard TP used till this game. Every time someone says it I think of toilet paper. I'll stick to port.

vyndral13preub18_ESO · February 2018

All I can say is, ‘Make America Great again!’

It is DPS!

LordSemaj · February 2018

Every game community falls into its own little niche of terms. You don't hear anyone calling for a DPS in EVE. City of Heroes had people asking for blasters, scrappers, trollers, bubbles, and tank.

Kuramas9tails · February 2018

LF 2 TPS, 2 HPS, and 7 DPS for VHRC. Whisper for invite.

LordSemaj · February 2018

Kuramas9tails wrote: »

LF 2 TPS, 2 HPS, and 7 DPS for VHRC. Whisper for invite.

Players use acronyms to eliminate extra letters and redundancy. So if that was your message, it would eventually get eliminated to:

"LF 2 T, 2 H, and 7 D for VHRC. Whisper for invite."

ZOS_Edward · February 2018

The terms used by gaming communities to describe the different roles they play in a game are more often colloquialisms than anything else. It's all about using terminology you feel comfortable with while also being accurate enough for people to understand what your role is.

Whether you refer to yourself as a Damage Dealer class or a DPS class, the core idea behind both descriptors is that you're there to focus on doing damage. Tanking and healing, if possible at all, are secondary to your purpose and shouldn't be relied upon.

As people play more varied games nowadays, from MMOs to MOBAs to Rogue-likes, some terms will cross over and get adopted while others won't. In the end, as long as people get the general idea, it all works out.

josiahva · February 2018

Who cares? I do admit that when I first started playing(years ago) I had to ask what people meant by DPS considering the other roles were pretty clearly defined as Tank and Healer...I guess its too hard to spell out Damage

Ermiq · February 2018

LordSemaj wrote: »

Kuramas9tails wrote: »

LF 2 TPS, 2 HPS, and 7 DPS for VHRC. Whisper for invite.

Players use acronyms to eliminate extra letters and redundancy. So if that was your message, it would eventually get eliminated to:

"LF 2 T, 2 H, and 7 D for VHRC. Whisper for invite."

"LF 2T, 2H, 7D, VHRC. pm"

randomkeyhits · February 2018

Muds and early MMOs I played called the damage dealers damagers and what they did DPS.

Then after a while both were used interchangeably and now most I see just use DPS for everything (including tanking and healing .......

)

I'll stick to being old fashioned though and stay a damager.

LordSemaj · February 2018

I still remember when there was a difference between blanket DPS and specific kinds of DPS. Looking for Nuker was different from Looking for Melee or Looking for Archer.

And the differences actually mattered because the games weren't made by homogenization developers.

Saucy_Jack · February 2018

Morgul667 wrote: »

Anyway, potayto, potahto

It should be noted that in the numerous decades I have been alive, and in the numerous countries to which I have travelled, I have never heard, even once, anyone pronounce it "potahto" outside of this saying.

anitajoneb17_ESO · February 2018

Eremith wrote: »

But in all of MMORPGs I've played people used 'DD' (damage dealer) for the role and 'DPS' for... DPS (damage per second). That was in Lineage2, WoW, Perfect World, Allods Online, BDO, Archeage, Skyforge...

Aeladiir wrote: »

I've played many MMOs before ESO. All used DPS.
ESO is the 1st MMO where I found the term DD being used far more than DPS.

Very inconsistent testimonies / experiences, as it seems...

Cultural difference ? I play with french, german and english-speaking groups, on PC/EU. English speaking groups will use "DD" 99% of the time. So will german speaking groups. French speaking groups will use "DPS" 100% of the time since no "french word" has been created for that purpose, and "DD" isn't used at all.

In other words, german/english speaking people would say "I can come with my sorc as DD but his DPS sucks", and french people would say the equivalent of "I can come with my sorc as DPS but his DPS sucks".

Also regarding practices and habits in other MMOs, behind cultural/geographical differences, maybe some server-specific habits and vocabulary have developed over the year ? (Since, as far as I know, very few MMOs run like ESO on megaservers and most MMOs are spread over hundreds of servers - some of them even private).

Sparr0w · February 2018

Eremith wrote: »

LordSemaj wrote: »

Kuramas9tails wrote: »

LF 2 TPS, 2 HPS, and 7 DPS for VHRC. Whisper for invite.

Players use acronyms to eliminate extra letters and redundancy. So if that was your message, it would eventually get eliminated to:

"LF 2 T, 2 H, and 7 D for VHRC. Whisper for invite."

"LF 2T, 2H, 7D, VHRC. pm"

"LF 2T 2H 7D VHRC PM"

coop500 · February 2018

I play on both NA and EU server, one interesting thing I noticed about this is...

NA people often call it DPS
EU people often call it DD

Similarly, in the Gold Coast, for the two daily world boss quests...

NA people spam F and A for Folly and Arena
EU people spam +arena and +mino for the same quests.