A Reality Check on DPS Parses and Buffed Dummies

heimdall14_9 · February 10

twisttop138 wrote: »

heimdall14_9 wrote: »

twisttop138 wrote: »

It's weird people think trial dummy buffs are hard to achieve. Even 5 minutes of looking at your roster can tell you what you have and what needs to be brought. I don't really pug though, so maybe that's what you mean.

As for dummy parses. People in this thread have already said eloquently what they're for and why they're beneficial. A dummy parse also helps people get better. I post parses and people much better than I can watch and critique and tell me where I'm going wrong. As for gatekeeping, if you're in a trial guild that wants a ridiculous number to do vet trials, leave the guild. Full stop. Look for the guild that wants to see a parse to help you improve them get you into content to get you the right gear to help with that. They're out there. I'm in trials guilds that require no parse for open runs, only score push runs and hard mode stuff and even then it's about competency not a huge number.

Use the dummy for what it's for. To keep learning and improving.

thats the issue a lot of players are talking about more and more guilds are asking for parses more as an way to gate-keep runs then to get an baseline and offer help where needed , its get good or get out mentality... and im 100% with you on drop them types like an bad habit , once they use something to hold you back not give help they no longer an guild as an guild is only as strong as its weakest link and strive to fix that not cast you out

Then find another guild. Full stop. If your guild is not meeting your expectations, find one that will. I have left many guilds, for various reasons. Even the rosters not being at the time I play has been a reason to leave. It can be a pain but I now have exactly what I'm looking for. Awesome guilds. Raids at 8pm Eastern most weeknights. Vet and hard mode. Prog team. Even better, good friends, laughs and memorable evenings. So the people someone is looking for are out there. Don't let yourself (not the person I'm replying to but in general) be held back.

i have an small hand-full of players i play with i dont get into guilds to much drama for me as deep down iam antisocial and dont care for people to much to often

mdjessup4906 · February 11

The thing that annoys me most about parse posts is that theres apparantly several prebuff strats people use to get super high ones and I guess people who know what to look for can tell when that stuff is being used, but if you dont and just want to compare yourself using just basic begin fight stuff, those numbers are not only useless, they're discouraging.

At the very least posters should specify what other pre parse stuff they did.

Tannus15 · February 11

mdjessup4906 wrote: »

The thing that annoys me most about parse posts is that theres apparantly several prebuff strats people use to get super high ones and I guess people who know what to look for can tell when that stuff is being used, but if you dont and just want to compare yourself using just basic begin fight stuff, those numbers are not only useless, they're discouraging.

At the very least posters should specify what other pre parse stuff they did.

it doesn't matter though. every youtube parse you see will be crit farmed. you can see it in the video.

they are parsing and resetting and parsing and resetting. most parses they don't finish because if they are below a certain threshold at 75% they know they won't get the best parse.

don't compare yourself to these numbers.
just look at your own parse. copy their build, copy their rotation, but look at the info page, not the damage page.

THIS is the page that matters

how many weapon attacks, how many abilities.
what is the average time between casts?
what's the weave average. is your weaving too slow?
are you missing light attacks between skills?

if you really look at the above screenshot you'll see 15s between stampede casts. a weave time of 0.007. His timing is PERFECT.

That's the numbers you should be paying attention to, not the dps number on the front.

mdjessup4906 · February 11

Crit farming def annoys me too. Best of 3, even best of 10, fine. But best of 50? 100? That's just nuts.
Im referring to finalized build BTW not testing the million combos it takes to get there.

Renato90085 · February 11

i can't get what are people arguing here,the dummy just a dummy
main using to test and training your build max/skill circle
you can't learn the mech and how survive from trial dummy,the eso only way is just go do content learn or some exp experienced one tell/show you
and about dps,your dps high or not is not up to you
the mech/boss health/boss Invincible/other dps high or not all can affect your dps.
the high dps more is from you have a good sup role,like my core best dps can did 180k+ st dps in bahsei hm,just sup can give all buff good than other group,most buff/debuff work time is 85-99%,and many buff dummy not give,but in most pug/core,the pen never full,rojo healer only heavy attack 2 time in 5 min boss fight tank runing selfish survive set,these will all affect your dps.and it uncontrollable
trial dummy just tell you, if you met a group have great sup,how many you can did
so,if today you want do trial scorepush hm/trifecta,leader require meta high parse cmx is a normal thing,it must
and if some leader need you parse 180k to join them vss gear farm run,just leave..

frogthroat · February 11

Oh boy, I would like to be a fly on the wall when people here learn about advertising, professional photography, or anything where you present anything to other people. Of course you show your best.

mdjessup4906 wrote: »

The thing that annoys me most about parse posts is that theres apparantly several prebuff strats people use to get super high ones and I guess people who know what to look for can tell when that stuff is being used, but if you dont and just want to compare yourself using just basic begin fight stuff, those numbers are not only useless, they're discouraging.

At the very least posters should specify what other pre parse stuff they did.

I wholly agree with your last sentence.

If it's a build guide, the guide and the parse section should document the prebuff, otherwise your guide is incomplete.
If it's a "look how well I can parse" video, it should definitely show prebuff, otherwise you are hiding something.

Prebuffing on its own is nothing strange. I don't use actual separate prebuff setups much, mainly with my nuke builds. But valuable addons, such as Wizard's Wardrobe have prebuff settings you can use. If you want to push your dps to its limits in encounters, you should have prebuff setups.

People are familiar with prebuff in general. Of course before the tank pulls, you cast Inspired Scholarship, Solar Barrage, Hurricane, Critical Surge, Proximity Detonation, or any other skills you want to be up the moment the tank pulls. Doing it with a different skill/weapon setup is not that different. Just requires you to set up your WW beforehand.

Tannus15 wrote: »

it doesn't matter though. every youtube parse you see will be crit farmed. you can see it in the video.

Of course. If it's a video where you want to get as high dps as possible, try and try again until you get both your weaving perfect and above average crit rng.

Tannus15 wrote: »

don't compare yourself to these numbers.

Exactly. Don't compare the food you buy from a store to the serving suggestion on the package cover, don't compare the hamburger you buy to the picture on the restaurant wall, don't compare your parse to those who parse hours a day every day.

Tannus15 wrote: »

just look at your own parse. copy their build, copy their rotation, but look at the info page, not the damage page.

Indeed. The build guide shows the build. The rotation section shows how to play. The parse section shows how it performs if played absolutely perfectly - results may vary. The parse section is a serving suggestion. Of course it shows the best side.

Tannus15 wrote: »

THIS is the page that matters

how many weapon attacks, how many abilities.
what is the average time between casts?
what's the weave average. is your weaving too slow?
are you missing light attacks between skills?

if you really look at the above screenshot you'll see 15s between stampede casts. a weave time of 0.007. His timing is PERFECT.

That's the numbers you should be paying attention to, not the dps number on the front.

This I 100% agree with. This screenshot shows near-perfect weaving. So close to perfect as humanly possible. That is what you should be looking at and then check your own where you can improve. Helps you to improve your own weaving. Don't expect to get this in the screenshot overnight, but take it more as a goal -- depending on how much time you are willing to put into it.

mdjessup4906 · February 11

frogthroat wrote: »

Oh boy, I would like to be a fly on the wall when people here learn about advertising, professional photography, or anything where you present anything to other people. Of course you show your best.

mdjessup4906 wrote: »

The thing that annoys me most about parse posts is that theres apparantly several prebuff strats people use to get super high ones and I guess people who know what to look for can tell when that stuff is being used, but if you dont and just want to compare yourself using just basic begin fight stuff, those numbers are not only useless, they're discouraging.

At the very least posters should specify what other pre parse stuff they did.

I wholly agree with your last sentence.

If it's a build guide, the guide and the parse section should document the prebuff, otherwise your guide is incomplete.
If it's a "look how well I can parse" video, it should definitely show prebuff, otherwise you are hiding something.

Prebuffing on its own is nothing strange. I don't use actual separate prebuff setups much, mainly with my nuke builds. But valuable addons, such as Wizard's Wardrobe have prebuff settings you can use. If you want to push your dps to its limits in encounters, you should have prebuff setups.

People are familiar with prebuff in general. Of course before the tank pulls, you cast Inspired Scholarship, Solar Barrage, Hurricane, Critical Surge, Proximity Detonation, or any other skills you want to be up the moment the tank pulls. Doing it with a different skill/weapon setup is not that different. Just requires you to set up your WW beforehand.

Tannus15 wrote: »

it doesn't matter though. every youtube parse you see will be crit farmed. you can see it in the video.

Of course. If it's a video where you want to get as high dps as possible, try and try again until you get both your weaving perfect and above average crit rng.

Tannus15 wrote: »

don't compare yourself to these numbers.

Exactly. Don't compare the food you buy from a store to the serving suggestion on the package cover, don't compare the hamburger you buy to the picture on the restaurant wall, don't compare your parse to those who parse hours a day every day.

Tannus15 wrote: »

just look at your own parse. copy their build, copy their rotation, but look at the info page, not the damage page.

Indeed. The build guide shows the build. The rotation section shows how to play. The parse section shows how it performs if played absolutely perfectly - results may vary. The parse section is a serving suggestion. Of course it shows the best side.

Tannus15 wrote: »

THIS is the page that matters

how many weapon attacks, how many abilities.
what is the average time between casts?
what's the weave average. is your weaving too slow?
are you missing light attacks between skills?

if you really look at the above screenshot you'll see 15s between stampede casts. a weave time of 0.007. His timing is PERFECT.

That's the numbers you should be paying attention to, not the dps number on the front.

This I 100% agree with. This screenshot shows near-perfect weaving. So close to perfect as humanly possible. That is what you should be looking at and then check your own where you can improve. Helps you to improve your own weaving. Don't expect to get this in the screenshot overnight, but take it more as a goal -- depending on how much time you are willing to put into it.

Dummy wise I do the basic precast whatever I can on my bar that doesn't pull, then ult and go at it, but I didnt learn how to do the wizards skill swap thing or just how much a difference it makes until my voc hm core with a thankfully patient rl. And multi swap burn setups are a complete mystery to me. Where do people learn this stuff?

Come to think of it, I didnt learn i should ult at the beginning of a fight/ parse until I was banging my head against 100k a few patches back and cried to one of the endgame servers about it lol.

Skinny, eightpuppies, got a vid idea...

Duncan88 · February 11

A mandatory post of this Eight Puppies video:

https://youtu.be/PyzNp_xmzog?si=Cn28Xvoe-8XEtDrR

twisttop138 · February 11

Soarora wrote: »

Another immaculate @tomofhyrule post. I feel like if the forums had a wall, that should be framed on it.

It's crazy right? He makes an excellent point. The middle is thinning. I'm in the middle. Farming vets. Learning recent dlc hms. Prog team on older trifectas like kynes aegis. I think that's firmly middle of the road and I can see the decline. I was a member of a PS5 guild of excellent raiders. 4 rosters a night, 7 nights a week. Training runs to hm. Last month they just stopped and became a social guild. Sometimes rosters are hard to fill. We need to refill the losses. The training in the social guild is what I do. We do weekly no requirement vet learning runs. No guarantee of clearing but always fun. When people start getting interested, I invite them to the raid guild I'm in to see if they enjoy organized group play.
I wish we could do more of this as the more we lose to bad balance, unfun meta or whatever, we lose experience.

I think threads like this don't help. They perpetuate this stereotype that people who do endgame content are these sweaty toxic elitist gatekeepers. Those people are out there sure, just like the toxic casual who thinks they should be able to get in any group and not have to meet any minimum standard or get better at all and if you don't let them play you're an elitist. I don't know what the solution is, but I wish we could find common ground.

mdjessup4906 · February 11

Ive never run with gaming council so im not gonna judge theyre toxicity level, but for those who had bad experience with them, they arent the only game in town by a longshot. I suggest starting with For the Clear (pc-na) they're a huge vet beginner friendly server/guild and have become a central hub of sorts for tons of other raid guilds, both beginner and advanced. Get on discord and check them out. Idk how to dm on here but I can send server invites. Not guild though, im not in the in-game guild. They're one of the places I got my start.

mdjessup4906 · February 11

I think ninja pulls guild does runs too, and theyve been trying to branch into na. They're eu mostly, I believe. Their youtube should have the discord link

Jaimeh · February 11

rial-dummy parses become a shortcut for judging players, even though they say very little about awareness, survivability, mechanics, or consistency under pressure. We end up filtering for rehearsed DPS rather than actual reliability, and that’s bad for groups and the game.

That's why raid leads also ask for logs, not just dummy parses. Also, they are well aware of the limitations, cheesing, crit farming etc., that comes with target dummies, and they know how to read a parse with all that in mind. And for all the downsides, it still reflects weaving ability, speed, uptime consistency, and so on, which are all good things for a dps to have. But to make up for the downsides mentioned above, along with the fact that it doesn't reflect anything about positioning, survivability, mechanics knowledge and so on., leads will ask for real fight logs and experience, and these are valued a lot more.

twisttop138 · February 11

Jaimeh wrote: »

rial-dummy parses become a shortcut for judging players, even though they say very little about awareness, survivability, mechanics, or consistency under pressure. We end up filtering for rehearsed DPS rather than actual reliability, and that’s bad for groups and the game.

That's why raid leads also ask for logs, not just dummy parses. Also, they are well aware of the limitations, cheesing, crit farming etc., that comes with target dummies, and they know how to read a parse with all that in mind. And for all the downsides, it still reflects weaving ability, speed, uptime consistency, and so on, which are all good things for a dps to have. But to make up for the downsides mentioned above, along with the fact that it doesn't reflect anything about positioning, survivability, mechanics knowledge and so on., leads will ask for real fight logs and experience, and these are valued a lot more.

Yeah, it's kinda just a metric that shows a minimum level of competency. If you're cheesing or somehow inflating your parse, it will become obvious. I'm on console so we don't have logs yet, but I only ever see POVs asked for to run hm and trifecta stuff. They also ask for parses to help you improve. But of course it doesn't show ability to follow mechs. It's just a baseline. Like I said, if you can't follow call outs or stay in your position or do the mechs, all that will become obvious pretty quickly.

SugaComa · February 11

tomofhyrule wrote: »

SugaComa wrote: »

what the youtubers fail to tell you is, on a dummy parse remove things like self heals, shields, even skills that give the buffs debuffs the dummy has are removed, and what your left with is witnessing a build parse thats not real

go test it in IA - or a public dungeon, feel the build.

3 rules to making a build,
does this do what I want it to do (does it heal , does it do enough dps to get me through content, etc)

does it feel right - I cant tell you how many skills I hate even though they hit hard , the controller feedack lacks and it feels weak,

lastly , and this is the most important one, is it fun to play.

One thing to note though is different builds are for different things, and a “one size fits all” build is usually not good for things like group content.

We see this a lot: “I can’t slot [skill] because I need my self-heal!” But if you’re in a group, you have healers for that. The DPS generally have only DPS skills because there are supports whose jobs it is to heal them or shield them. That’s another reason people have low DPS is because they go into groups built like a solo player, so a lot of their potential damage is blocked by them still having heals slotted that they don’t need, so long as the healers are doing their job.
(And in all technicality, coming to a group and telling your healer “I don’t trust you to do your job so I’m going to reduce my damage output specifically because I don’t trust you” is not a friendly way to start things, especially if you’re then going to complain that people shouldn’t judge you for your DPS)

There is a continuum of builds. I very much enjoy my pureclass build even though it’s markedly weaker than subclassed stuff. My dungeon group lets me run what I like - obviously it’s still effective enough and I’m skilled with it enough to get trifectas, but for my trial trifecta prog I have to subclass because it is necessary. It’s not as fun of a build though, and trials have been really unfun since subclassing dropped. I can handle that one, but there was another group I had to do that had me subclass into a different pair of lines and I had to ragequit that one since I hated the build so much.

For overland, go nuts. The fact overland is super easy means you should totally do something that is 100% for fun. I plan specifically to have my characters take thematically-appropriate sets with proper visuals and everything, and efficacy is the last concern. I throw my main in Yolnakriin (because he’s fire and dragon themed) and Ironblood (he’s designed to be a stone wall and the proc turning you metal is really cool), with all 64 points in health. I took that through an Arc 2 yesterday just for endeavors and it takes *ages* since he has a wet noodle for a weapon. But I like that build. But it is a meme build, so I’m not using it in content.

Build the way you want. But also realize that some builds may not be appropriate for all content, and that you may need to compromise. You shouldn’t have to build completely in a way you hate, but sacrificing heals for more damage in a group that has healers giving that to you is not unreasonable.

... I would like to draw your attention to rule 1

SugaComa · February 11

Blood_again wrote: »

SugaComa wrote: »

what the youtubers fail to tell you is, on a dummy parse remove things like self heals, shields, even skills that give the buffs debuffs the dummy has are removed, and what your left with is witnessing a build parse thats not real

go test it in IA - or a public dungeon, feel the build.

What about running trials with a trial build and running the IA with an IA build?
Hammering the nails with a microscope doesn't work smoothly, you know...

... Rule 1 I used two example ... Build a trials build test it in a trial not on a static dummy

All three rules apply , not once did I suggest you make 1 build to run them all .... My precious

Friendly-assasin81 · February 11

Damage is nothing compared to mechanics. I see pug groups boasting about how much damage they got, but the same people keep being dead on the floor doing nothing towards mechanics. All you need lots of damage for is speed runs and dps checks on a boss. The rest is mechanics.

So if you are one of the "i got 190k dps on a dummy" people, Learn the mechanics and then you can start boasting about it.

ZhuJiuyin · February 11

Some high-DPS players die easily in PUGs, mainly because PUGs "lack clearing mechanisms." These high-DPS players actively try to manage these mechanisms but don't receive the attention they deserve, such as from healers, leading to their deaths.
I've seen too many high-DPS players in VDSR PUGs die trying to handle the first boss's mechanics, such as temporarily taking the circle, while other low-DPS players just stand there foolishly.

Furthermore, if the tank doesn't draw all aggro, players with high area-of-effect (AoE) damage can easily die, while those who don't deal damage but wander around can survive because they have almost no AoE damage and therefore don't attract the monsters' attention.

Soarora · February 11

Friendly-assasin81 wrote: »

Damage is nothing compared to mechanics. I see pug groups boasting about how much damage they got, but the same people keep being dead on the floor doing nothing towards mechanics. All you need lots of damage for is speed runs and dps checks on a boss. The rest is mechanics.

So if you are one of the "i got 190k dps on a dummy" people, Learn the mechanics and then you can start boasting about it.

Except when damage is so high mechanics don’t happen. Albeit, you have to know WHEN to burn for that to happen.

mdjessup4906 · February 11

Soarora wrote: »

Friendly-assasin81 wrote: »

Damage is nothing compared to mechanics. I see pug groups boasting about how much damage they got, but the same people keep being dead on the floor doing nothing towards mechanics. All you need lots of damage for is speed runs and dps checks on a boss. The rest is mechanics.

So if you are one of the "i got 190k dps on a dummy" people, Learn the mechanics and then you can start boasting about it.

Except when damage is so high mechanics don’t happen. Albeit, you have to know WHEN to burn for that to happen.

After learning a bit more about so called burn strats, I still classify these as knowing mechanics. For these to work every person in the group has to not only be built right but have timing down to a science. Knowing to drop ult at 70% and hard focus x is by definition knowing the mechs 💪

And as I also learned, from u I think lol, stuff like fang lair your still doing all the stuff burn or not

Soarora · February 11

mdjessup4906 wrote: »

Soarora wrote: »

Friendly-assasin81 wrote: »

Damage is nothing compared to mechanics. I see pug groups boasting about how much damage they got, but the same people keep being dead on the floor doing nothing towards mechanics. All you need lots of damage for is speed runs and dps checks on a boss. The rest is mechanics.

So if you are one of the "i got 190k dps on a dummy" people, Learn the mechanics and then you can start boasting about it.

Except when damage is so high mechanics don’t happen. Albeit, you have to know WHEN to burn for that to happen.

After learning a bit more about so called burn strats, I still classify these as knowing mechanics. For these to work every person in the group has to not only be built right but have timing down to a science. Knowing to drop ult at 70% and hard focus x is by definition knowing the mechs 💪

And as I also learned, from u I think lol, stuff like fang lair your still doing all the stuff burn or not

Fair, I think it would be under the same umbrella of knowing mechanics with one side being “do mechanics effectively” and the other side being “exploit mechanics effectively”.

LOL probably, I make people do slow strat. You can full burn Thurvokun but I’m not convinced the average group, even the average guild group, can burn him fast enough to do that. The more sweaty guild players have the damage though.

alpha_synuclein · February 11

Taarente wrote: »

alpha_synuclein wrote: »

While trial dummy might not be a perfect tool, common sense suggests that if you can't hit high on an enemy that stands still and don't fight back, you won't do better on one that does.

It's just a baseline for comparison purpose. Best we have for group content.

I don’t disagree that a dummy shows a ceiling. My question is why we treat the ceiling as the primary indicator, rather than the floor.

In real content, the limiting factor is rarely “how high can I spike when nothing interrupts me,” it’s “how much damage can I keep doing when things go wrong.”

Most players aren’t failing because they can’t hit hard on a stationary target — they’re failing because:
• they lose uptime under pressure,
• they have to block, move, or self-heal,
• buffs drop,
• or mistakes happen.

In that context, the low end of a build — the damage it can maintain while staying alive — is often a better predictor of success than the absolute peak.

The trial dummy is a useful ruler.
The issue is assuming the ruler’s maximum mark tells you more than its minimum usable range.

We treat this "ceiling" (in quotes, because in optimized groups parse is NOT a ceiling) as a primary indicator, because what you asking for is not realistic as a comparison point while creating a group.

And what you seem to ignore, damage that a player can maintain while staying alive is highly correlated with stationary numbers. The more you practice your rotation the less attention you need to maintain it in combat. Leaving more brainpower for mechs.

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Being good on a stationary target does not mean you will be good in content.

Being bad at stationary target pretty much guarantees you won't be good in content.

Jestir · February 12

First, so while a dummy is an almost "ideal" simulation of a trial fight it falls short in certain debuffs/buffs still (like morag tong), worse sustain due to only 1 synergy every 20 seconds, and lacking different size dummies that mimic fights like taleria which allow certain sets and tactics to explode DPS numbers

It's perfect that it doesn't move, have mecha and obviously fight back but there are groups and players in them that still perform better in actual combat

Second of all, parsing shows a fundamental understanding of how to, ya know, do damage effectively and is completely relevant when others are doing higher level content and want to ensure others in group are capable of doing what is expected of them

twisttop138 · February 12

Soarora wrote: »

Friendly-assasin81 wrote: »

Damage is nothing compared to mechanics. I see pug groups boasting about how much damage they got, but the same people keep being dead on the floor doing nothing towards mechanics. All you need lots of damage for is speed runs and dps checks on a boss. The rest is mechanics.

So if you are one of the "i got 190k dps on a dummy" people, Learn the mechanics and then you can start boasting about it.

Except when damage is so high mechanics don’t happen. Albeit, you have to know WHEN to burn for that to happen.

This is true. Also, while I'm not a high level player, I consider myself quite mid level, I am in a guild with very high level players that do the awesome perfectas and score pushes. In our discord or guild chat I'll tell ya one thing I don't see. People boasting about how good they are. I see people posting parses so they can be examined and helped to improve. I see excellent advice being given. And some light ribbing but mostly just dedicated players who enjoy the game and doing things at a high level. If people are having this experience in pugs, I know it can be rough in these ESO streets, take some time to find a group that fits your needs. You'll never go back to that pug life.

mdjessup4906 · March 2

twisttop138 wrote: »

Soarora wrote: »

Friendly-assasin81 wrote: »

Damage is nothing compared to mechanics. I see pug groups boasting about how much damage they got, but the same people keep being dead on the floor doing nothing towards mechanics. All you need lots of damage for is speed runs and dps checks on a boss. The rest is mechanics.

So if you are one of the "i got 190k dps on a dummy" people, Learn the mechanics and then you can start boasting about it.

Except when damage is so high mechanics don’t happen. Albeit, you have to know WHEN to burn for that to happen.

This is true. Also, while I'm not a high level player, I consider myself quite mid level, I am in a guild with very high level players that do the awesome perfectas and score pushes. In our discord or guild chat I'll tell ya one thing I don't see. People boasting about how good they are. I see people posting parses so they can be examined and helped to improve. I see excellent advice being given. And some light ribbing but mostly just dedicated players who enjoy the game and doing things at a high level. If people are having this experience in pugs, I know it can be rough in these ESO streets, take some time to find a group that fits your needs. You'll never go back to that pug life.

This. High level players are just people. Even the best ones are usually chill and even super nice. As in Real Life, people who put others down to try to make themselves look good are telling on themselves. Best to just ignore those and let them stew in their own bs.

Reginald_leBlem · March 2

1) people love to pretend there are tons of players who cannot/refuse to parse but are great at mechanics and survivability. This is not true. It has been my overwhelming experience that the dds that refuse to parse, have a low parse, or use weird gear combos, are actually terrible teammates. They only do mechanics when they feel like it("I can't get the bash, I have a melee build!" ), blame everyone and everything but themselves when they die, (which they do frequently) and all of this while doing 1/4 of the damage as anyone else. This "great at mechanics but can't parse" dd is a myth, and if you think its you you are probably wrong.
2) If you take any random selection of dds from a raid group, the top 5 dummy parsers will all be in the top 5 damage dealers in the trial itself. Maybe in a different order or whatever. But they will all be there.
3) It's been a while since everything I parsed on a 6 mil dummy, but last I did my trial dummy parse was around 115k and my 6mil parse was around 70k. Worth noting it was always extremely easy to fake a higher parse on the 6 mil because you could have a friend debuff it for you throughout the fight.

Everest_Lionheart · March 3

I’ve just come back to the game after 2.5 years away. I was a part of several trifecta groups when I left and even managed to get a few plus 2/3 of the way in most of the others. The reason I ultimately stepped away from the game was the constant need to farm the new meta every couple of months and get back to parsing to hit certain benchmarks in order to keep my spot on those raid teams.

Keep in mind I was one of those players doing specialized roles like orb busting in VCR3 (sorc) solo ports in VCR3 (NB), portals in VRGHM (cro), MK/Zen DK in VAS2, Azureblight plar OOT in VSSHM. All of those specialized roles and still having to update parses for the flavour of the month got old after a while.

And then arcanist was added to the game and some of the raid leads wanted to run all Arc comp and have it farmed up and ready to go in the first week. Thats where I drew the line. Had I stuck around through subclassing it would have only been worse.

Now that I am back I did go slap the dummy a couple of times for posterity sake on my pure class stam warden wearing the meta sets of old (Rele, PON, 2pc Zaan and no mythic) for fun hitting a sloppy 100K after a long break. I decided to try to subclass to see the impact adding only the assassination line and immediately jumped to 112K which I’m sure doesn’t cut it for trifecta groups these days. People were getting Godslayer way back when the top dogs were hitting 75K when I left most groups were looking at 100K+ to get reps. Adjusting for power creep it’s got to be at least 125K or more to nab a roster spot.

This is why I will likely never gravitate towards this type of play style ever again. The goal posts for clearing content that is several years old keep getting moved and it’s all because numbers of the parse dummy have got out of control.

allochthons · March 3

I used to think parsing was useless/toxic/etc. What changed my mind was trying to teach someone to parse who wasn't very good at the game, because they couldn't learn systems very well.

As in, "gaming the trial dummy" is a system that has to be learned. People have mentioned in passing things like using parsing food, or Highland Sentinel. Learning to get the highest numbers on the dummy with prebuffing, tricks, and strats is part of the point. Can I learn this system? Can I research it? Can I learn that I need different food, different morphs, different sets, and to take off my healing/buff skills? Am I willing to put in the time?

If yes, good parse, maybe a pretty good trial teammate and someone a raid lead can be confident is willing to learn and improve. If not, then I'm probably not a good choice for hard content.

THEN I can get to building the muscle memory, perfecting rotation, knowing to cast my beam right after I cast Incap Strike, etc.

Maybe this falls into the "all this should be obvious" category. It wasn't to me.

allochthons · March 3

Tannus15 wrote: »

THIS is the page that matters

Just a reminder. (AFAIK) Console still doesn't have access to CMX. We have Hodor Reflexes, and Battle Scrolls. I haven't used Hodor, and am just now starting to use Battle Scrolls. BS will let you see things like how was your uptime for buffs, and your in-fight DPS/healing (and the DPS/healing of others with the add-on installed) but there isn't a way to get a beautiful summary like CMX gives.

If there is, please let me know.