Beginner's Guide to Parsing in XIV [Final Fantasy 14]

Ever wanted to live on the edge from the comfort of your basement? Try parsing Sastasha (Hard). I'll wait. If you have no idea what parsing is or why it's only ever mentioned with half-held breaths, this video might be for you! After 5 minutes, you'll have a surface-level understanding of what ACT is and how to use it to improve your FFXIV gameplay or I guarantee you your... 5 minutes back?

Here are all the websites I mention:

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:15 Defining "parsing"
0:37 The Controversy
1:25 What is ACT actually good for?
2:01 What is FF Logs?
3:06 Navigating FF Logs
4:34 XIV Analysis
5:29 Outro

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Socials:

Socials:

[emmacy]

Just discovered what parse was and when you said other people could upload stuff for you I ran straight to website to see if anyone had done it for me! Huge shock to find someone had uploaded one

[enikata]

It was something that annoyed me with WoW in that some people were obsessed with damage output. The raiding guild I was in would use it to bench players who didn't cut it, so I was benched a lot. When I asked how I could get better they just said "get better gear" but how can I get better gear if I can't do the raids?? And when I did raid the better gear when to the core members anyhow! Put me off raiding and dungeons too though there is another reason for that. Duties and raiding in ffxiv has brought that fun back.

[TheChozenOneTV]

You’re videos are really well edited and informative! As a new player trying to get into raiding I appreciate this, subbed!

[vlk]

I really appreciate your video on the subject, and it helped me clear a lot of doubts about it, however you yourself stated that many static raid groups check the logs to measure other players and that's EXACTLY what square is trying to avoid, that is the seed that poisoned the well in WoW, as soon as its starts to be asked of players the damaged is done, although I DO appreciate the use of the tool for self improvement, what would be the best of both worlds would be a first party Damage tracker in which you can only track/see your own performance.

[LensMusicBox]

I've only played Ffxiv for a year, so I'm still discovering a LOT of new things(for me) about xiv. I also had no idea what pars(sp?) was until now.
I don't think I'm ready for high end content but it's still nice to know so I can look back on this video when the time comes! Tyvm 😊

[SakuraShuuichi]

one thing you should note about the numbered scores is that it is a rating against other players and does not take gear scores into account. an example of how this can be discouraging without taking that into consideration is that players who have multiple full clears and have fully optimized their gear at the highest ilvl will take a majority as the content ages. The other thing to take into account is the more popular your job is the more parses you will be competing with, like currently there are very few parses for some jobs like mch so it may be easier to get a higher score and a a ton of parses for jobs like dnc so it may be more difficult to get a higher score.

TL;DR your don't let a low score discourage you, especially if you are new to raiding.

[TheChozenOneTV]

I had to come back to this video! Again such a good video! Since watching this I've cleared p9s-p11s and have even gone from a grey to a green parse on some fights (still need some improvement) but the tools you've shared have really helped me not only get into savage and clear but also improve as well! Thank you!

[truesoprano]

Watching this is extremely validating for me, so thank you. As someone newer to the game I always wanna improve and I think that parsing is a great tool for that, but most of the time I just see people using parses as an excuse to bully people. I've been extremely apprehensive about raiding ever since someone posted my logs in a discord server without my permission, and a few people who have never even played with me just told me that I'm not good enough for savage because I parsed like a 10 on my first clears (which I now know is because I was sacrificing uptime to be safe on mechanics and NOT because I don't know my rotation, but these people didn't care). Watching videos like this encourages me to try raiding again someday, since from my experience the community tends to be incredibly hostile towards people new to savage content (which is strange because a lot of people are overly nice to sprouts).

[Mann]

I've been parsing since I got into high end content, and it along with the analysis site helped me become a much better player and make me feel like I'm really pulling my weight in Savage content. As I pick up and learn new classes, it helps me understand whether I'm getting the rotation right and how effective I'm being, and gives me the tools to improve. I could not imagine doing high end content without it, as it provides validation and guidance about whether I'm performing my rotation well, in turn increasing my confidence and allowing me to focus on mechanics more.

On the flip side, I avoid judging others for their numbers and will only comment on/share it with friends who ask or who I know are cool with knowing. I play with some PS5 players who always ask for logs afterwards since they can't personally parse, and I'm always happy to share. The one time I remember mentioning it to a random member was someone in a Party Finder group who was worried he wasn't doing well on DPS after an enrage, so I looked and he was doing great, so I just replied "You're doing great, just keep doing what you're doing".

[willowm.]

parsing has way too much of a negative connotation around it, more people should be open minded about this topic while being friendly towards others. its not a competition against each other, its a great tool for personal growth! this is a very good video, thank u!!

[friendlyfyre]

Can i just say..what a refreshing video this is. The editing is *chef's kiss*

[cappuccino]

another video with excellent editing and music! and the giant ast hat looks so awesome on a lala! looking forward to the next video

also 126th!

[MrSpiderspider]

Another youtuber said the safest solution of the parsing controversy is
FIRST PARTY PERSONAL PARSING TOOL
What it means is a tool that makes able to see ONLY YOUR progress, not anyone else

[hammsuke]

I keep hearing ppl against fflogs, they think it makes u instantly clear raids? No, if u're bad, u still bad. Unless if u try to improve from the given logs

[Envinyon]

I think damage numbers are all fine and good, but imo the best way to learn to get better is looking up resources for your job, and finding people that can play your job well and seeing what they do.

FFlogs and xivanalysis have been useful in spotting rotational errors, but that's only because I already know what the rotational should be. When you know what burst windows are supposed to look like, then its pretty easy to figure out on your own where your mistakes are. Personally, having ACT installed just made me obsessed over my damage in a pretty negative way, and honestly distracted me or made me feel like I needed to take pointless risks. Why not lose a gcd to make a mechanic safer when you know you're gonna beat the dps check? I don't need a website yelling at me for trying to make reclears smooth.

[justdave]

I'm glad you said it's all about self improvement. Good tips, thanks!

[starscorpia]

Thanks for informing me on the opt out feature, i think ff logs should be opt in only but eh, at least opting out is easy

[Tailionis]

I wish you could like twice. One for a good easy to understand video and one for being a Lalafell

[Revonlieke]

My question;

If a console player can clear virtually anything the game offers.
Whats is the point?

[tical]

Just found out about hiding the logs and went and did it. I don't raid or give a fuck about epeen dps numbers. I had no idea i had parses out there. Glad to have em blocked now.