Official statement from SEGA on parsing tools

[Variant]

The order of events was pretty funny though.

-> Day 1: Block OverParse
-> Day 1: Bypassed
-> Day 2: Block OverParse with a much more primitive method
-> Day 2: Permanently bypass
-> Day 3: ???
-> Day 4: Announcement

They gave up trying to use GG to block it lol.

[Vatallus]

Can only assume people judging others in a casual game over their damage output lead to this. Nothing new to see here.

[Misaki Ki]

Who told you that you have right to ivade other players builds and dictate them how they must play, even if they are Hu/Fo. My friend's reaction when he first time setted parser up was "OMG, Other players SO weak... disappointed".
Many times I have heard the stories about players, who not using moon atms on players who have more dps then they are. Partly I’m glad that they get rid of this crap.
No offense と　developers.

The main issue is that the game tends to focus on 12 player EQs and LQs, where an individual's performance affects everyone else. (I wish we had 4 player EQs.) It doesn't also help that a properly set up character is multiples stronger than an improper one. It's pretty selfish going in with weaker weapons, class combinations, skill trees, playstyles, and expecting everyone else to pick up the slack. (Obviously, not everyone can be at peak condition 100% of the time, and people need to level - but some don't even try for anything that'll help.)

I don't believe the thought process here is an elitist one. Most people are happy to teach, help, and explain the systems - but typically the effort/help isn't wanted by a lot of people going in like that.

The bigger question here is what right to privacy do others have, especially if everyone affects one another. Should everything be open to each other, or should some things remain private to avoid toxic behavior - that sort of thing.

[catwat]

RIP i will miss it

[DrCatco]

My friend's reaction when he first time setted parser up was "OMG, Other players SO weak... disappointed".

That's why I started using ACT/OverParse. I was one of those "so weak" players, and I didn't even know! I had the sensation that I was weak, but I didn't had a way to confirm it. Then, the ACT plugin appeared. I started using it and bam, my sad reality: I was always at the bottom of the dps table. Always. It was quite a shock to be honest.

Now, yes, I'm still a weak player. But I'm not at the bottom of the table, not consciously at least. I can tell that I've improved, be in Just Attacks, Just Guards, Just Reversals, evading, hitting weak points, using the proper stances when needed, etc. And it was thanks to ACT/OverParse which shown me what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong.

So yeah, SEGA banning users of these tools like me, it doesn't feel right.

[[Ayumi]]

While I think it's kind of stupid, it partially doesn't affect me either way.
I might be one of the few that never touched the parsers... but I did see what the parser did on certain occasions in MPAs I was in where someone was parsing so I can see how good or bad I was doing. That's pretty much as far I've gotten with it.
Wouldn't affect me though as I guess I'm too much of a filthy casual.

Also with +3 Axeon/Lord Axeon/Emperor Axeon hid under Nanaki camo!

Not ashamed to say that usually at the very end of Abyss, I switch to my Umbra Rod like just before he die/cutscene (due to people breaking the crystal way too fast before I can switch) and I use a camo I really like on Rods so... people usually don't get to see me do the switch.
And they won't stop and check my gear anyway when the boss is about to die in 5 seconds either so...

It's a miracle they didn't even bother with English Patch and Proxy, I thought those two were enough to trigger GG

The thing is that Sega knew about the patch since the 1st year actually. Not sure about the proxy though so I can't answer that one.

Thats why on the countdown you keep your 60 ele decent affixed 13* and switch when the eq starts.

Okay this one made me laugh a bit.

[TaigaUC]

I strongly disagree that it's easy to tell how efficient you are being. Here's why:

- Sure, you can aim for the best equip. But there are TONS of players who have the best gear, and still play like shit.
There are that many other pitfalls outside of gear. Skill trees, rings, lag, control setup, effective PAs, etc. When you should use what, and which attacks hit harder.

- A ton of attacks/combos hit multiple times in quick succession and/or take a while to complete.
Unless you're recording videos and manually counting, you're not going to know how much damage that is.
Especially when they rebalance stuff. What's more effective now, Illusion Rave's long-ass string of attacks or a quicker hitting attack?
Is it better damage in the long run to use Wild Rhapsody 0 -> Quick March, or use Orchestra, which takes a long time to execute?
And I'd imagine these are also affected by how much PP you have, etc. What's the best way to balance your stats? I'm sure it varies depending on playstyle, too.

- Multi strength varies greatly. There's no way to know how much you're comparatively and effectively contributing.
Which in turn means you don't know how much better you could be, unless you go around looking for videos of other players with similar setups, in similar scenarios.
Even with a damage parser, sometimes it feels like I'm doing well, and yet I still can't top a few people.
Then it becomes a matter of "why I couldn't beat them", and there are tons of possibilities for that, too.

- As far as I can imagine, the only way you can somewhat clearly figure out how effective you are is if you solo.
And it needs to be a boss that you have a good idea of how quick you normally can kill them.
Even if you solo an XH EQ boss, their HP is so huge, it takes so long to kill them, and there are so many variations in battle.
You're going to have to clear solo XH EQ bosses a ton of times to get a rough idea of how effective your current setup is on XH EQ bosses.
It's not really viable to keep doing this over and over everytime you make a change to your setup.
I suppose you might be able to figure out your effectiveness in a group, if you're lucky enough to fill a multi with a ton of other people who play just like you do.

- Randomized enemy behavior can make a big difference in how fast you beat a boss, which makes it more difficult to gauge player strength.
For example, even a good multi can take a long time to kill Double if it keeps running away constantly.
Depending on the quest, there are also other factors going on that affect how quickly a boss is downed. Code Avoid, trash mobs, etc.
There's a lot of stuff going on at once, which makes it even more difficult to figure out how effective you're being.

- It takes a lot of research to compare all the mechanics that influence damage, such as latents, skills, stat calculations, etc.
And there are a lot of little things that don't work how people would expect, or behave differently in different situations.
I'd imagine that only if you are able to accurately process ALL of these factors in mind, would you be able to achieve a somewhat accurate understanding of your strengths.
Remember, most people are not going to know these things, nor are they going to research them. There's no way they'd be able to easily tell how effective they are.


Not to be offensive, but I think that if you really believe that it's that easy to know how effective you are, then you are very likely being overconfident.
I think that if you believe you are already the best, you won't be able to improve.
A person needs to be able to question themselves before they begin to consider paths for improvement.

I'm aware there are some people who seem to be able to figure out exactly how effective they are.
Like the knowledgeable JP friend I keep mentioning, because they often go out of their way to experiment and do research, even for the most obscure of details.
Or probably Z-0, the people he plays with, and the other people on this forum at his level. I know there are a bunch of good players on here.

Personally, I find it difficult to tell if I'm effective or not. I'm not an idiot, and I've been playing games for longer than most.
I don't have the confidence, nor do I know the mechanics clearly or accurately enough to be sure that I am making a difference.
I will admit that I tend to miss simple/obvious stuff because I automatically assume things are more complicated than they seem.
But I honestly do not think it's simple to figure out effectiveness, especially with how convoluted PSO2 is, with so many factors affecting overall strength.

I see tons of people with 6+ slot affixed units/Austere and +130-200 damage on everything, and I don't feel I can compete at all, to the point that I feel like a burden.
But thanks to damage parsing, I was able to confirm that I wasn't that far behind, if at all.
Take the PD I did a few days ago, where I played like shit and died way too often.
I was still somewhat keeping up with the top players (who had gear equal to or better than me), despite repeated deaths. Really didn't expect that.

A while back, I was having trouble figuring out why my Double Saber damage wasn't enough to kill Bal Lodos in one harpoon.
Yes, Bal Lodos harpoon is probably one of the best ways to gauge your strength.
All I knew was that something was wrong. It took lots discussion on this forum, and testing (running back to Bal Lodos repeatedly) to figure out exactly what the issue was.
It turns out my character and weapon/camo hitbox was too small for some Double Saber attacks to properly deal huge damage.
There are things like that going on, too. Even such a vague and bizarre reason like that can make a HUGE difference.

Anyway, if you don't care about how effective you are, then I can't say much about that (other than "at least try to be considerate of other people").
After all, SEGA seems to only be interested in players who don't care about how effective they are.
This is increasingly obvious from the direction of their recent EQ design, and their relentless efforts to get in the way of more serious players.

I want to be clear and state that I am not saying people should be serious, or that the game should get rid of casuals.
I want to be able to play with casuals as well, but I also want to improve myself and achieve efficient quest clears.
SEGA keeps widening the gap between players, and they've put much more effort into concealing it than trying to close it.


@AIDA
+00 bytes. Hilarious.

[sparab]

Great. Now I can leech the hell out of MPA without getting shamed.

10/10 SAGE

[SteveCZ]

That's why I started using ACT/OverParse. I was one of those "so weak" players, and I didn't even know! I had the sensation that I was weak, but I didn't had a way to confirm it. Then, the ACT plugin appeared. I started using it and bam, my sad reality: I was always at the bottom of the dps table. Always. It was quite a shock to be honest.

Now, yes, I'm still a weak player. But I'm not at the bottom of the table, not consciously at least. I can tell that I've improved, be in Just Attacks, Just Guards, Just Reversals, evading, hitting weak points, using the proper stances when needed, etc. And it was thanks to ACT/OverParse which shown me what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong.

So yeah, SEGA banning users of these tools like me, it doesn't feel right.

Maybe SEGA is trying to make the game somehow harder for everyone else by preventing people like you to finally notice your damage output and improve cause of the tool.

[Squall179]

I find it hilarious that people are getting so angry that they can't stroke their e-peens anymore from getting to read large numbers. Its like people get off on that or something. OH WELL.