Just because this game is not trinity focused, I am rather baffled by the absence of a DPS meter, or some way to actually compare the effectiveness of one build’s DPS vs another.
Edited to encompass some of the posts:
Elitism will be in MMOs, regardless of if there is a DPS meter or not. Elitist groups will not include pubs to begin with, and thus those pubs will not be the target to their constant ridicule. GW2 is not an overly hardcore game, there will still be plenty of groups out there that are not speed focused, and those groups of casual players will not be dependent on DPS, build, or gear.
Knowledge of Dungeon Mechanics will always be more important in tougher dungeons such as Arah Explorable
Implementing the DPS meter will bring an elitist mentality with it, people will start asking what your average dps is, and people will start getting restricted group access because they’re not doing as much DPS as someone else could.
Restricted group access has already been happening in GW2, just look at gw2lfg, where you see full berzerker/mesmer only parties farming COF 1 because they have “max dps”, if anything, a DPS meter would allow other classes to design builds with dps high enough to break the warrior/mesmer trend.
You raise a good point, but it will also enforce that mentality even more, players will be requesting that people play a specific trait setup in order to get as much damage out of them as possible, i’m not sure if it’s worth the risk if i’m honest, small things like DPS meters can completely ruin a community.
In other words:
DPS meters are not a prerequisite for elitism
Elitism is not a function of DPS meters
DPS meters MAY fuel elitism. This is not necessarily true in all or most situations.
DPS meters are very useful for fine tuning your own builds. +1
Problem is when you start introducing stuff like that the entire mentality of the game starts shifting that way, not just the farm groups.
Soon dev’s will be working under the assumption that the majority of people would be running max dps and then start building content around those numbers and such which ends up meaning if you actually just want to play with a build you enjoy running you can’t because then the games no longer designed for “Average” but for “Top” this is whats killed a fair few mmo’s I’ve player for me.
Restricted group access has already been happening in GW2, just look at gw2lfg, where you see full berzerker/mesmer only parties farming COF 1 because they have “max dps”, if anything, a DPS meter would allow other classes to design builds with dps high enough to break the warrior/mesmer trend.
There are plenty of non-restricted groups that quite honestly get done faster.
The fastest groups I have been with tended to have 2 wars (one banner healer the other shout healing) and a guardian laying down constant fields. Add in an elementalist that uses every element (rare in all honesty) and the group is nigh unkillable and just rolls right through everything without stopping.
I’m not saying there is no form of Elitism in GW2, there most definitely is, i just feel the implementation of a DPS meter will further increase the elitist mentality.
Look at WoW with recount/skada, people get ridiculed in dungeons if they’re pulling too low DPS, they’re then kicked and a replacement is found, this will be no different in GW2.
I hate to say it, but this kind of elitism will happen no matter what. This is why I just find a good group of friends that are okay struggling every once and a while and we blaze through while having fun, instead of trying to play the game with elitist jerks.
In all MMOs there will be elitism, it’s a fact of life. As was indicated, DPS meters do not necessarily result in elitism, and more than likely, the truly elite groups won’t have pubs that would be there only to be ridiculed anyways. There will still be plenty of groups for casual players, in casual builds, with no DPS requirements.
For my own knowledge, I’d like to see a dps meter. No way to really “know” if 1 of my builds is equal or better/worse than the other atm other than a feel.
People want to ask me my “average dps?” Lol, gl dps means nothing if you don’t know dungeon mechanics. Run full exotic/ascended zerkers means nothing if you’re dead for the big fights. Sure helps, but isn’t as important. In the end you wana just make connections with people who know you’re good and run with them. Pugs asking me if I’m “good” is just an insult tbh and I’m not even comparable to some people in this game in terms of skill. If someone asks you for items that arn’t necessary then you should just not join them. They are likely to do some kitten things throughout the dungeon and frustrate themselves (happens often when I see an “elite” in my party)
“I’m waiting for the staff to get off their lunch
break. I feel like they should be back by now..”
Ninja, totally true. Every time I have seen a demand for zerker warriors I also start seeing complaints about people doign stupid things in lion’s arch about an hour later heh.
A DPS meter would hopefully never make it into the game.
Some build’s auto attack is…lackluster to say the least, and others have autoattack as the main source of damage, such as thief’s sword or ranger’s shortbow.
How will it account for condition damage? Some condition build’s autoattack does no condition damage such as ranger axe and sword.
What about summoned creatures, such as turrets or guardian weapons?
A build with cc will often deal more damage overall than a build focused for just damage but is unable to land a hit.
It is impossible to accurately automatically calculate what a person’s damage is, but if such an imperfect system were put in place some people would think it is the final authority on what player is the better damage dealer and the complaints of exclusiveness would skyrocket.
I’d like at least to be able to see the DPS of my autoattack, as an average of my weapon damage, power, and crits normalized over, say, 24 seconds or so. Diablo 3 did this, and as controversial as D3 is, that feature worked for what it was.
The game isn’t all about dps. Utility, support and control can be equally if not more useful, when facing adverse conditions. Eles, Guardians and Mesmers wouldn’t be where they are if it was all about DPS. So no, a DPS meter isn’t needed, and it would have a potentially toxic effect on the playerbase. It’d only serve to overly simplify player’s understanding of combat in GW2, causing them to disregard many of its finer points.
Implementing the DPS meter will bring an elitist mentality with it, people will start asking what your average dps is, and people will start getting restricted group access because they’re not doing as much DPS as someone else could.
The game isn’t all about dps. Utility, support and control can be equally if not more useful, when facing adverse conditions. Eles, Guardians and Mesmers wouldn’t be where they are if it was all about DPS. So no, a DPS meter isn’t needed, and it would have a potentially toxic effect on the playerbase. It’d only serve to overly simplify player’s understanding of combat in GW2, causing them to disregard many of its finer points.
You’re right, it isn’t all about dps. But that’s why you may be the one over-simplifying, because as a guardian I would like to see not only a dps meter, but a damage-taken meter so I can see what is happening to me during fights, along with how long I have my boons up, and is my healing really doing anything or am I wasting stats on healing power?
The game isn’t all about dps. Utility, support and control can be equally if not more useful, when facing adverse conditions. Eles, Guardians and Mesmers wouldn’t be where they are if it was all about DPS. So no, a DPS meter isn’t needed, and it would have a potentially toxic effect on the playerbase. It’d only serve to overly simplify player’s understanding of combat in GW2, causing them to disregard many of its finer points.
Dps meter isn’t about your effictivness in combat, it’s just a reference for people to compare 1 build of theirs to another. a damage taken meter would be the same thing, it comes down to dungeon mechanics. These meters just help you get a value to compare with rather than a feel. If I saw a thief enter my party and they had X amount lower dps than me (lets just say x is much lower than my y ) I wouldn’t say, “gt**”. I would let the dungeon go on and also make sure said thief knows the dungeon path. If they can live and continue damaging the enemy who cares what armor/dps they have?
“I’m waiting for the staff to get off their lunch
break. I feel like they should be back by now..”
Elitist behavior comes from players, not the game. While the game can have features that give elitists a way to compare themselves to others, these features don’t directly promote elitism. I would really like to see a dps meter implemented so I can determine how effective certain traits/sigils are and see which is actually the best rather than just theory crafting and guessing.
The game isn’t all about dps. Utility, support and control can be equally if not more useful, when facing adverse conditions. Eles, Guardians and Mesmers wouldn’t be where they are if it was all about DPS. So no, a DPS meter isn’t needed, and it would have a potentially toxic effect on the playerbase. It’d only serve to overly simplify player’s understanding of combat in GW2, causing them to disregard many of its finer points.
Dps meter isn’t about your effictivness in combat, it’s just a reference for people to compare 1 build of theirs to another. a damage taken meter would be the same thing, it comes down to dungeon mechanics. These meters just help you get a value to compare with rather than a feel. If I saw a thief enter my party and they had X amount lower dps than me (lets just say x is much lower than my y ) I wouldn’t say, “gt**”. I would let the dungeon go on and also make sure said thief knows the dungeon path. If they can live and continue damaging the enemy who cares what armor/dps they have?
While that is a true, once you implement one, a LOT of players will begin to assume DPS = effectiveness
