Ideas for DRG updates

[Sotek]

Dragoon already has a (now infinite duration) job ability which adds 1~140+ damage per swing, 1~400+ damage per weapon skill, 1~400+ damage every minute, Cure V every minute, an extra source of TP and makes Jumps 100% critical hit.
It's called Call Wyvern, look it up some time.

Actually Jumps as well can count towards reasons why Dragons shouldn't get a stance ability that everyone seems to want. Sure they're not actual stances, but all other stances like Hasso and Berserk do is increase your damage or haste for a time, Jumps deal damage and are brilliant sources of TP (haste being there to increase your melee speed adn thus TP gain) - and not exactly a low amount these days - which is basically what stances boil down to. Jumps give you 20~60TP these days depending on Double/Triple attack and I very regularly see 800~1,2k damage ones even outside Abyssea, all that happens instantly where as the haste and str from Hasso is going to take hours to ever match that kind of damage and TP boost, hours in which Dragoon could have done well over 30 more and that's just only counting one Jump when you have access to two. Even if you take low end numbers like ~20TP and ~400 damage, Spirit/Soul Jump far out do any stance ability in the game. Berserk is typically only used for weapon skills, and I'm fairly certain Elemental Breath can make up for that when they Wyvern isn't dying, with Elemental Breath being something you can spam every minute and every weapon skill I think it will far exceed Berserk in terms of damage after this update.
Dragoon gets at least three job abilities that increase its potential greatly while taking nothing away from it, aside from Super Jump - which is defensive - no damaging Jump has a draw back like -defense on Berserk and Call Wyvern does the absolute opposite of taking something away from the job and adds a curative element to it. Dragoon already has by far the most unique and best stance ability in the game; assuming this update makes Wyvern survivability a reality, Dragoon is pretty much complete short of Super-Mega-Ultra Jump at Lv.99.

Only thing I can possibly ask for at this point is Lancet, and not the crappy classic HP/MP drain move that has absolutely no place in FFXI (unless they add a new merit system where you need a job leveled to unlock an ability, but the ability is not limited to that job). A pet command that deals damage and drains HP and TP to the Wyvern. HP and TP are great for stronger Elemental Breath, TP is great for Healing Breath and the TP is also potentially useful for TP gain via Spirit Link. It would be a relatively small buff that would be very useful.

[Ophannus]

At the very least I want some kind of defense bonus for DRG main. Something like Fan Dance or Sentinel because besides a 3min super jump DRG has nothing for defense as a main, every other melee has *something* defensive or damage mitigating. Even Retaliation counts as the counter gives TP which ends the battle sooner and thus reduces damage taken. Case and point watch how a Ukon WAR with Retaliation acts as Damage Mitigation against a Hundred Fists Chloris.

[Sotek]

At the very least I want some kind of defense bonus for DRG main. Something like Fan Dance or Sentinel because besides a 3min super jump DRG has nothing for defense as a main, every other melee has *something* defensive or damage mitigating. Even Retaliation counts as the counter gives TP which ends the battle sooner and thus reduces damage taken. Case and point watch how a Ukon WAR with Retaliation acts as Damage Mitigation against a Hundred Fists Chloris.

No they don't. Dark Knight, Ranger and Thief have nothing natively to my knowledge. If Hide/Camouflage count, so does Super Jump. If Dread Spikes/Drains count, so does Healing Breath. Besides that, Dragoon isn't meant to be a tank, so I see no reason why it should have the ability to act as such. Rather than damage mitigation we have hate mitigation so the only possible way you should die on Dragoon is through AoE moves, and with a sturdy Wyvern and regular Healing Breaths that's impossible even if your mages are ignoring you.

[Ophannus]

No they don't. Dark Knight, Ranger and Thief have nothing natively to my knowledge. If Hide/Camouflage count, so does Super Jump. If Dread Spikes/Drains count, so does Healing Breath. Besides that, Dragoon isn't meant to be a tank, so I see no reason why it should have the ability to act as such. Rather than damage mitigation we have hate mitigation so the only possible way you should die on Dragoon is through AoE moves, and with a sturdy Wyvern and regular Healing Breaths that's impossible even if your mages are ignoring you.

Ranger isn't a melee, it's a ranger. Being out of range from AoE/hits. Dread Spikes and Healing Breath are not the same, one mitigates damage, the other restores HP. Dread Spikes are passive like Stoneskin/Phalanx/Sentinel, Healing Breath is not. Thief has A+ evasion and +70 evasion from bonuses, THF can tank easily.

Just because DRG isn't a tank doesn't mean we shouldn't get something to help us not die so easily besides a 3 min hate shed. Last I checked the only 2 tanks in this game are technically NIN and PLD yet SAM and DRK have been able to tank almost every mob in the game with Third Eye/Dread Spikes/Shadows. MNK isn't a tank yet they have Counter/Perfect Counter/Dodge/High Evasion/High HP and Guard. SAM isn't a tank but they can counter and dodge with third eye and have high evasion. WAR has Defender and Retaliation. DRK has Dread Spikes and the difference between /WAR and /SAM is smaller for DRK than it is for DRG since DRK has high att already and plenty of JA/Spells to boost their damage.

[Ophannus]

Dragoon already has a (now infinite duration) job ability which adds 1~140+ damage per swing, 1~400+ damage per weapon skill, 1~400+ damage every minute, Cure V every minute, an extra source of TP and makes Jumps 100% critical hit.
It's called Call Wyvern, look it up some time.

Have you ever fought anything outside of Abyssea as DRG? Wyverns hit NMs for 0-30 damage and mostly miss. Breaths do 20-100 damage on NMs. Restoring Breath is nice but don't forget we can't make it target ourselves meaning it will aim at the lowest HP person in the party before us making it super unreliable. The extra TP from jumps is nice but don't forget their recast. MNK NIN WAR SAM can all get TP just as fast if not faster than DRG just due to faster attack speed and things like Kick Attack/Double Attack/Triple Attack/ZanshinDoubleAttack etc. All of those passive traits that kick in and can be meritted or increased with gear lend to faster and more reliable TP over time than an ability every 90-180 seconds. This is all referring to outside of Abyssea, aka the real FFXI. Wyverns hit for crap on NMs stronger than us remember at 75? At 90, voidwatch NMs are just as strong, if not stronger than NMs outside of Abyssea were to us at 75. Meaning Wyverns hit for 20-50 damage with like a 30% hit rate and Breaths get 1/16 and 1/8 resists almost every time.

[Anucris]

i hate when pple exaggerate jobs capabilities or list Top notch ideal stats when not every fight is an EP BIRD mob with +50%DA and 1000 HB with 0 delay from casting the spell till the cure hits the drg. (this not directed at anyone i just see it all the time.)

Drg could use a dmg mitigation for when wyv get paralyzed/slept/petrified/blah blah... and could use a lil more soloability on tougher mobs.

drg could use an attack buff stance. so when ur doing your 3 WS's in a row they hit that much harder. ws/jumps/ws/SL/ws. or meditate if u go /sam but im /rdm most of the time

drg could use another jump instead. cause well... drg players love jumps and the satisfaction NOW effect that Sotek was talking about... lol 4-5 ws in a row yes please (with da/ta luck)

i like the idea of an ability that does def buff to drg and offensive buff to wyv. (vice versa woulda been nice, but wyv are not gonna need def buff now . )
thank you SE for that

a lot does rest on the new jumps. and they put us back in the game. not ahead.

and yes our little sidekick is very handy and overlooked

[noodles355]

Read the old dev notes. Hasso and Seigan were as much as, if not more, of an update to the /Sam sub for other jobs as it was to Sam main.

Yes, a sustained effect ability would be more, however I think drg's design is that of instant use, instant dmg, instant TP gaining abilities. Not that I agree with the concept. I would love to see DRG abilities from previous FFs, and sustained abilities as well. After all, my love for drgaoon stemmed from Freya in FF9 who had heaps of cool and unusual abilities.

[Ophannus]

DRG hardly had abilities in old games. Lancet/Lancer/Dragon Sword exist in FFXI as "Spirit Surge" just like how Darkness/Dark Wave exist in FFXI as "Souleater". The only other abilities from past Dragoons would be FFT/FFTA/FF9 stuff .

[noodles355]

No they don't. Dark Knight, Ranger and Thief have nothing natively to my knowledge. If Hide/Camouflage count, so does Super Jump. If Dread Spikes/Drains count, so does Healing Breath. Besides that, Dragoon isn't meant to be a tank, so I see no reason why it should have the ability to act as such. Rather than damage mitigation we have hate mitigation so the only possible way you should die on Dragoon is through AoE moves, and with a sturdy Wyvern and regular Healing Breaths that's impossible even if your mages are ignoring you.

My 447 base evasion naked would like a word with you.

[noodles355]

DRG hardly had abilities in old games. Lancet/Lancer/Dragon Sword exist in FFXI as "Spirit Surge" just like how Darkness/Dark Wave exist in FFXI as "Souleater". The only other abilities from past Dragoons would be FFT/FFTA/FF9 stuff .

Almost every job had hardly any abilities in earlier games, it wasn't just Dragoon. Excluding magic of course.