Just wanted to note that this is probably a reasonable estimate of an actual lvl 114 mob. Tossing in a base 415 defense (roughly what my nin would have with Protect V on; nin used because that's what I'm gear as at the moment), average damage taken when using berserk would be about 313, which is about in line with what I see from high level mobs. Accounting for level correction means mobs don't need d200+ weapons (as I often heard claimed years ago) to be hitting for 300 damage a swipe.

And yes, switching from Berserk to Defender does reduce average damage taken a fair bit; with Defender, average damage would be about 228, which increases the time it would take the mob to kill me by an extra hit or two. On the other hand, switching from Defender to Berserk triples my average damage done, going from 20 to 60 in this simplistic model (note: lots of things not accounted for, or fudged to keep the math simple; don't take this as absolutely accurate).


And a random thought that just crossed my mind as a suggestion for what to do with Gallant's Roll: Make it a boost to all defense skill proc rates -- Parry, Shield and Guard (but not evasion, since that's already covered by Nin's roll). With things like Shield Mastery and Tactical Parry, it could give a slight boost to offense while still performing the role of a defensive buff. Further, it would be a periodic full or very high reduction in damage, rather than a constant low-level reduction in damage, and there are times when that's the more useful form.

Caveat: I have not given any serious though to the full implications of such a roll, though I'll note that yes, it will be significantly more valuable for a pld (who would get both parry and shield) than it would be for anyone else, and I think that's probably a good thing.