How Can I Tell if I am being a Useful Dragoon?

Hello, I've been playing this game since mid-October and feel like I have gotten pretty adept since this is my first MMO. What I was wondering is how can I tell if I'm pulling my weight and performing my proper rotations during an instance? My rotation is:

Impulse Drive > Disembowel > Chaos Thrust > Heavy Thrust (and sometimes Ring of Thorns for fun) following up with the True Thrust > Vorpal Thrust > Full Thrust rotation
and keeping up with DoTs. Rinse repeat for longer battles.

Also, during boss fights I go in hot with Blood for Blood and Internal Release.

I usually only die when the fight is new to me and no one explains the mechanics, but more times than not I am the last man standing before a full wipe

I would recommend some kind of meter that lets you know how much damage you are doing in comparison to other players. ;) There are other places online where you can find this information.

As for your rotation. I'm not a dragoon so I can't really help you much with that.

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Originally Posted by Nabian

I would recommend some kind of meter that lets you know how much damage you are doing in comparison to other players. ;) There are other places online where you can find this information.

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I've heard about those kinds of programs but personally prefer not to use them.

You should use Heavy Thrust first, that's one of two Primo abilities (other being Disembowel) that significantly increase our damage output.

Other than that, DRG doesn't have a lot of group utility, so the main focus is simply maximizing damage. Remembering not to screw up stun resistances or take excessive damage from mistimed jumps or B4B, that's about the extent of DRG group utility lol.

If you are looking for rotation there is a thread in this forum called Dragoon: A rotation reborn which is the official unofficial bible for dragoons.

As far as telling if youre pulling your weight use the aggro meter on the party list. Depending on youre party make up/ gear this is a great, although sometimes inaccurate, representation of your dps
(Hint: you should be near the top). If you are maximizing your rotation though you should be refreshing your DOT's and buffs just as they are running out and executing all your off GCD moves as they become available.

You can tell if you're being a good dragoon if you're doing damage, you're not dying to aoe, you're not causing wipes and people compliment you ^^

The Dragoons: A Rotation Reborn thread is very useful for rotations and such. It looks to me like you would benefit from using Heavy Thrust prior to Chaos Thrust combo since it affects your dots. Plus you should use Phlebotomize since I didn't see it in your rotation.

Learn your fights, know when to use elusive jump to prevent stealing aggro/getting hit by stuff, and time your jumps well.

you may want to start with heavy thrust>phlebotomize. then depending on whether u think he's gonna turn or not take ur opportunity to impluse>disembowel>chaos thrust. after that you do your filler combo True>Vorpal>Full.

Insert you CD's appropriately to buff DoTs and make SURE BfB lands on a full thrust that you've used life surge for. so my opening rotation looks as such...

Heavy Thrust>(Leg sweep)Phlebotomize>Impulse Drive> Disembowel> (BfB) Chaos Thrust> (Powersurge) True Thrust> (Jump) Vorpal Thrust > (Lifesurge) Full Thrust

Save your impulse drive for engaging bosses/catching up, or if u think thats not necessary insert it anywhere in rotation.
Save Dragonfire Dive for AoE/Cleave unless its a single target in which case u insert it anywhere.

On another note..

Dragoon has nothing to do with rotation or procs or any such DPS style. It is purely a priority list...
1)Keep Heavy Thrust up, and Phlebotomize has same duration so use it right after always.
2)Keep Disembowel/Chaos Thrust up (use BfB before Chaos Thrust)
3)If those are both up use filler combo (True>Vorpal>Full), use Life Surge before Full Thrust if you have BfB on.
4)Use your oGCD's on CD, or save for when you know burst is needed. These are what boosts your DPS the most.

If you're not Top DPS, you're not being useful, as Dragoons have 0 Raid/Party utility :3

Ask around the thread I've linked for a lot of tips on specific Boss Mechanics and rotation help. We'll always be glad to help :) http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...otation-Reborn

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Originally Posted by Dervy

If you're not Top DPS, you're not being useful, as Dragoons have 0 Raid/Party utility :3

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Unless you have a BRD...

Make sure you're weaving abilities that aren't on your normal cooldown. For instance, this is how I start my fight:

Heavy Thrust > Phlebotomize > Impulse Drive > Disembowel > Chaos Thrust > True Thrust > Vorpal Thrust > Full Thrust

That's the cool down combo, but inbetween attacks, you can throw in some job abilities (where it's safe to do so). So, anywhere in between there, preferably when Heavy thrust is active, you can do something like this : Impulsive Drive > Power Surge > Disembowel > Jump > Chaos Thrust

That's essentially how "weaving" your abilities work. You use abilities that aren't on the cool down while the rest of your abilities are so that you're continuing your damage with minimal downtime.

And I see this mistake a lot....Power Surge is ONLY used for Jump and Spineshatter Dive. People tend to think it's a damage buff for all attacks, but it only affects those two jump abilities. It immediately wears off after you use a jump. Be aware however, that Power Surge does NOT affect Dragonfire Dive.

Which reminds me, I know plenty Dragoons that don't even know what their abilities do. So please, make sure to study what each ability does. Please. I had a guy in coils doing only True Thrust > Vorpal Thrust > Full Thrust because "None of the other abilities seemed useful" and he could "perform these abilities and get the combo from any direction on the mob." Please don't be that way. I almost had a hernia. You are not outputting your potential damage by doing something like that. Especially if you don't even know what the abilities do and you're just pressing buttons and watching what happens.

Be aware of your aoe abilities. Yes, Ring of Thorns combos off Heavy Thrust, but that doesn't mean you should use it. Keep to the combo above. Ring of Thorns and Doom Spike are useful during fights where you need to kill masses...like the Feather Plumes in Garuda Hard Mode. Also, I've found that Doom Spike appears to be more effective than Ring of Thorns in aoe damage. Remember that Doom Spike is a cone aoe, and Ring of Thorns is a circle aoe.

Also, keep in mind that Dragonfire Dive is affected by Blood for Blood and Internal Release. Useful.

And as always, be mindful of your stun abilities. When stunning isn't important, you can weave Leg Sweep and Spineshatter Dive into your cool downs. In fights where it is very important that only the off tank stuns (ie. Ifrit Hard Mode), be very aware of the abilities you are using and do NOT weave Leg Sweep and Spineshatter Dive.

Lastly, remember to use Elusive Jump. A lot of people try to say it's useless, but it will definitely save you if you're in too deep. You'll lose a huge amount of hate, so you help the tank get hate back, if they lost hate for whatever reason or died, and it's very good for escaping aoe's that are just took big and you know you can't get out of quick enough...Like Tail Drive from Anatoboga, the last boss of Amdapor Keep, or the "blue" aoe lines that take up a majority of the room in the fight with Ash, the mid boss of Haukke Manor Hard.



..And then there's Feint. People say this ability is useless. There's no combo off of it or anything really. so what I do is test and see if the mob you're attacking can be slowed. If it can, Then put Feint into your rotation right after Phlebotomize. If the mob resists slow, you can ignore Feint entirely.




P.S.

Gil is spelled wrong in your signature, Joven. >.>