Dragoons feeling left out?

[Novaura]

Even though I have tried other classes, for me, being a Dragoon comes naturally to me. In addition to that, I have actually had some players who have come with me on various challenges, be inspired to become Dragoons themselves because they get to see first hand what we are capable of.

But on a practicality standpoint, whenever I go do a dungeon or trial, tanks still tell me that they appreciate having a Dragoon because we can deal more physical damage than they can and it allows them to focus on keeping the enemy fixated on themselves. Plus, in Solo Tank runs in the Bahamut Coils, being Dragoon in place of the off tank, can result in getting the victory more efficiently.

So if nothing else, if you need a reason to continue to be a Dragoon, it is because our high damage and DPS goes a long way to getting the job done where it matters the most.

[RedAntares]

I would say that if you have Bards in your party take DRG if not take NIN.

[Hyrist]

It's primarily a baseless reputation stemming from a limited understanding of the game mechanics and a stigma that's lasted since FFXI's days, and are ultimately irrelevant when it actually comes down to pass/fail of ANY dungeon in this game, no matter how difficult.

So it's a min-max debate with little practical trials to run with, and the players who try to make that sort of distinction between classes are players you don't want to play with. Put bluntly, the highest of the elite? They don't care about classes so much as they care about execution, personality, and individual mechanical skill. Not a single run has failed a DPS check simply because they brought a Dragoon along - gear being equivalent.

[silentwindfr]

personally i will more change the monk for ninja, if the ninja is good. instead to take out the drg.

[Maero]

People very much exagerate the gap of how much more damage Monk does then drg.
Now with Ninja however i think it will be different, even see Ninja being on par or do more dmg then Monk.
Of course more testing by players needs to be done, just an observation when running with other people.
But on the main topic, i was not even aware drg got a buff, i guess i missed the memo, lol
I know they "sort of" fixed jumps.

[Ehayte]

skill > gear > job

/thread

[TimelessShine]

bump bump .

[Warlyx]

Jump Jump .

fixed

/10char

[Krr]

DRGs do less damage than MNKs and have less utility than NINs, and aren't actually any more survivable in spite of higher HP due to pitiable magic resistance. Their only real purpose from a group minmax perspective is to enable a solo tank-DRG-BRD-BRD-BLM/SMN setup, which isn't viable in all encounters due to the need for a second tank. Essentially, NIN has made DRG a niche case at best.

And, DRG is the only melee DPS that doesn't stack well. Two NINs (or NIN/WAR) can put one on slash debuff duty while the other uses only their highest potency combo sets, and two MNKs can have one on Dragon Kick duty so the other gets to use higher potency combo strings. DRGs, on the other hand, are forced to overlap Disembowels because Chaos Thrust is their highest net potency attack.

On top of this, the old argument of "Burst vs. Sustain" for DRG/MNK is no longer relevant, because NIN offers one of the best DPS burst cases available by opening burn phases with Trick Attack's partywide 10% damage debuff as well as the (potentially-auto-critting) off-GCD two-step ninjutsu nukes. This only gets better as you add more NINs to a party to extend the TA debuff. Oh, and did I mention that NIN also plays well with BRD, because Ninjutsu attacks are considered magic damage, and their highest potency attack is Raiton?

Now, is DRG viable? In almost all cases that aren't extreme bleeding edge meta raiding, yes. But the release of NIN shows us that - once again - no matter how much you 'fix' the animation lock on Jump, Dragoon's numbers are just plain undertuned, and its skill design, while fun and interesting to play, is prohibitive without benefit.

[silentwindfr]

let's wait to see what they will add with the 3.0 before jump to the gun. it's in 6-7 month.