Dragoon pet

[Anonymoose]

BECAUSE WHY LIMIT MYSELF TO ONE COPY OF THIS POST WHEN THERE ARE MULTIPLE THREADS!?
[SIZE="5"]｢(ﾟﾍﾟ)[/SIZE]

After putting some thought into it, I think my opinion lies with the anti-pet crowd. Allow me to outline a few points here; I want this to come off less like I'm choosing a side or arguing a point and more like I'm stating, "I think it's in the best interest of FFXIV and the franchise tradition."

I've tried to arrange my points in a hierarchy, where one leads into the other, so that when read as a whole, it becomes clear why pet-less makes more sense.

Quote this everywhere you feel necessary.

• Semantics: A dragoon is, by definition, a battle specialist capable of making war either as infantry or cavalry. This alone does not imply any connotations to dragons at all; simply the ability to fight with a good reach; the term dragoon should only be associated with weapons and battle choices. The power of the Dragoon lies within his spear, not his pet.
• Localization: Dragoon is our name for the job, not the true name of the job. Ryuukishi simply means Dragon Knight; as in the noun Knight (armored solider who serves lord or land in war) modified by the adjective Dragon (of or relating to Dragons. <Herpaderp>) Combine the east and west traditions and you arrive at: An armored solider, skilled in infantry and cavalry, who is of or resembles a dragon. So far, even Ma Chao of Dynasty Warriors fame fits the bill just fine, and he fought solo.
  
  
  
  "Wiv Urn? That thing I smashed to get a meat patty?"
• Tradition: Though not required by semantic standards, Final Fantasy has tied Dragon Knight to dragons many times in many forms. This was first introduced in Final Fantasy II, where Dragon Knight did indeed fight alongside a wyvern - but before quoting this as evidence, do realize this wyvern was big enough to ride and also acted as the "Cavalry" half of that whole "Dragoon" thing. Using that as evidence to recycle XI's mechanics in XIV is ... flimsy. At best. The rest of the series just has Dragoon maintaining the standard of a lance wielder who can jump really high (or maybe he was pole vaulting the entire time and we never noticed) and often befriends dragons.
• FFXI: Compared to the aforementioned, XI's dragoon was a rogue; a wannabe - An infantry-only dragonslayer (WTF?) who has a change of heart and hangs around with the least intimidating version of a namesake you could ever model your goofy purple armor after. That's like having a Chocobo Knight who spends his life hunting down chocobos until he realizes the error of his ways and begins fighting alongside a chicken. (THAT'S RIGHT, I WENT THERE.)
• Game Mechanic: If LNC gains a pet, he will have to become weaker as a balance. Getting weaker is only acceptable evolution if your goal is to become better at something else (such as healing, buffing, or tanking.) A dragon knight (again, an armored warrior who fights on land and mount; taking on the image and ferocity of a dragon) should never hold the goal of kicking less ass. Ever. Even for an adorable sidekick who does not enhance any of his aforementioned traditional characteristics or even act as his cavalry.
• Lore: Wrap up everything we have so far and Lancer should be evolving from a pole wielding infantryman to a heavily armored multi-faceted ass-kicking machine who looks like a godsdamn dragon. He could fight alone from the back of a chocobo and still fulfill every requirement. His raw power and passion should be so mighty as to impress the dragon-kind. His quests and missions should involve him getting close to, taking flights on, and kicking ass with dragon-kind (and never slaying them. Again, wtf?). The pet is unnecessary and counter-intuitive to the goal.

All in all, I think it's time for Final Fantasy Online's dragoon to learn to stand on his own two feet. The potential for a pet-less DRG is far higher than a pet-DRG, imho. If he jumps, if he masters the spear, if he looks like a dragon and fights like a dragon... he is dragon knight. He is dragoon.