the dragoon is penalized

[KalinOrthos]

I can agree with most of the rest of this, but... having a longer DoT time is objectively better than having a shorter time, especially when it's being clipped and is therefore not balanced around in "on paper" calculations. It allows for greater downtime mitigation/flexibility and cleave potential.

I think it's balanced around the same circumstances as monk's Demolish or paladin's Goring Blade is calculated. As it is right now, with 100% uptime on a boss, you should be reapplying your DoT either as soon as or instants before it falls off, and it's not going out of your way to do so; it's done as a natural step in your combo. If you increase the DoT length, theorycrafters are going to end up twisting the meta in order to get in two other GCDs somewhere so that you can make use of that extra tick or two of your DoT. It's the difference between 1 second left before it falls off and 7 seconds left before it falls off. It gives a pretty good skill ceiling by giving players a marker to say "Hey, really good players will keep this DoT up as much as possible" while not being tragically punishing if it does happen to fall off, simply because you're not going to cause a wipe because Chaos Thrust missed two ticks.

[Shurrikhan]

I think it's balanced around the same circumstances as monk's Demolish or paladin's Goring Blade is calculated. As it is right now, with 100% uptime on a boss, you should be reapplying your DoT either as soon as or instants before it falls off, and it's not going out of your way to do so; it's done as a natural step in your combo. If you increase the DoT length, theorycrafters are going to end up twisting the meta in order to get in two other GCDs somewhere so that you can make use of that extra tick or two of your DoT.

If that were the case, we would have seen the same done back in HW, when up to 2 ticks would be clipped each time. And would that really be so bad, anyways, if some higher-SkS DRGs fit in an extra Full Thrust combo per CT? Would it break the job for it to optionally be more than just A B A B A B ad nauseum?

Shadow Fang similarly had intentionally excessive duration during SB so that players at typical (read, optimal) Skill Speeds could work in a limited number of clipped casts per SF in order not to clip its tick, giving them options to work around more than just "follow this rigid combo, but... harder?" Demolish has likewise always allowed for rotational deviation over different SkS breakpoints. In ARR, ToD and Fracture together allowed for perfect timing at typical Crit-high Skill Speeds. In HW, high SkS allowed for a further cycle per Demolish at slight delay or to clip it well short of completion. In SB, the same (though with less modular adjustment possible). The same can be said for Shifu and Jinpu in SB; their durations being variably excessive, eventually reaching new rotational allowances, made SkS breakpoints feel meaningful.

Each of those rotations were made more interesting for the choice provided by an "excessive" DoT duration. I don't see why what has already worked for every melee, including DRG itself in ARR and HW, would suddenly not work. Historically, it's likely to improve gameplay. At the worst, it can't hurt it -- instead merely increasing DRG relative uptime in particular fights and improving its cleave in some rare situations.