Dragoons - I don't see too many of them in the high end content

[kyuusei]

Two words:

Ranged Only.

(For the record, I love playing Monk, but nearly every PF group for things above Ultima Hard are Ranged Only on Hyperion. I gave up and went back to Warrior, as none of the ranged classes appeal to me.)

Funny, usually this is what I notice on Hyperion too. But last night, 2-3 parties were looking specifically for dragoons (all for Coil I think), something I rarely, if ever see.

Ranged doesn't appeal to me either. The only one I was considering was BLM, but we suddenly have lots of them in my FC.

[MDraGc]

Hey Guys.. I guess it just depends on the region.. we, in Asia, playing on Japanese servers.. we get to see very few PF where the requirements are "Ranged Only".. what we see most is "JP Only" hahahaha.... but when we do see "Ranged Only" it is usually when English speaking players make a PF for Garuda EM.. they use the same strategy you guys use in your servers.. Japanese players got their own strategy.. [melee friendly in Garuda XM].. I've never seen any Japanese group using the 2-way Strategy.

Though.. At High end Content, the only fights that I find not melee friendly are only Ifrit XM.. and Garuda XM using the 2-way strategy.. and on my server [Tonberry].. it is usually Ifrit XM that melees would have trouble to find a pre made party to clear it.. since they only want 1 for their LB on the Final Nail.. tho We still got a lot of Dragoons in our server.. more than monks i believe..

But very very few are having troubles to clear high end contents with their melee classes... we DF everything.. I weekly clear all EM primals using DF.. i haven't tried with pre-made groups.. but I just like playing with the Japanese players.. even though I don't speak any Japanese.. they seem to be more tolerant.. patient.. helpful.. persistent.. with very few exceptions..

Note: I have had experience with English DF.. and aaarrghh.. mostly bad experiences.. - rage quit - insults - blames - rude - inconsiderate - .. theres always someone writing "..." "wtf" .. etc... that rarely happens with JP players [got a friend who can read Japanese]

[Hitome]

Eh would rather take my monk. I can only assume, from experiences I've had, that most dragoons I play with have no idea what they're doing.

[EasymodeX]

Most players have no idea what they're doing.

[Truefaith87]

Not sure if this has been mentioned or not yet, but was fiddling around and may of found a reason why people don't like DRG in their party formats, depending on fight. Take a quick peek at your magic defense, then compare it to even mnk/brd. It's usually about 1/3 less of the value. Doesn't sound like much, right? Now imagine that fact in fights that involve taking heavy magical damage, as opposed to more physical strikes. Let's use fights like garuda for example. She does TONS and TONS of wind based damage. DRG have lower defense in that case? DRG take more dmg, which means less heals the tanks need going onto said DRG. Perhaps this factor has something to do with the stigma on DRG, over other melee classes?

[PArcher]

SNIP

Its a dodging issue, not a defense issue

A good DRG will only get hit by unavoidables in any fight...which means they only get healed when everyone needs to be healed.

Taking Garuda EX...a DRG isn't going to be hit by Friction at all, and only will be hit by WW if they can't dodge. What else would they get hit by? The Unavoidable...which doesn't really matter in terms of healing.

Similar things in all fights.

[Warrlordd]

When I see a 'range only' group (which is pretty well slim to none on Behemoth) I just laugh because you know someone that obnoxious is unlikely to form and lead a group to success.

[Versiroth]

It pissed me off when my first 50 was a Dragoon and some people didn't want me for groups. Then I became a healer and realized why. Melee players tend to have issues moving out of AOEs in time. If you're melee and awesome at it, good for you, but in my experience, I've had to worry about throwing extra heals at the DRG or MNK way more than any of the range DPS.

[ish007xx]

lol ive only seen a handfull of good melee anyway so u may have a point but for me i love my drg and its very exciting

[Andevom]

Thanks for the tip, but pointing out personal experience as if it's more than that is, well, dumb.

I'm not justifying it. It's just hardly a surprise anymore.