Dragoon or Monk

[Daralii]

Actually MNK isn't nearly as screwed over on phase changes as they were in ARR. Dragon Kick and Meditation/Forbidden Chakra are both designed almost entirely to change your downtime during those phases into damage. Really, they thrive ON phase changes; ask any monk who's run Ravana.

I can't speak for dragoon myself though.

In dragoon's case, it depends entirely on how smart you are with BotD. You lose something like ~200 DPS if you don't have access to the 4th combo moves and Geirskogul, so you have to plan around the cooldown, Geirskogul's cost, and transitions.

It's a pain in the ass to manage on some fights, but at least I can be a Litany bot when I screw up.

[spelley]

I can't speak for dragoon myself though.

Dragoons get punished hard for losing BotD. A good Dragoon is often riding a line of about 1-2s "leeway" where they must reapply BotD using their 4th during "dummy" phases. A great Dragoon will know when to hold that Geirskogul and just build buffer on their BotD timer for a mechanic/phase shift. Not that A4 is hard, but knowing for instance approximately WHEN people will get sucked into the tube and knowing not to throw out that Geirskogul until the targets are chosen (so you know you won't be interrupted) is an example. If you just burned a Geirskogul and have 30s+ CD remaining on BotD and somehow get interrupted and fail to reapply BotD, you are in a bad way.

As others have said, DRG brings raid utility in Battle Litany...and Battle Litany. Baaasically Battle Litany. MNK still is good for the INT-down if your group doesn't use a DRK

[Atlaworks]

Yeah, I can agree with that. Thanks for elucidating me!

[Viviza]

They do about the same damage output.

Monk is faster with more positionals. Dragoon has more complicated rotations and jumps.

Monk has more defensive utility in a raid (-enemy magic damage, +healing). Dragoon has more offensive utility (+pierce damage, +crit rate).

I don't think the differences are enough that most raid groups or free companies would care. Keep in mind when browsing through the forums that many scenarios are discussed from the perspective of when things are going perfectly, ergo more damage is the only 'useful' utility that can be offered, which is not how things play out in reality where people make mistakes or RNG throws a wrench into things. The benefit of more defensive utility is less obvious, but saving your group from a wipe scenario is very powerful.

[Litegrace]

Honestly, I would just look at both play styles and decide yourself. They are pretty similar (both are melee, with several positional abilities), but feel different. I myself prefer Dragoon because I like the look of the armor/weapons and the jump abilities.

As of right now, I would also say Dragoon is in a better place. They have slightly higher DPS output, a piercing vulnerability, a team critical chance boost, and right now Monk's Dragon Kick makes Dark Knight's Delirium effect completely useless.

With that being said, both are still in great places, and some of that may very well change in the future. A good Dragoon and a good Monk are going to bring just about the same DPS/utility to the team anyway.

[Ipkonfig]

Dragon Kick was invaluable in T13. It was already mentioned in the last live letter that we will have more magic mechanics on the horizon. If your group doesn't have a DRK for Delirium Blade then go with MNK. Battle Litany is great and all for offensive utility but if your group is dead there's no point in having extra crit. Sure once you have content out geared DK/Mantra will be less useful but by then you could have MNK and DRG both leveled and geared and just switch.

[Humorless]

Dragon Kick was invaluable in T13. It was already mentioned in the last live letter that we will have more magic mechanics on the horizon. If your group doesn't have a DRK for Delirium Blade then go with MNK. Battle Litany is great and all for offensive utility but if your group is dead there's no point in having extra crit. Sure once you have content out geared DK/Mantra will be less useful but by then you could have MNK and DRG both leveled and geared and just switch.

Just like there's no point in having a monk if you're not dying but struggling with dps checks/enrage.

[Ipkonfig]

Just like there's no point in having a monk if you're not dying but struggling with dps checks/enrage.

While raiding 1 thru 13 with statics I've been in we have not once struggled with DPS, but the magic damage in 13 was real and when we added a MNK to the mix it got so much better. Look at NM Alex Floor 4 which is 100% magic damage, and Perpetual Ray hits really hard already. Savage Floor 4 can only be worse so if you don't have a DRK, bring a MNK.

I personally will be tanking it as DRK so it opens us up for more offensive utility, but there are plenty of groups that are excluding DRKs since the majority of DRKs can't actually use it as a tank.

[Humorless]

While raiding 1 thru 13 with statics I've been in we have not once struggled with DPS, but the magic damage in 13 was real and when we added a MNK to the mix it got so much better. Look at NM Alex Floor 4 which is 100% magic damage, and Perpetual Ray hits really hard already. Savage Floor 4 can only be worse so if you don't have a DRK, bring a MNK.

I personally will be tanking it as DRK so it opens us up for more offensive utility, but there are plenty of groups that are excluding DRKs since the majority of DRKs can't actually use it as a tank.

Perpetual Ray isn't affected by Dragon Kick, the legs aren't the source of the damage. Savage potentially has more legs which would make it rather pointless. Monks are also fucking terrible at killing adds because you only have positionals. There's plenty of reason to bring DRG/NIN over MNK.

[ArtesMan]

Thanks everyone for taking your time to respond to this post.

I'm in no way a bard hater or plz buff guy.

I started to play at around this patch so all the info on bards is what I got from these forums but by no means does this include my personal opinion I think they look awesome.

Thanks for explaining in detail about the dragoon and monks pros and cons.

In terms of which is better I know those posts are annoying and I have been reading guides and info but since I have no clue about end game content or what is going on I don't really see weakness as such or strengths as such.

Thanks everyone !!!