I need a current and informed opinion on Dragoon

[Arienal]

DRG is really...REALLY bad post-50. copy/pasting 1 attack onto 2 buttons, everything now hinging on a maintained timer locked behind a cooldown, a lvl 60 that kills said timer, and absolutely no leeway in a dodge-based, mechanics heavy game..any time you're forced to stop rotations for 1-2 seconds you lose a GK. 5-6 seconds and you lost blood. Iused to love drg, all the maintained timers like HT and DS weren't an issue because they could easily be reapplied after mechanics were done with just a few button clicks. Yet now, any time mechanics happen you run the risk of losing blood and then getting crippled for things beyond player control. Im constantly seeing drg's both in PF and DF getting killed because they're too afraid to lose blood and keep trying to roll rotations..if anything this has made the 'loldrg' stigma even WORSE.

[whiskeybravo]

Yet now, any time mechanics happen you run the risk of losing blood and then getting crippled for things beyond player control.

There has been no fight I've done (5% a4s enrage) that a mechanic has forced me to loose BotD while no one else was affected. Any time you risk losing it is because of something you did or didn't do, or it's a forced mechanic where everyone loses their stacks.

[Sekundessounet]

DRG is really...REALLY bad post-50. copy/pasting 1 attack onto 2 buttons, everything now hinging on a maintained timer locked behind a cooldown, a lvl 60 that kills said timer, and absolutely no leeway in a dodge-based, mechanics heavy game..any time you're forced to stop rotations for 1-2 seconds you lose a GK. 5-6 seconds and you lost blood. Iused to love drg, all the maintained timers like HT and DS weren't an issue because they could easily be reapplied after mechanics were done with just a few button clicks. Yet now, any time mechanics happen you run the risk of losing blood and then getting crippled for things beyond player control. Im constantly seeing drg's both in PF and DF getting killed because they're too afraid to lose blood and keep trying to roll rotations..if anything this has made the 'loldrg' stigma even WORSE.

The point is to manage your timer in relation to mechanics. If you lose BotD because of a "5-6 seconds" stopped rotation, you didn't manage it well. And losign one Geirskogul is better than losing the buff itself. And it's a buff with a 60 seconds cooldown, so there are very few moments where you'll be fighting without it if a mechanic make you lose it. It's not "beyond player control" if you use your head a little, it's the point of the buff, like MNK's GL stacks. The class is way better and way more skilled than at lvl 50.

[Arienal]

If you lose BotD because of a "5-6 seconds" stopped rotation, you didn't manage it well.

Oh really, do tell me how someone 'didnt handle it well' when they get hit by random mechanics like titan gaol? or any number of randomly targeted mechanics that give no indication? sure there's heavily scripted fights where you just need to know the sequence, but the point is they fucked up BADLY. if they wanted it to be resource based they have several other systems in place that DO work. wrath stacks have a timer, but you dont lose fucking defiance for things timing out. atherflow has set # of chagres over its cooldown, but guess what, NO FUCKING TIMER. so you arent penlized for shit beyond your control. There's not a damn thing 'fun' about this shit, its nothing but 'pray mechanics didnt screw you over'. Some people enjoy being strangled that doesnt make it a fucking good idea.

[Sleigh]

Oh really, do tell me how someone 'didnt handle it well' when they get hit by random mechanics like titan gaol? or any number of randomly targeted mechanics that give no indication? sure there's heavily scripted fights where you just need to know the sequence, but the point is they fucked up BADLY. if they wanted it to be resource based they have several other systems in place that DO work. wrath stacks have a timer, but you dont lose fucking defiance for things timing out. atherflow has set # of chagres over its cooldown, but guess what, NO FUCKING TIMER. so you arent penlized for shit beyond your control. There's not a damn thing 'fun' about this shit, its nothing but 'pray mechanics didnt screw you over'. Some people enjoy being strangled that doesnt make it a fucking good idea.

All DPS hate getting trapped by Gaol or Wild Charge or Conflag. DRG is offended one of the least due to such a large window on Geirskogul's "use it or lose it," in fact I'm pretty sure the Quarantine magic carpet ride lasted longer than the average Gaol jail time and DRGs aren't hurting in A4S I promise you this.

[JackFross]

Oh really, do tell me how someone 'didnt handle it well' when they get hit by random mechanics like titan gaol?

A4S has the absolute worst mechanic in relevant content that impacts Blood of the Dragon - Quarantine. I've heard people complain about losing Blood due to being randomly picked for Quarantine, but 90% of the skill of the class comes from managing Blood properly and maintaining it through mechanics.

Every fight in the game is scripted. If you're losing your Blood due to a "random" mechanic that always activates at that time on a random dps player, you mis-managed your resources. It's not a fault of the class, it's user error.

A great example of this goes back to what I referenced - Quarantine. The first Quarantine in A4S comes right after your second Full Thrust combo, sometimes before, sometimes after the subsequent FaC/WT hit, depending on the timing of the first stun. If you hit Geirskogul during those two combos (The FT combo, where you'd normally wanna hit it), you will absolutely lose Blood of the Dragon during Quarantine if you're picked. If you hold it until after the Quarantine people are chosen, not only will you maintain Blood, but you also still get 3 geirskoguls on Leg 1 regardless whether or not you are chosen for Quarantine. (Technically, if you ARE chosen, the third Geirskogul hits the Manipulator, but that's neither here nor there.)

So, while I hear your complaints about the class, they stem from a "I suck at this job therefore it sucks" mentality, rather than an objective view of the Job and its mechanics, and your opinion, therefore, is suspect as hell.


That said, on-topic!

I find Dragoon incredibly fun. The additional mechanics from 52-60 add a lot of dynamic elements to a class that was static and, frankly, kinda boring at the end of the 2.x cycle. The rotation seems strict, at first, but if you view it as 4 "chunks" (Heavy Thrust / Phlebotomize / Chaos Thrust Combo / Full Thrust Combo) and consider a priority system of HT>CT>P>FT, you'll find that it's pretty malleable depending on the fight.

Managing Blood makes fights fun and interesting for me in a way level 50 Dragoon never did, and I mained it back then, too!

[AlereRaeder]

I don't wanna play pick the idiot on the forums so i'll stop myself now.

Aswell, on-topic!

I loved dragoon at Lv. 50 cap and I main it now at 60 cap. I can tell you that Battle Litany is amazing. Geirskogul is a fun button to press. 4th combos have cool animations though I prefer Fang and Claw yo _oy. gimme dat flank. The rotation is fluid and feels great to use. Mobility is full of swag. Your defences are A1. Keen Flurry is funny (80% increased parry).

[Sekundessounet]

Oh really, do tell me how someone 'didnt handle it well' when they get hit by random mechanics like titan gaol? or any number of randomly targeted mechanics that give no indication? sure there's heavily scripted fights where you just need to know the sequence, but the point is they fucked up BADLY. if they wanted it to be resource based they have several other systems in place that DO work. wrath stacks have a timer, but you dont lose fucking defiance for things timing out. atherflow has set # of chagres over its cooldown, but guess what, NO FUCKING TIMER. so you arent penlized for shit beyond your control. There's not a damn thing 'fun' about this shit, its nothing but 'pray mechanics didnt screw you over'. Some people enjoy being strangled that doesnt make it a fucking good idea.

Works like Monk's GL. Taking your example : when you know how Titan EX works, you know when the Gaol will come. So in prevision, if BotD comes off cooldown like 15 secondes before, you don't use it and keep it for after Gaol so you can activate it right after. If it's like mid-cooldown, you juste use GK right before you get caught and when you're free and go back on Titan, your timer will be up just before your Chaos Thrust.
See, simple. You just have to know your strat and plan when to use Blood of the Dragon and Geirskogul. Same goes with MNK's GL and Tornado Kick for example. The class just demand you to plan your actions and not just to follow mindlessly a set rotation like the lvl 50 DRG. They did not fuck up the job and the ressource management works perfectly fine. If mechanics do require you to be out of BotD, it will never be for long. If it's for more than 20 secondes, that's because you fucked up.

[KrazyBean94]

I personally didn't find Dragoon as fun to play compared to Monk and Ninja due to it's slower pace, but that's just me. I'm just too used to the speed and dancing which comes with being a Monk main.

[raela]

I'm a SCH main. Once things settled with HW, I pushed all my other classes to 50 to get an idea of how they played.. Found I really enjoyed DRG, so I took it to 60, then still liked it, so I practiced it to get the rotation down and used it for Alex normal and such. Joined a static that already had a sch, so I went for savage on DRG.
It's super fun for me, but I recommend playing all (leveling depending on how crazy you are / how much free time, but it's super quick now) and going with what you like. Other people's opinions don't matter.