[Suggestion to Yoshida and the com] Third Dragoon alternative

[Carpe]

If they're going to create a pet/mount system where we can fight with our chocobos, then just make a pet/mount wyvern that is exclusive to Dragoons and has the same penalties/benefits as fighting with some other type of pet/mount. That way people who want to be FFXI traditionalists can have their wyvern and it won't affect the balancing of the class at all because it will be part of a system that is available to all classes.

[Suirieko]

FFXI's Dragoon is essentially the same as dragoons before them, the only different is XI Dragoon has a wyvern. That's about it. Jumps have always been one of their main source of damage. XI's DRG, in a way, could function without the wyvern, especially if you're strictly meleeing.

When you're in Dynamis, and you're a melee DRG, y ou're very likely to lose your wyvern early on. Same with Einherjar, same with most of the endgame events due to heavy AoE damage, that wyverns won't be able due to this.

XI's DRGs have Jumps. Past dragoons have jumps.

XI's DRGs uses spear. Past Dragoons uses spears.

So what's the different? XI's DRGs have wyverns for pet. Past Dragoons don't have it. Take away the wyverns, they're almost identical, except obviously built to support for MMORPG settings.

Dragoons, int he older game uses jump instead of fight for their source of damage. If anything, FFXI's Dragoon is similar to FF TActics Dragoon, but overall, they're the same as traditional Dragoons.

Edit: Also, In this sense, FFXI's DRG is very similar to Freya. She has jumps, and she has standard fighting and so on.

It perplexes me that people thought that Dragoons in FFXI are useless without the wyvern. Yes. Wyvern gives Dragoon extra boost, but can Dragoons fight efficiently without wyverns? Oh God Yes. The exception is the mage subs, but face it, the subjobs thing is more so FFXI's unique trait than Dragoon itself. IF you take the wyvern away, Dragoons are almost exactly similar to dragoons before FFXI.

Just that their new abilities give Dragoons even more boost WITh the wyverns out.

[Andrien]

If FF14 DRG can do Highwind/Jump like this or better I'll be happy no matter what.

[AmyRae]

I for one am looking forward to the strong possibility that FFXIV might be the first Final Fantasy Online game where the Dragoon job is so strong, it doesn't have to call for backup. Ever.

[Geesus]

I for one am looking forward to the strong possibility that FFXIV might be the first Final Fantasy Online game where the Dragoon job is so strong, it doesn't have to call for backup. Ever.

I can agree with this. Playing a Drg in XI was so painful and no one wanted to PT with you unless you every piece of gear and ACC gear. They Wyvern DIDN'T matter at all. It was there, it was neat to have flying around and really that was all for me. I don't think I ever used it other than to just run around and farm/solo stuff...that was it. IMHO, I'd like it and an additional quest later to get it would be cool or having it as a "special mount" yay; I'd prefer a Wyvern mount for my Dragoon rather than a damned Gobue. :P

[Geesus]

The only reason I'd want the Wyvern back is because I thought it was kind of cool. I never noticed much in the way of "added" abilities when I played. Someone made the point about Dynamis and other EoG battles, your Wyvern would wipe after the first wave; so true but I believe that's why it went from a 2hour to a whenever you want to call with a decent 30 minute cool down, could be wrong. Otherwise, Wyverns really only helped a Drag when you ran solo, like the path companions in XI. I don't need a Wyvern in battle as a constant, a simple 2 hour would work IF it was worth using. If you gimp it then it's use less as the Wyverns didn't do THAT much to help or hinder the group. As I said earlier, it was an "OH SHIT" ability! LOL

[Hulan]

When it comes down to brass tacks, at this point any compromise is going to feel like just that; a compromise. Both groups will feel like their opinions were taken less into account. The only way to please everyone at this point will be to release two Jobs for Lancer, one Dragoon and one Dragon Tamer(esk) class. Even that is going to be problematic, since they will effectively be forced to split the abilities that were originally one, whole and complete, concept into two disparate categories. Who gets Jump, for instance, Dragoon or Dragon Tamer (well, obviously Dragoon, it may be more accurate to say, does the pet job or the petless job get Jump)? I think the community is going to be a bit sour about this one regardless.

The only reason I'd want the Wyvern back is because I thought it was kind of cool. I never noticed much in the way of "added" abilities when I played. Someone made the point about Dynamis and other EoG battles, your Wyvern would wipe after the first wave; so true but I believe that's why it went from a 2hour to a whenever you want to call with a decent 30 minute cool down, could be wrong. Otherwise, Wyverns really only helped a Drag when you ran solo, like the path companions in XI. I don't need a Wyvern in battle as a constant, a simple 2 hour would work IF it was worth using. If you gimp it then it's use less as the Wyverns didn't do THAT much to help or hinder the group. As I said earlier, it was an "OH SHIT" ability! LOL

You know, I hadn't really considered it before, but reading this, I think the reason that DRG's Call Wyvern ability was a 2hr at first was because originally the DRG wasn't supposed to be a pet job. If you think of it in that context, some of the stranger decisions early in FFXI make more sense. If the Wyvern was just supposed to be their cool "big attack" like Manafont, and only supposed to appear, help out, then die fairly quickly, the original design of DRG makes quite a bit more sense. The players put it to a completely different use, which caused the developers to rethink the entire concept into what it is today. Oh well, total tangent, but it's an interesting thought.

[MikkoAkure]

I think a dragoon job with abilities from the other games like fire/ice/lightning breath attacks, lancet (different version of bloodbath but with mp as well), and superb DPS would be much more fun than playing a dragoon job that just has a tag along wyvern that does the special things for you that dragoon has been able to do by itself in the tactics advance series, and other games. Who knows what other neat abilities the dev team would make up for a wyvernless, powerful dragoon that we'd miss out on if it had a wyvern and needed to be balanced and weakened?

[Felis]

And don't forget, jobs in FF XIV are designed for 8 member party content, where a full automated or half automated wyver can die easy. An AI is not good like a full human controlled char.