Could Dragoons get Ala Morn during LoTD?

[LothaireB]

I like the feel of 'powering up' from Blood of the Dragon into Life of the Dragon. However, despite how much I love Nastrond, Life of the Dragon feels unrewarding. I have a few ideas that could make Life of the Dragon much more fulfilling.

A few changes I propose to enhance the overall flavor and performance while within Life of the Dragon is as follows:
- While under the effect of Life of the Dragon, Fang and Claw changes to Ala Morn. With increased potency of course.
- Without Wheeling Thrust feeling left out... Wheeling Thrust while used under the effect of Life of the Dragon, now grants Dive Ready.
- Small tiny miniscule change: Mirage Dive is red under the effects of Life of the Dragon.

The Wheeling Thrust suggestion is probably too much since you could potentially go back into Life of the Dragon within 15-30 seconds of leaving it.

Honestly, I just want to use Ala Morn so bad on my Dragoon, and Life of the Dragon gives us the perfect excuse!

[Dualgunner]

Have my +1. LotD just feels so unrewarding for all the effort to get to it...to get Nastrond which in my experience is just 3.x geirskogul.

[HoLoFoNo]

Wheeling thrust could just become Drachen Lance because its the same animation anyway. Ala Morn looks more like Chaos thrust.

[Nominous]

Similar to how RDM abilities turn into "Enchanted" when their meter is high enough, DRG's abilities should change when in LoTD.

Chaos Thrust->Ala Morn
Wheeling Thrust->Drachen Lance
Geirskogul->Nastrond

Just as examples. Accompanied by potency bonuses.

[IchiExorz]

Right now the problem is that (while DRG isn't necessarily that underpowered anymore) the whole LoTD mechanic doesn't feel rewarding at all. And eyes still fall off when not in BoTD. So i'm in for anything that makes DRG's mechanic more rewarding.
Right now it doesn't interact with our skills much and just replaces Geirskogul with a stronger version of Geirskogul which we can use 3x. And that's all we get for a 1:30-2 min buildup. Long buildup for low reward.

Dragoon needs to be able to use LoTD a bit more regulary & give it a bit more burst. (even if it means base DRG skills need a nerf for balance reasons.)

I doubt SE will make any major changes to the classes mid expansion. I think some easy changes would be.
-BoTD triggers Mirage Dive when already under the effect of BoTD.
-Losing BoTD doesn't make you lose eyes.
-Buff Nastrond potency to 400

Another interesting change would be that LoTD doubles the bonus potency of Lance Mastery.
Or maybe something like what you said.
While in LoTD your 5th comb finisher (Fang & Claw or Wheeling Thrust) changes into Ala Morn (500 potency?)
Gives us something else to use Life Surge on. hehe

And maybe nerf some base DRG skill potencies to compensate for the buffs if necessary to keep everything balanced.

[kyrios91]

Right now the problem is that (while DRG isn't necessarily that underpowered anymore) the whole LoTD mechanic doesn't feel rewarding at all. And eyes still fall off when not in BoTD. So i'm in for anything that makes DRG's mechanic more rewarding.
Right now it doesn't interact with our skills much and just replaces Geirskogul with a stronger version of Geirskogul which we can use 3x. And that's all we get for a 1:30-2 min buildup. Long buildup for low reward.

Dragoon needs to be able to use LoTD a bit more regulary & give it a bit more burst. (even if it means base DRG skills need a nerf for balance reasons.)

DRGs are in a good spot right now in terms of DPS. Judging that a lot of OS groups are using DRGs, and through my parses in O1S and O2S I deal a respectable amount of damage - beat a MNK in O2S.

The problem is that LOTD lacks a focused purpose. It's either (1)Make it faster to build up so DRGs have this aim to reach LOTD ASAP for optimum damage, or (2)Keep the long build up but make LOTD some sort of a "Super Mode" where Nastrond have a huge potency and some potency buffs to certain skills. That way DRGs will have a clear focus on their play mechanics.

[IchiExorz]

DRGs are in a good spot right now in terms of DPS. Judging that a lot of OS groups are using DRGs, and through my parses in O1S and O2S I deal a respectable amount of damage - beat a MNK in O2S.

The problem is that LOTD lacks a focused purpose. It's either (1)Make it faster to build up so DRGs have this aim to reach LOTD ASAP for optimum damage, or (2)Keep the long build up but make LOTD some sort of a "Super Mode" where Nastrond have a huge potency and some potency buffs to certain skills. That way DRGs will have a clear focus on their play mechanics.

Yeah exactly. I completely agree. It's neither a sustained mechanic nor a burst mechanic.
Like LoTD in HW was a sustained mechanic.
However I feel like SE designed LoTD to be a burst mechanic added on top of our sustained BoTD. The problem is that LoTD doesn't have any burst whatsoever.

I could think of multiple ways of revamping the LoTD mechanic to suit either 1 of those purposes (sustain or burst) but I think the changes/buffs I proposed before would be a good & easy fix to make LoTD feel more rewarding without seeming unreasonable for SE to implement in a balance patch. Small changes that could very much change this purpose of the LoTD mechanic.

[Jonnycbad]

Let eyes remain after BotD falls off (e.g. make our gauge permanently on-screen, like RDM/PLD's)

Let Dragonfire Dive grant 2 stacks of Eyes (or proc Mirage Dive)

[Shurrikhan]

The more I play around with it and watch optimized fights by good DRGs, the more the rate at which we reach LotD feels about right. If it were to be changed, I'd hope it'd be in an optional sense such as being able to enter in half the time but for half the effect, or build for the full, as to take more advantage of AoE opportunities.

Honestly, my biggest peeve at this point is simply that we lose Eyes of the Dragon / Gaze on death, and that Geirskogul feels like a shadow of its former self. DRG AoE isn't horrid, but it feels very lackluster.

I had hoped originally that when BotD was slated for a change, it would be dropping the timer aspect completely (apart from perhaps in LotD burst, if able to be of variable length). Ours is the only resource that not only is entirely dependent on uptime but also degrades over downtime (or, time in general). I had hoped we'd at least change to being dependent on uptime only, such as by generating charges of resource over uptime and then spending them to allow LotD, more alike to SMN, but (and I hope this will be applied to SMNs as well) without the massive death penalties.

To put it another way, I'd prefer BotD be purely a build mechanic, not a sustained one. Essentially remove it from the game as an ability and bar of its own. Build Dragon Blood, spend it on Geirskogul, and after x spenders you can enter LotD with those spent charges as your new currency, or sorts. Enter later if you like to have more Nastrond casts in a single window.

[Nominous]

I'm glad to see people coming into the new DRG finally.

LoTD is still a bit of a failure as far as a 'central' mechanic goes, though. There's a laundry list of conditions to get there, and if their goal was to simplify things, they didn't do a great job of it. I mean, think about this.

- You need to be in BoTD. Which, by the way, might as well not even exist as a button to press anymore.
- You then need to hit Jump or Spineshatter to proc 'Dive Ready'.
- You use the proc for Mirage Dive, or hold the proc to use it at a more 'opportune' time.
- That gives you one Gaze/Eye stack.
- Get 4, and you can now enter LoTD, but not automatically.
- Use Geirskogul which puts you in Life.

That's not even considering the complexity of all the planning that goes into getting x amount of Nastronds in BfB, holding procs of 'Dive Ready', and making sure the BoTD timer is maxed out before entering. I think they had a good idea with LoTD, but I thought it was going to be an extension of BoTD. Like, for managing Geirskoguls and your BoTD timer for x amount of time, you'd be rewarded with better potencies, illustrated by a red aura. Guess that's what happens when you have expectations!