To the Devs: 4.0 Dragoon Suggestions

[Blackbard]

First ill enumerate the changes Id propose, understanding that the first one Id definitely want no matter what. Ill follow with my thoughts as to why these changes would alleviate / help the issues currently in drg by bulletpoint.

SUGGESTIONS FOR LOFD:

1) Add Phlebotomize back for low lvl drg. Specifically pre lvl 50. Add a trait that at lvl 50, Phlebotomize becomes Chaos Thrust and works as it currently does. This helps add a little more dmg, and something else to manage at low lvls to compete with current dps jobs in that range. My thought is that it naturally keeps the amount of buttons the same as they have it now using the caster skill evolution system. It helps lowbie drgs get use to managing a dot, etc.

2) While bofd is active, Wheeling Thrust and Fang over Claw, when used as the 5th in the gcd combo chain, grant one eye. Gaining eyes can no longer happen during lofd. Activating lofd remains the same: you need 4 eyes during bofd followed by using Geirskoghul. Geirskoghul remains a 35 sec cd, but the cooldown will not continue while lofd is up. This means that at max, a dragoon will only be entering lofd every 35 secs ( a little less with skillspeed reductions obviously ).

3) If the 2nd suggestion is too much, even after reading my explanation below, then make Dragonfire Dive add one eye.

4) If the 2nd, and 3rd suggestions are unappealing, then activating bofd from its cd always grants one eye. This has to be balanced with lofd being lost and going back into bofd 15 seconds if you hit bofd during your lofd cycle. However mirage dives would, in this case, still give eyes during lofd.


HOW THESE CHANGES WOULD HELP BY POINTS:

1) The DPS numbers are much lower than other melee/casters in end game content. This has been reported by raiders and parsers who seem to really have the job nailed down. Personally, I'm not super steeped in the final numbers as my approach is more casual to the end game options: don't eat mechanics, keep you're rotation going as best you can, maybe be flashy lol. But even I've noticed how rdm/monk/blm/smn/nin numbers, with those little gray numbers floating around mine, are crazily higher. One can't help but feel like youre not bringing as much to the group as one would appreciate. This is made painfully obvious in low level content through the leveling roulette. The addition of Phlebo back into low level content adds many perks: higher numbers, more options for combat, getting new drgs used to keeping up a dot. The total number of keys wouldnt increase as they could give it the caster treatment with phlebo becoming chaos thrust, and impart a sense of growth in the jobs combat prowess from a lore standpoint.

2) The long build up to lofd creates a frustrating experience when it drops due to things out of you're hands i.e. phase shifts, or other cool boss mechanics that would be enjoyable otherwise. I used an example of Kugane Castles epic final boss encounter in my other thread. A fight I was completely into until I realized it kept forcing my eyes to drop with bofd. Even when trying to keep the gauge full to get me to the next boss pop in, even accounting for hitting bofd at 1 second, I just couldnt keep it going and it soured the encounter a bit. Eventually I just settled with the fact that Id have to enjoy the fight at the cost of my efficiency in the group, but that doesnt make it all the much better to someone who cares. As such, I wanted to figure out a means to get lofd to come quicker without really touching how the other job skills work, because I do truly enjoy drg right now. But that drop off during crucial fights is a bit too much. Something should change for the better, so I figured this would be a middle of the road approach, hell even embracing the devs initial "make the job more accessible" philosophy. I think this is ok after seeing how much harder boss content was in SB ( not killer, just a much appreciated bump ).

This will still make lofd build up a brain dead affair, however it will retain some measure of a build up. I prefer this over not losing eyes during a bofd drop off. We can all admit drg right now isnt that hard anyways, but that would be garbage dumpster difficulty. But, by making eyes only attainable during bofd and not lofd, and making Geirs cd only work outside of lofd, it will keep your 30 sec Nastrond fireworks to every 35 seconds. It stays close enough to that drg 60 second battle flow with your buffs, and should still help line up stuff. Honestly, pvp drg showed what this job COULD be like, and it isnt a huge leap of imagination to think that maybe this was something they considered before landing on the 70 second build up. I think this would keep the flow and perhaps echo HW drg a little as well.

It also has the added effect of freeing up Spineshatter once more as a viable tool for gap closing while retaining its strengths as an eye build mechanic.

Im not a theorycrafter, but maybe someone could do the numbers and see if this might help the dps disparity problem goons currently have with their monk and ninja buddies? This might not require any changes to potencies in any other skills.

3) & 4) I know some raiders are all about the flow and buff timer line up. I know they are against dragonfire adding eyes because it would, to them, mess up the flow. But it could be an option to a more casual crowd, and still give those same raiders a viable alternative choice during a mandatory phase drop off they cant get around. Again, I dont want SE to change their current approach to bosses, Im loving the newer more dynamic transitions. Im trying to somehow bring alternatives to getting to lofd without breaking the job.

Giving the bofd skill an adding eye component would also keep us using that very flashy skill at 70 where we can perpetually never drop bofd if were fed pulls correctly by tanks. By adding that component, hitting bofd makes for a more meaningful choice. Doing it now helps us juggle that eye timer, but this would make it feel ever more like a dragoon empowerment skill. It would also add some nuisance in the use, as more experienced drgs might choose to end lofd after their 3rd nastrond early by willingly hitting bofd right after for the added eye rather than letting it fully drop to 0 and automatically going into bofd. All together empowering bofd with an eye should somewhat drop us into a 35 sec cycle of bofd / lofd, with perhaps some times entering lofd a little sooner.

Any of these changes allows for lofd's nastrond cycle to increase our dps numbers a little without breaking the job or needing fights to be designed around ONE job ( which they will probably never do ). People should be aware, if dps numbers are your main concern, perhaps when we get gear with less skill speed our numbers might come up a little more naturally. I also dont think increasing potency of some skills would do it either, as you still get that crippling frustration during the many forced drop offs. I think these changes would greatly help while not breaking their philosophy for the job itself.

If you think so as well, please keep posting your ideas and feedback to keep the chance that this will be seen and considered by the devs as high as possible! And have fun all.

[Frost_Trunks]

TLDR (most of it) But I don't care for the level 70 ability. I rarely get to use it. The only way to get the eye to progress is with the two jumps, by the time we kill the mobs, my BoTD wears off on the next set, so I lose all progress. Even if you give DF Dive +1 to the count, it still won't help much. The ability doesn't hit for crap anyway. If it did more damage, it might be worth the effort. But I'll just stick to Doom Spike combo for AoE. I would much rather have an ability like Sidewinder that was a strong ability with a long CD.

[Frowny]

my BoTD wears off on the next set, so I lose all progress. But I'll just stick to Doom Spike combo for AoE.

DRG wasn't really built for AoE and it is pretty strange they balanced Geirgo and Nastrond around AoE potential.