To the Devs: A thanks for 4.0 Drg, and with some suggestions to follow

[Blackbard]

Id like to let the devs know about how im enjoying 4.0 drg in ways Id hoped for, but wasnt fully confident would actually happen before release. The info that had come out pre-launch showed such a change to 3.0 drg, a build I loved in every way, that initially built up concerns. Digging into situations like dungeons, trails, raids, it seemed like a lot of the enjoyable depth was going away. But I gotta say, even if THAT builds gone, this one still provides enough. Mixed with the great new mechanics they are throwing at us simultaneously during dungeon runs, it really does give enough of a challenge to be fun! There is still some nuance to the class, albeit at 70 it aaaaaall revolves around keeping bofd and your eyes SAFE from drop off.

With that, I still believe a few small changes would help round out the current jagged edges present in some end game instances. Ill follow this post with another thread directly dealing with those suggestions after, as id like to explain my experience with the job first, and why I'm happy with 4.0 drg as a whole. You can find the suggestions thread here http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...52#post4251752 if youd like to skip to the nitty gritty. Theres a lot of justifiable and unjustifiable anger about drg at 70, but overall even if they didnt change anything, I think im still going to be very happy playing drg in SB. Great job guys!


Lvl 60-70:

Nothing really changed from the media build. When I first logged in, it was a bit of a disappointment at the time. At 60, dragoon still felt oddly familiar, though without the methodical real time decision making. Core mechanics were aesthetically there, but Geirs were just handed to you freely. Hell, Geir would always be up no matter what because bofd cd was just 5 seconds shorter. Stuff like that may have taken the depth out, but I cant deny it made for crazy quick gameplay fun at least. I actually felt a little like ninja in some aspects, especially with the big opening burst being so quick.

As leveling progresses, you get neat new abilities to supplement aoe, then you get your ( so far ) unique 5 tier combo system, then a fun ( if a little challenging for some ) party utility. At 68, to me, is when dragoon reached its new end game.

Why?

The mirage dive is a new ability that supplements the dmg in our ogcd abilities and rotations, looks cool, sounds cool, is ranged, and will eventually give us eyes. But the lofd at 70 we get takes such a while to activate ( in its current form ) that often times I feel like hitting mirage dive reminds me more of hitting 3.0 Geirs. It comes around without any real effort, yes, but the time spacing is more reminiscent of 3.0 Geir. You also get about 3 per minute if you're on it, much the same number of Geirs you pulled off back then too. So ill be honest, having guessed pretty spot on how Id feel about lofd before launch ( never seeing it outside dungeons, trials, raids, and fates cause it takes to long to activate), 68 drg really did give me an end game impression.

And thats where drg needs some tweaking.

The 70 trait and ability should feel like the end game. Right now however, it feels like a reward for playing the 68 build to its peak efficiency. Maybe that was the point, but what im trying to get it is this: all other jobs have a 70 end game build feel right? If this is suppose to be ours, but an earlier tier is whats seems to be providing this state of mind, then there might be small flaw in the 70 design.

While building lofd is exciting and fun for me, it takes a long time. This coupled with the fact you lose all eyes during a bofd drop, it makes certain otherwise super fun fights a little frustrating. Even if I'm still enjoying the encounter, it DOES suck a little of that enjoyment out because it feels like my work had been undone. And while drop off due to a phase change was going to happen, it seems to happen more and more during the most enjoyable fights! I.e. Kugane Castles last fight, an awesome and fun change of pace, constantly drops my build up out, without enough time to salvage it via combo when the boss becomes attackable again. I do NOT want SE not designing great bosses like this so drg can keep eyes. I don't even know if I really want the current drg build to change at all. But having gone through this myself, reading about ex phase shifts happening at the same time as lofd coming up, and general frustration in the community, I thought I'd give some suggestions too.

But understand SE, devs and everyone who worked on the job and dungeons and everything gameplay wise: WELL DONE!!!! I've had great fun! And I think more peeps should share with the team those thoughts, if ya have them, as well as you're ideas to make it better.

As for my suggestions, please refer to this thread:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...52#post4251752