Thread: 4.1 DRG opinions, Was it a buff? A nerf? Discuss!

Was wondering if I could get some opinions about DRG changes and how peopel have been adjusting lately.

I want to say my damage has gone up, but I've replaced 3 pieces of gear for my savage raiding, anyone hardcore DRG raider thoughts on damage this patch?

I can't say anything parse-wise, but I can offer my opinion on the current way the rotation feels. [DRG main since 2.5]

It feels leagues ahead of what the 4.0 rotation felt like. Having only 3 eyes solves the slow build up and the unnecessary punishment of dropping stacks for me entirely. It also solved "which jump should I use first?". The CD change for Geir from 35 to 30 also feels fantastic as I can now confidently squeeze it in before the next round of Nastronds without worry of delaying anything (I'm having a great time using it 1 oGCD before Jump nearly every time its up).

I'm sure greater rotations will be made soon, but I'm loving the feel of it again. It's actually fun to play for me now as 4.0 until now has felt like a chore.

Mathematically, it was a tiny nerf of -35 potency per minute single target, ALL things considered. To put this into perspective, over the course of a 12 minute fight (Neo-Exdeath for example), less than the potency of one single in-combo Full Thrust GCD was lost. So pretty much, barely at all. Because there are more Nastronds per minute now, it is an AOE damage buff.

From a quality of life/flow of the class point of view, it is a very nice streamlining "buff". Most of my DRG friends have reported that they no longer want to rip their hair out over the rotation.

For me it's offering more dps personally. My numbers are higher, but that's probably because the 3 eyes makes mechanics easier to work around and have more nastronds. A tiny nerf on dummies but I wouldn't be surprised if the Geir changes leads to overall dps gains in some fights, as well as helping non-10th percentile get up higher.

QoL though the changes are so nice, I'm loving Drg even more than I was before the changes. There are certain situations where I can just go into life twice in a row and it feels great~

No it was a buff you get LOTD much more often then before....my dps has increased about 200 because I have more up time where is before I barely had up time because of the 4 stacks crap this is my personal opinion but before I was low 4K and now 4.2-4.4k in V4s

Yes, they made DRG easier to play, but the changes were slight nerf overall. In grand scheme of things the small nerf doesn't effect anything so DRG is pretty much where it was before patch. Just easier to play.

Anyone saying it was a buff personally, couldn't get the most out of DRG pre-patch.

I would say agree with the aforementioned minor nerf from a regular rotation standpoint but with the quality of life actually put into effect, this difference is barely noticeable and, if anything, potentially better with Nastrond now useable much earlier on (~33 seconds into an encounter as opposed to 60). All in all, the flow feels good and the ceiling skillcap is brought slightly down to earthly levels.

It was a Buff And Nerf, aka a BARF.

DPS on dummies has gone down a tiny bit but the overall feel of the class has improved and its dps translates better into actual battles.