Thread: Dragoon is a pretty complete Job. What could productively change in 6.20 (or beyond)?

Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

Therefore, I'm particularly curious whether the changes have made the packed Dragoon burst window feel "workable" for all players. If you have a "less ideal" connection, how does 6.10 Dragoon feel for you?

DRG is adequately busy right now, as this happens mostly during the even-minute burst windows in a manner similar to NIN or DRK. The animation lock reduction has made this smooth and so there's no problems anymore. Compared to ShB, we mostly press 2 more oGCDs in even-minute windows: one SPD and one WWT. LS is barely used in these because of the way HT aligns, and because it's a loss to use LS on a 5th positional with Litany up compared to a non-buffed HT.

What DRG needs to make burst windows more lenient is to increase Battle Litany's duration to 20s for the DRG only (party still gets a 15s buff). This way, drifting will be less problematic. This would have to be paired with the Dragon Sight + Lance Charge merge, with the former becoming an upgrade to the latter: a 15-20%, 60s personal buff.

Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

Therefore, I see Spineshatter Dive — especially with 2 charges — as mostly just key-clutter and weave-clutter. It no longer Stuns. It no longer generates Eyes. It just doesn't seem to have much personality anymore... it's like "High Jump's less popular cousin".

If the ability no longer has a personality, then it should be given one. What do we gain exactly from removing it entirely? One less oGCD to press? What about similar abilities like Shadowbringer? I'm not saying they're the greatest of the bunch, but perhaps the issue lies in their role and not their existence.

The same thing goes for Dragonfire Dive. As a 120s cooldown, it needs to have a more defined purpose. If it's to be a hard-hitting attack every 2-min, then let it be so. If it's to empower another attack/give us a proc or produce resources, then that's also fine.

Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

This stems from Geirskogul's strict CD demanding immediate use every time it refreshes, while also holding the dual purpose of entering Life... all of which means that generating Eyes in the wrong order can push a Dragoon into a "no-win" corner rotationally and Potency-wise.

This is fixed by making drifting less punishing (i.e. making Litany last longer for the DRG), so that drifts of one GCD are not already enough to risk the 2nd Nastrond to not be buffed by Litany.

Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

A trait called "Blood for Blood" could upgrade "Lance Charge" to "Blood of the Dragon" at level 50+.

While I like this idea, BoTD would be used during bursts only, which is also when we gain Life. Therefore, if Life stays the way it is, the blue glow will only be seen for like 2 GCDs before it becomes red or in a non-life opener.

If applying the Life changes that you suggest below, then the red aura no longer exists or is very limited, making us trade one aura for the other. The solution is to just allow us to have BoTD's aura any time we have one or two eyes stored (like Darkside/Beast Gauge). We spend 50% of the fight in Life, so it's only fair to spend the other 50% (in most cases unless you go double life) in a BoTD state.

That said, changing the cast animation of LC into BoTD is good for me, though I'd ideally merge LC and DS' animations: use the LC animation with the swirling dragon from DS spiraling around our body.

Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

Instead, just give Dragoon a "Reverse Elusive Jump"

You suggested this in your other thread at the time and I still believe the same thing I replied then: this'd make DRG RPR 2.0. We don't want full homogenization. We don't even need a gap closer anymore thanks to the much improved EJ, but it'd be great to have one, as it'd finally make us truly mobile just like the other melees.

Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

Due to Life Surge pressuring Dragoon to try to consume it with a very specific GCD, Life Surge has very little leeway for "when" it is activated.

Even with charges, this can lead to uncomfortable clashes between Life Surge and other actions that have strict cooldowns and must not be delayed.

Yes and no. Despite how odd it is and how many people vouch for its removal, Life Surge is an interesting ability because it's the only one that interacts with our GCDs and does not follow the "press on cooldown" rule. It requires some thinking even if in the end you can just plan its usage on an encounter-by-encounter basis, though it's true that pressing it on CD on any HT/Coerthan Torment will be right 90% of the time.

The clashes you mention almost never happen, as you say yourself. It's mostly in some odd-minute bursts when HJ is up at the same time, and you barely use it in even-minute bursts because a suitable HT either comes up before/after they start or at the very end when the burst is almost over.

The ability needs to not have anti-crit synergy (see https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post5880390) and be able to be used with more GCDs so that it's more engaging.

Perhaps it could even be turned into a GCD attack a la Sonic Break/Gnashing Fang with similar effects but that grants a scale as well: extra GCDs (e.g. Piercing Talon) delay scale generation which then push WWT out of buffs, though this could be mitigated by having a max of 3 scales with a cost of 2.

Several of the options you provide for LS are good though, and I'd personally like it if it could interact with Chaotic Spring in some way.

Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

This is the most drastic change that I'd advocate for: cleaning up the dated Life system.

The overall idea is good, and it makes sense. However, it's very similar to how RPR works. Allowing several NAS back to back is going to make the burst as busy or more, which is not a problem to me but it apparently is for the devs. Additionally, Stardiver removing all of the stacks is basically Communio, and forcing it to be used last makes the burst more rigid.

I agree that the Life gauge does not offer "much", but turning it into Enshroud is not the solution. It should lean more towards Enochian (management of some sort) than Enshroud: you cannot use GSK to get more eyes while you have fangs similar to how you cannot get Soul/Shroud during Enshroud. It is not in our best interest for DRG to become the oGCD RPR, as it'd lose its identity. Perhaps a cursed suggestion would be to allow Nastrond to be affected by SkS while still being an oGCD, but DRG does not like SkS much as it drifts the oGCDs.

During HW, the BoTD gauge was filled using positionals and then spent with GSK spam, if I understand correctly, so perhaps something along the lines could be added to spice things up: we enter Life with 30 gauge, and NAS consumes 10 gauge per cast. This'd add another oGCD to the mix within the burst (the 3rd NAS), so it's important to consider.

We could still stay in LoTD status and keep the red aura for, let's say, 25s, since Life could interact with our GCDs in future expansions, for example. This'd also prevent GSK from mildly drifting after each LoTD use because of us coming out of it 5s before it comes off CD.