Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

[Saikou]

Greetings everyone,

I'm presently confused about my main job choice, I do not know if I should choose SMN or DRG. I already posted a post about SMN on the summoner forum, and here I am on your forum fellow dragon knights !

First of all, I know dragoon is a damage dealer job and I think I know how the job works in general, however there's one thing that I can't verify by myself. As I plan to do the missions, COP and most of other storyline events in this game, I would like to know if the dragoon can be useful to most of these events ? I would hate to level a job that doesn't have any chance to do those events.

Furthermore, I would like to know how is dragoon in endgame stuff and merits pt ?

In order to conclude, as for my subjobs, I'll level WHM(40) and WAR(37) for my sub jobs, so the first COP missions can be done on my WHM if my dragoon isn't useful. Furthermore, I'll be in a static party, so the invite rate doesn't factor in for my main job choice.

I thank you for your time,

Saikou

P.S. English isn't my primary language, so please bear with me.

[eticket109]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

You picked a good time to level DRG. It used to be, with a 2 hour timer on Call Wyvern and thus a virtually useless BC 2-hour, we were one of the last jobs you'd want in a CoP BC fight. That all has changed with our new 2 hour: Spirit Surge.

Spirit Surge adds effects to our jumps. Jump has a defense down effect. High Jump has a stun + tp down effect. Super Jump can shed emnity for anyone behind you as well. All of those, especially the defense down, can make DRG valuable to BC fights now.

Once you get to 75, you can get Angon as well. Angon is a defense down ability that you can unlock with merit points. The last few missions are uncapped in CoP so this can help as well.

Merit tendencies seem to change day by day. It used to be 75% of merit parties were monk groups or blm groups. Lately though I have been in a few DRG heavy parties where the DRGs all went /whm or /rdm and shared healing. There are times when you will still wait a long time for parties, especially past 37, but it isn't as bad as it used to be.

Keep both war and whm levelled as they can both be very viable subs, along with /thf and /rdm.

[Kirsteena]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

Also, with the introduction of ToAU, there is a plethora of mobs weak to piercing about (polearm is piercing weapon). If I am setting up a party targetting mobs that are weak to piercing - crawlers, colibri, I will look for drg and thf as melee.

[Davitron3000]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

my RL friend who I play this game with is a Dragoon. We did all of the CoP Missions, Sandy Missions, and Zihlart Missions together. He uses Dragoon in endgame activities and does really well.

So, I would say yes Dragoon is useful for everything you are wanting to do.

[Vyuru]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

Well, in the Promy battles at least, I went in as drg/thf, and drg/rdm. Drg/thf strategy was to use Spirit surge + sneak attack and land a jump for def down on the BC monster before the other melees used their physical two hours to enhance their damage. Drg/rdm strategy was to provide backup healing if needed.

I personally preferred drg/rdm in these fights, not that I ever really needed to get off a healing breath often in the BC fights, but it was useful.

The other jobs I've taken into these have been black mage and warrior. I think I like warrior best because I stock up on alot of status bolts (acid, bloody, holy), so in truth I play war as more of a ranger with a Gaxe. I mostly liked warrior for the ability to help take out strays that the memory receptacles spawned. Our ranger had a tendency to ignore them, and when I went in as dragoon the strays had a tendency to all attack me for some reason, and when 6+ strays are beating on you, your hp goes down pretty quickly.

General missions, drg/mage totally kicks ass, especially if you do them when you are level 60+ and have your AF helm. We normally go in with a pretty standard exp setup, and have yet to lose to anything, although we haven't done that many missions, finally killed the Shadow Lord though! Thanks again Mrmiles if'n you're reading this! (rest of the LS did it without me, and I got Mrmiles, lvl 75 rdm extrodinaire to kill the big bad beasty)

Drg is highly versatile, and I think I would say that it is more along the lines of a support/DD when you go in as drg/mage. Do not underestimate the healing abilities of a drg/rdm, so long as what you are fighting doesn't have Mijin Gakure, horrible one hit killer moves like Sickle Slash or similar attacks, your party/group should never die, especially if you have a whm and you are just the backup/support healer.

I must say, I really like being the support healer. Sure I'm sacrificing some of my damage output by not going as /war or /thf, but I am also assuring that my group will not be wiped out just because I came as /rdm.

[eticket109]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

Also for Promy-Vazhl... I highly recommend /whm. That extra curaga can really take the heat off the mages after a couple of carousels.

[Kirsteena]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

A drg/whm main healed the Buggby BCNM in the 3 paths when I died... did a stonking job of it.

[eticket109]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

stonking = good, kickass ect?

[LadyKiKi]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

A drg/whm main healed the Buggby BCNM in the 3 paths when I died... did a stonking job of it.

I want to know what stonking means too ...

[Saikou]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

I've no idea what it mean

I guess it does mean that the DRG did an awesome job ?

[Kirsteena]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

Sorry, Britishism - yes stonking means basically kick-arse. I died early on, reraised then died again so I was out for the count. He took over main healing amazingly, and we won with very little difficulty.

[Hilde]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

In our garrisons, I like having the DRG for the extra damage.
Although it always is a bit hard to target the mobs due to the small army of wyverns.
A couple of BCNM 20's also were good for DRG, but those were mannequin part BCNMs.

[eticket109]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

After this upcoming update, targetting around DRGs and wyverns should be easier with /ignorepet

[Khidir]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

also with drg your wyren(sp) does an extra special kind of damage called blunt for some of the tough mobs they are weak to blunt attacks which all types of pets do.

You bring two types of damage dealing with a drg piercing(you) and blunt(pet) its pretty nifty and drg are capable soloers in their own right

I personally like smn because i can use them to save my but from a situation with dismissing and resummoning new pets while wyrens act as a mimic that act as you do. You can command avatars as a smn to work independently almost like pcs

hope that helps in deciding^^

[Shinoe]

Re: Dragoon and events (cop, missions, dynamis etc...)

hello
I just unlocked Dragoon last night (Rolandさん、ありがとうございました！）. I went as a 30SMN/15WHM and Roland came as 75DRG/37WHM, although the WHM sub wasn't needed of course. I was very awed by how great his gear looked, and Delphyne did a great job! Needless to say, the Cyranuce had his @$$ handed back to him on a platter, complete with sauces and vegetables. Ramuh did get Thunderspark off, and it hit for 145 or so which is pretty good, even on exp mobs at 30.

When i started playing again 3-4 weeks ago, i realized that my best bet was to play Summoner because that's the one job that i always had great respect for, and thought was problebly the most fun out of them all. I had also previously leveled Dragoon to 42, but this was when our "Call Wyvern" ability was our 2 hour! Roland said that party invites are still slow, especially for Merit PT's, but that it has picked up as updates have been applied (with the update to Samurai, etc), the Job has only gotten stronger. Not up to par with what Dragoons were pre-Penta-TP-Spam update, but still stronger regardless of some still holding to the "lolDRG nerfed" mentality.

As far as your choice between the two...why not play them both? They're both very great and while some people say it's not worthwhile to play Summoner with only Carbuncle from 1-20, i beg to differ. In fact, Having Carbuncle beforehand is best, as Avatars really only have the tier 2 elemental spells, and drain most of your MP just to cast those and be out at the same time. With Carbuncle, you can learn to "Carby Kite" gobs, lizards, rabbits, etc while soloing when you don't have or want a party. You learn the intricacies of the 'aggro list' and what you can/can not do when solo/duo'ing as a SMN. You get some {back line job} DD capabilities, as well as party buffs starting at level 24, 25, etc.

A dragoon on the other hand can be a great damage dealer, or a DD/minor backup healing.

i would say try them both out and see what happens. SMN is insanely easy to unlock, use 3 prism powders and 3 sneak oils or a WHM for sneak/invis on your way to the Glacier for "Ice" element, and you're good ^^'