Pulling as a drk...?

[Stooky]

Well, i started this job with out thinking if the pull much or anything, then I am in a few parties in the dunes and Im called apon to pull... Ok, pulling is my least favorite thing in ffxi period, so Im just wondering if it just happened to be called apon to pull or do we do it alot. o.o
If they do pull this is not the job for me, so I need a answer!

[Szkol]

Well DRK is one of the many jobs that can pull... it sort of depends on how the party is set up. If you're in a party of 1 tank and 4 mages, there's a good chance you'll have to pull with Poison or something like that. On the other hand, if your party has 1 0r 2 more tanks / DD members then it's likely that you won't be needed to pull.

The only 2 jobs i've seen that always pull by default are RNG and COR, for every other situation it sort of depends on the party i think.

[DieselBoy09]

No, from my experience atleast, the dark will not be expected to pull. Sure, on occasions you might have to, but on some horrible occasions even Blm's are asked to pull (Not a wise decision, but it does infact happen). With the dark having light defense, in the later levels you will not be expected to pull and it will be up to the main tank to pull (unless its a paladin) or a ranger/thief, however before your defense really becomes apparently low you might have to. Once you get to yhoater jungle though, or even quifim (sp?) you will rarely be asked to pull.

[Stooky]

hmm, just I never was called to pull as war or mnk or any other melee I have leveled. I guess I may be called to do so. If I am forced to in some parties I will either have to leave or deal with it, becuase pulling is </3. Well I guess every job pulls once in a while but who knows.

[kuu]

The have range weapons, they have range spells (which is actually not the best to use, but have their good points).

The problem is mp.

You need mp. and whether is missing a refresh/ballad cycle, or just not sitting, it sucks to fight with no mp.

[Stooky]

Well, im a taru. my Mp is not gone for like maybe 8 mobs maybe less if I spam my spells.

[kuu]

Well, im a taru. my Mp is not gone for like maybe 8 mobs maybe less if I spam my spells.

Doesn't really matter if you're a taru or a galka.

This is MP upkeep here, not Max MP.

You gain the same amount resting for all races.

A drk at higher levels will almost never have full mp., as long as he/she has enough per monster. In fact, /healing more would waste your tp.

[Thrasher]

I am called upon to pull as a Dark Knight quite often. Try and use long bows for the maximum ranged distance, and shorter casting spells are also fine pulling tools and a good way to help keep your spells closer to level but it tends to help if you have refresher(once your to that level). I have managed to pull some super fast enemy's with long bows and survive(somehow). But also dark knight is not called upon to pull any more often then other melee jobs that have the ability to pull.

But also I have leveled war/thf and thf/war to 37 so pulling with a war subjob really is not a issue for me, heck im better at it then some /nin's I know:evil:

[LadyPeorth]

Pull with Poison when you can
Pull with Crossbow when Poison is not an option (magic aggro)

If your Marksmanship level is high enough, feel free to grab some acid bolts to help lower defense and give a slight TP boost.

[M_X]

In my almost 3 years playing drk, I can count the number of times I haven't pulled on 1 hand. Then again, I generally offered to because I've been told I'm a good puller. I'd say were're a third string puller.

#1: rng, cor
#2: thf
#3: drk, sam, war

[kuu]

In my almost 3 years playing drk, I can count the number of times I haven't pulled on 1 hand. Then again, I generally offered to because I've been told I'm a good puller. I'd say were're a third string puller.

#1: rng, cor
#2: thf
#3: drk, sam, war

Should be 4th or 5th due to mp requirements. A war pulling also has shadows and or flee and don't need any real upkeep.

There is such a thing as pulling skill and/or reluctance, but that's different then pure preference.

Why run around and make trouble for your refresher, or /healing when you don't have to.

You don't see paladins pulling unless they have to.

Magic pull isn't that good because
1: your distance is shorter magic range is 15ish, while /range is 20
2: Pulling with a dot and cause trouble if you link and need to sleepga
3: mp waste if you're already hard up on mp

[M_X]

Magic pull isn't that good because
1: your distance is shorter magic range is 15ish, while /range is 20
2: Pulling with a dot and cause trouble if you link and need to sleepga
3: mp waste if you're already hard up on mp

1: We do have access to a x-bow.
2: Dont have to pull with poison, can use stone. Also, you need to factor in your enfeebling skill.
3: Again, we do have access to x-bows. Also, depending on where you're pulling, you only need to cast a spell that takes longer to cast; mob will aggro you before it goes off, so when you see the mob aggro you run back to camp.

In regards to links, any puller of worth knows that if you screw up, you die. get to a place where you can be easily tractored from and die.

[Szkol]

I agree that DRK is probably a 4th or 5th string puller. I know that as RDM, I usually end up pulling before the DRK ends up pulling. The only time it's ever been otherwise is when I've been main healer or the nuker. This is before Refresh though. From what I hear, Refresh just turns everybody's world upside down, so once an RDM has Refresh I'm not sure if they end up pulling so much.

I've also been in alot of parties where the MNK pulled... though I'm not sure if that's normal. I'm tempted to say it's not, becuase MNK doesn't have any ranged does it?

[tdh]

I've done a lot of pulling as DRK in my years, and we can be quite competitant with it, but we're at the bottom of the list for what I call the "Pull Monkey."

I have only ever "MP Pulled" when I ran out of X-bow bolts. There are only a few instances where you should be using MP to pull, and in those instances it's a Stun pull.

In my opinion, humble or otherwise, COR should be lower down on that list of pulling. RNG, THF, and SAM are your top pullers, in that order. And a tank should almost never pull. NIN or PLD, in the Dunes a WAR tank can pull and not effect much. But the last thing you want is eating Shadows and killing fresh timers because they had shadows eaten on the pull. Or a PLD missing a Ballad, being out of range for Refresh cycle, or not healing if needed.

In the 50's DRK will most likely party with a lot of THFs and WARs. We can open Distortion for both of them, and for the most party they will pull. So I suggest getting your hands on an X-bow and bolts for pulling. You may want to consider leveling Marksmanship, but it's no priority. Since DRK has a horrid skill in Marksmanship, we'd need cap'd skill and a lot of RngAcc+ to even bother throwing out Acid Bolts and expect them to hit an EXP mob.

[Aeni]

DRKs stop pulling after they get a bomb core. Want me to pull? Better give me a BRD then, because +12 to attack isn't something I'll likely give up because the THF is too lazy to pull (I think I can count the number of times I've partied with a BRD as a DRK on one hand going back to level 26 in Yuhtunga Jungle)

You can't pull in some places with magic. Sky, for example, is not a good place for magic pulling.

Some personal notes that I've experienced while pulling.

-Xbow has a shorter range than longbow. Not sure about guns. I've pulled with xbow before and barely made it back to camp in moon with 100 hp (Fleeing won't do good post-patch because you lose monster aggro and it will despawn)

-Pulling requires at least one macro slot, usually two (The call and then the actual pulling) DRKs usually don't have room in macro for these two things when they're subbing THF (SA and TA already are on two separate slots and usually you stack up SA+TA on various weapon skills AND you now have Abs-TP in a slot)

-On a side note, pulling allows you to explore a new area a bit more than you otherwise would have. A greater appreciation of the surrounding area will come in handy one day you're in the area for god knows what reason.

Since DRKs do not sub NIN (Not normally pre-merit) they don't get utility to survive nasty mobs on the way back to camp. Plus, it's a moot issue at later levels when you get into roaming TP parties or have BRD lullaby pull for the team.

[Lmnop]

a) I hate pulling. I like to sit around and chat (read: bug my party members), not be on the move 24/7.

b) I've done more pulling w/out shadows than with. It's not that bad. The only time I ever pulled in a party against fast mobs, I was war/nin but the party was killing so fast that I was often out there w/out shadows grabbing them. Granted, I have a defense swap macro that makes things a bit more painless, but in general, getting hit twice won't hurt mp too much. That's a Regen and the pld cures me for a little extra hate (that party, I was also the only melee, SCing with SMN so every bit of time I wasted not swinging axes was time wasted for the SC/MB). But at any rate, most of the game isn't spent on "fast mobs" and so, Drks do fine.

c) Mnks and Drgs suck at pulling. aside from job ability claims, all they have is pebbles and Tiphia Stings. They're not throwing their Sting any sooner than Aeni's throwing that Bomb Core, and you'd be surprised how hard pebbles actually are to come by.

d) Drk Marksmanship is a very sad E rank. But hey, you're not using mp, and if there's a chance you'll stick defense down, may as well go for it (though I wouldn't attempt wasting acid bolts w/out SEVERE equip swap macros). You can always just use bronze bolts.

e)Whytf would anyone want a Corsair puller? I don't understand that, still. In my eyes, a cor/nin is the same as a sam with a bow. And for that matter, I don't see why RNGs are #1. You're sitting still if you're wide scanning, or you're auto-running into a Torama. if you're in a party with Thf AND rng, I think the thf should pull and the rng should stay in camp and convey wide scan results. But I like parties that - you know - talk and work together and stuff. No one else shares this love.

[Aeni]

a) I hate pulling. I like to sit around and chat (read: bug my party members), not be on the move 24/7.

DRKs have an MP pool. If they pull, they'll miss out on a ballad with a BRD. Even with a RDM, most RDMs I've partied with as a DRK (Read FFXI pet peeves) put me on an odd rotation where I don't get a refresh until I hit 30-50mp ... don't ask why, they do it. If I'm pulling ... hahaha.

c) Mnks and Drgs suck at pulling. aside from job ability claims, all they have is pebbles and Tiphia Stings. They're not throwing their Sting any sooner than Aeni's throwing that Bomb Core, and you'd be surprised how hard pebbles actually are to come by.

It's a given that if I'm partied with a MNK, I'll pull. Most JP DRGs I PT'd with make their tathlums on the spot and pull with it, but that's a very specific experience. In one PT with a DRG in TB, I did pull with poison.

d) Drk Marksmanship is a very sad E rank. But hey, you're not using mp, and if there's a chance you'll stick defense down, may as well go for it (though I wouldn't attempt wasting acid bolts w/out SEVERE equip swap macros). You can always just use bronze bolts.

Marksmanship rating has nothing to do with aggro'ing a mob. However, if you don't hit it and the tank doesn't voke off right away, some mage healing is gonna get smacked (Heal aggro sucks)

e)Whytf would anyone want a Corsair puller? I don't understand that, still. In my eyes, a cor/nin is the same as a sam with a bow. And for that matter, I don't see why RNGs are #1. You're sitting still if you're wide scanning, or you're auto-running into a Torama. if you're in a party with Thf AND rng, I think the thf should pull and the rng should stay in camp and convey wide scan results. But I like parties that - you know - talk and work together and stuff. No one else shares this love.

Basically, anyone who specializes with ranged should pull and especially if they sub NIN. Otherwise, why else are you subbing NIN as a COR or RNG since the change in how range attacks work (You're not going to get anything out of dual wield outside of having another weapon with +racc/+ratk stat) Getting that TP when landing a hit on the mob is nice. COR's buff lasts a long time as well, so they're not constantly buffing like a BRD would be doing...

[Standablaze]

I pull quite often, preferably against mobs with MP so I can aspir if I miss a refresh cycle.

Keep a crossbow (doesnt matter if its good or not) and buy Crossbow bolts from an NPC (check a site for the npc), 6g a bolt or less. No point in pulling with bloody bolts or other expensive bolts.

It can help keep your markmanship capped aswell which is always good when you want to get back some HP with a bloody bolt. Even though we have an E rating, its not hard landing a hit.