Bunch of questions about the class (that aren't covered in the FAQ)

[Yorak]

I'm trying to decide what class / race to be while I'm waiting on a server pass. The three that look the most appealing to me are Dragoon, Dark Knight, and Black Mage. So I'm trying to find out the benefits and downsides to each, how they comapre with each other, and their roles and desirability in the later stages of the game.

1.) How does Dragoon overall melee damage stack up against spell damage? How does weapon delay compare with spell casting times? What about special abilities vs. spell casting times?

2.) How do Dragoons compare with Dark Knights?

3.) How much damage does the Wyvern add? Does it have a nasty tendency to draw hate towards itself?

4.) I've heard that Dragoons are about third in melee damage overall. Is that with or without the wyvern?

5.) Other than adding extra damage (I'm not planning on subing a non-melee class so healing breath isn't an option), are there any benefits to wyverns?

5.) Is soloing an option with Dragoons? Do they do it well? Does anyone?

6.) How desirable are Dragoons at higher levels? Do they fill any special roles?

7.) What would you say the best thing is about playing a Dragoon?

8.) What would you say the worst thing is about playing a Dragoon?

[struck]

Re: Bunch of questions about the class (that aren't covered in the FAQ)

Originally posted by Yorak
I'm trying to decide what class / race to be while I'm waiting on a server pass. The three that look the most appealing to me are Dragoon, Dark Knight, and Black Mage. So I'm trying to find out the benefits and downsides to each, how they comapre with each other, and their roles and desirability in the later stages of the game.

1.) How does Dragoon overall melee damage stack up against spell damage? How does weapon delay compare with spell casting times? What about special abilities vs. spell casting times?

2.) How do Dragoons compare with Dark Knights?

3.) How much damage does the Wyvern add? Does it have a nasty tendency to draw hate towards itself?

4.) I've heard that Dragoons are about third in melee damage overall. Is that with or without the wyvern?

5.) Other than adding extra damage (I'm not planning on subing a non-melee class so healing breath isn't an option), are there any benefits to wyverns?

5.) Is soloing an option with Dragoons? Do they do it well? Does anyone?

6.) How desirable are Dragoons at higher levels? Do they fill any special roles?

7.) What would you say the best thing is about playing a Dragoon?

8.) What would you say the worst thing is about playing a Dragoon?

1. Spell casting does a lot of damage but they are really two different things. The only time a black mage can do big damage in a PT is when he MB's. Other than that they usually stick to lower level spells to not pull the monster off the tank.

2. Dark Knights have higher defense and higher attack power than Dragoon. Dragoons become a bigger damage dealer early at level 49 while Dark Knight's at 60. They both fill the same role in a PT so they are very closely related. If you like casting magic while being able to fight Dark Knight is a fine choice. If you want a pet dragon and purple armor well Dragoon is the job for you.

3. The wyvern?fs damage depends greatly on the defense of the monster. I have noticed it actually always hits for maybe 15 less damage than I do. The wyvern because it always does less damage than you will have a hard time pulling hate from you.

4. I would rank melee like this RNG->DRK->THF->SAM,DRG.

5. If you have to escape from a monster while solo you can super jump and have the hate focused onto your dragon. This will give you enough time escape while the monster beats up your wyvern.

5.B Soling with dragoon from level 1-14 is easier with the wyvern. After that soloing becomes too time consuming so it?fs best to stick to parties.

6. Dragoon at higher levels fills the same roll it does at lower levels. The third melee damage dealer. So they spend a long time waiting for PT invites. It just can?ft be avoided.

7. The Artifact Armor is dashing.

8. No PT invites.

Hopefully this will clear some things up for you,

[Aldo]

4. I would rank melee like this RNG->DRK->THF->SAM,DRG

I always believed sam/drk/drg/mnk were somehow constructed so their damage became equivalent in a party. But that could be incorrect reasoning. THFs don't deal damage regularly, only their weapon skills/renkei deals big damage, their role in a PT really becomes the "hate controller". As you stated earlier, in a regular party there is a damage taker, the "tank", a "hate controller" (sometimes optional....) the thf or someone atleast subbed thf, and a 3rd melee.

[struck]

Originally posted by Aldo

I always believed sam/drk/drg/mnk were somehow constructed so their damage became equivalent in a party. But that could be incorrect reasoning. THFs don't deal damage regularly, only their weapon skills/renkei deals big damage, their role in a PT really becomes the "hate controller". As you stated earlier, in a regular party there is a damage taker, the "tank", a "hate controller" (sometimes optional....) the thf or someone atleast subbed thf, and a 3rd melee.

You know I agree with you on this but still I'd like to see some data showing that thief still doesn't do the most damage. Sam Drk Drg and Mnk do close to the same damage but I still give the nod to Dark Knight.

[Yorak]

In the Dark Knight thread (where I asked similar questions about their class), they mentioned that the favorite DK weapon tech, Guillotene, didn't mesh well with the top Thief weapon tech. Is this a problem for Dragoons? I was especially thinking of subbing Samurai for the mad TP. Could a Dragoon with a Samurai sub possibly contribute more to damage than a DK with a Thief sub due to this?

[struck]

Dragoon does actually work well with Thiefs. Before level 60 it's Double Thrust - Viper Bite. After 60 it's Skewer -> Dancing Edge for major damage. With Samurai sub you solo Penta Thrusts in between.

[Aldo]

At 65 drk learns cross reaper, at 66 thf learns sharkbite, these two do connect with eachother, but the effect is weaker. Skewer is the same thing imo, its just that drg can learn it at lv60 and thf can use their stronger ws to connect that makes drg more compatible. With sam sub drg is crazy lol, I saw Ailis renkeing with herself doing Penta-Skewer when we were messing around XD

[Awntawn]

DRG's physical damage output isn't as high as DRK, but it's WS's are more compatible with THF's, resulting in an overall more efficient party. Aside from skewer > dancing edge mentioned above, there's also:

Cartwheel (Lance 225) > Shark bite (Dagger 225) = Light renkei = OMFG

In both of these combos, the DRG itself doesn't do that much damage, but it allows the THF to do an insane bunch... In the end it's not how strong you are; it's how useful you are.

Unfortunately for the DRG, the thing that light renkei is most effective against is undead, and spears do half damage to undead (can't stab ethereal shit), so people still want the monk. Let's all go spam the monk boards now.