PLD or DRG

[Asteroth]

I need some advise on which advanced job i should have, either a paladin or dragoon. i'm gonna be a tarutaru n want 2 no which job would suit me best. thnx

[llkoole7]

Well it all depends on if you like to be Damage dealer or the main tank? Drg does damage in a fight, lots of it. Paladin does Barely any damage at all, but has HUGE defense...so u can tank very well. As a taru taru you will not be the best race for paladin, but go with what suits you best. Out of the two jobs, your taru would be a Better DRG than a PLD. But what i say is not holy gospel so go with what you feel, and have fun:spin:

[LordBiGGs]

well, lately i've been thinking about playing dragoon as well. i cant really give you much of a good description of the job since i havent played it yet. pld on the other hand i can describe very well...

first let me state the only sub for pld in a party is war...no other, i dont care what you say, war in the only sub for a party. another thing, use a sword and shield, pld's have an A+ in shield for a reason, they arent damage dealers, they'll do crap damage with a great sword anyway. you have enough other means of keeping hate that you dont need to do damage, plus shields mean more defense and blocking, plus shield bash.

paladins are the safe, bluecollar tank (i feel bad for putting it this way, but i've played nin too, so i know what i'm talking about). their damage mitigation is not as good as ninja's since ninja's basically dont get hit. playing pld doesnt take as much of a toll on your gil. also pld is safer because it can hold hate much better than a ninja. although ninja's dont suffer the hate loss from taking damage, they simply cannot generate the hate that pld's can. although pld's get hit by basically every attack (although they can block and parry, these skills are impossible to cap every level unless you've played previous jobs using them).

as a pld you will hit for 0 a lot of the time after lvl 33 when you leave khazam, although i was surprised tonight when i was hitting for 15-20 ('o'). on the other hand, you have other ways of creating large amount of hate. at lvl 10 which is about when you start partying you get provoke. curing also helps create large amount of hate although you dont need to do it that much, just use a cure every once in a while or if really needed. lvl 15 you get shield bash...i think dont really remember. shield bash is definitely useful. although it doesnt produce that much hate, sometimes it gives you just enough to get the enemy back on you. also it stuns an enemy,which if times right can stop enemies from using special attacks. lvl 30, you get sentinel, simplet a great skill. gives you a giant defense boost with no downside other than long recast time. at lvl 37 you get flash which blinds an enemy and create more hate. GET THIS SKILL AS SOON AS YOU HIT 37!. it's great, i love it, once of a pld's best friends. although it lasts a very short amount of time, for 25 mp, it definitely prevents more damage at 37+ than a cure II heals for about the same cost. even if it didnt blind an enemy, it creates a decent amount of hate which is good.

so as a pld, you'll be swining like a girl, but can keep an enemy on you like no one else, while taking much less damage than most other jobs. another added bonus is you can make parties work without a whm. its not really recommended, but they can work.

so theres pld in a nutshell, now you just gotta read up on drg.

[Skelington]

DRG here.

As a DRG, you will do massive damage. But don't think that it is simple. Where on PLD you must keep the best armor and shield, on DRG, you will need to buy weapons before anything else. The class is not easy on your wallet. You need to keep your weapon up-to-date, buy all of the rings, earrings, necklaces, and belts for bonuses to DEX, STR, Attack, or Accuracy. Dragoons have to watch what they do, because unlike Paladins, their job is to have the LEAST hate, which is hard for a class that puts out so much damage.

Luckily, Square-Enix put in some nifty tools to make this a bit easier. You get, at level 35, a Job Ability called high jump that you can use every 3:00. This reduces hate, deals damage, and gives you TP for WS. At 50, you get a Job Ability called Super Jump that makes you leave the screen for about 5 seconds. It deals no damage and grants no TP, but it removes ALL hate the monster has on you. Obviously, I have not used these myself, but have watched Dragoons use them.

In addition to High Jump and Super Jump, at level 10, you get a job ability called Jump. This deals damage and grants TP, but has no hate reduction at all.

Dragoons have one trademark ability: they can command wyverns. Wyverns are like small dragons that fight alongside you. Dragoons can summon these every two hours, and they will stick around until you die, it dies, you ride a chocobo, or you use the temporary logout feature. The wyvern does around 1/2 the damage your Dragoon does. When you use a Weapon Skill (WS,) the wyvern will do different things depending on your subjob. If your subjob is a melee type (WAR, MNK, THF, etc.) the wyvern will use an elemental breath to damage the enemy. If your subjob is mage (WHM, RDM, BLM,) the wyvern will use a breath that removes one negative status effect (debuff) from you or a party member. If your subjob is a hybrid (BRD, DRK, PLD,) the wyvern will use an elemental breath.

In addition, if your sub is a mage class and you cast a spell, thed wyvern will use a breath that heals you or a member's HP. However, this will only trigger if that member is below 1/3 HP (1/2 HP with the Drachen Armet.)

If you sub a hybrid and cast a spell or sing a song, your wyvern will do the same, but it will NOT work on party members, only your character.

[Weezingpipes]

As a DRG, you will do massive damage.

lol.

[Ayako2]

Originally posted by Weezingpipes


lol.

rephrase it to, "Unless you are gimped, you will do massive damage"

[Weezingpipes]

rephrase it to, "Unless you are gimped, you will do massive damage"

No, I meant what I said. Basically unless you get a Gae Bolg asap, your dmg will suck. Unless you have piles of gil, you won't be able to afford the mediocre selection of equipment a DRG can use. I worked very hard to get decent equipment (really only lacking Scorpion Harness and Peacock charm at my level which no one I grouped with has besides rich JP's), not high enough for a Colossal Lance which is pretty pricy as is. A DRK or WAR with compareable equipment will outdo a DRG, no question about it. It is simply by flawed design DRG does the damage they do.

[Viev]

Expansion jobs have been looked over.

Hopefully, they'll add something to make drgs and sams a little more interesting to play.

[Ayako2]

The Gae Bolg isn't a neccessity, nor is it really even all that great...if I had the pop time/wasn't too lazy to get the pop time I would be hunting the Colossal Lance. Gae Bolg really is so slow that if you aren't hasted you will be waiting an eternity.
Everything I wear is cheap or easily hunted (Gae Bolg aside. But you can buy a Ice Lance at 74 for under 10K, D89, it isn't a bad weapon, and the Envarl NM is supposedly no longer random pop time, so it could be easier to get now). The only thing that is ridiculously expensive is Dusk equipment, which few people have. Scorpio Harness, really, the amount of people who have it, didn't buy it, myself included (I tend to not even wear it outside of town ><) I wouldn't pay 6 mils for it. Rather 4 for Argus charm and spend the other 2 on Dusk pants. My point is, if you know how to optimize, and get the hell out of AF asap, you can, and will be very powerful.
Dragoons do suck for the top tier HNMs. Not as bad as Samurais, who suck vs. everything, but don't expect to have much fun against King versions or beast gods. This can be blamed on game balance, not the job. DRK would also be useless there, if not for Stun. That stuff is pure mage battle. Ninja is the only overpowered Zilart job. It's too powerful. We watched a nin/thf solo serket last night, easily, with no help. Sickening, considering no other melee job could even easily solo anything else in that room.

[Carbon]

If you don't mind me asking, how do most people acquire scorpion harness then?

Acquiring the raw materials and asking a high level crafter to fabricate one?

[Weezingpipes]

I'm assuming HNM ls that hunt Serket either have them made within the LS or a crafter they know makes them and award the Harness, or maybe they award the claw to someone and have them find someone to make it. Since there has been a whopping 5 sold on Midgardsormr in the AH and I've seen probably 20 people have them, most people don't buy them. The price probably has more to do with the claw being pretty rare than the item significantly better than other items (I'd wear a Hauberk if I could), but its nice none the less considering the alternatives or lack there of.

[Elusivellama]

Whee, I seem to be on a DRG bashing spree tonight. Funny, since I used to be a level 50+ DRG myself, haha.

Anyway, choosing between PLD and DRG, go PLD, forget DRG. PLD are extremely valuable at higher levels. DRG are not.

DRG cons:

- worthless wyvern (also a 2hr)
- worthless job traits and abilities for the most part
- jumps miss too much, and only do damage - don't even stun the enemy or anything. Only jump worth anything is Super Jump.
- craptacular armor choices, very gimped here
- not enough to do in a battle...all you do is auto attack, the occasional jump, and watch for skill chain.
- not wanted in BCNMs whatsoever
- not wanted for HNM hunts
- no magic (heck, having no magic on any melee job is a con by itself!)

[Carbon]

I have to say, as of level 60, no dragoon has impressed me so far, myself included.

I can't see how equipment will really help significantly. DRKs and MNKs and etc. are already outshining me, even with vastly inferior equipment.

Most of us are unlikely to own a scorpion harness or other "uber" gear for a looooong time, if ever at all. If that's what it takes to "equalize" a DRG with a DRK who has "crap" gear, something is wrong IMHO.

[Weezingpipes]

Equipment is terrible to balance classes in these types of games. The problems need to be fixed at the core of the jobs (although itemization IS a problem DRG does have).

[LordBiGGs]

its true drg's are pretty useless at higher lvl's, but if you're going to look at it that way, all melees other than tanks are useless. blm's do better damage, but i choose not to look at it that way. i'm probably going to play drg rather than drk for my next job because drg's can shed hate by jumping. they both play very similar but i dunno, i just kinda like drg better.

the best advice i can give any new player is stop trying to plan things out. and for the love of god stop trying to plan for lvl 60+ before you even play the game. your plans will change. i wanted to be a thf, got thf to 18, lvl'd war sub. when lvl'ing war sub, i decided i didnt want to play thf. realized i wanted to play drk. when war was about 25, i realized i didnt want to play drk. ended up going pld. when my pld was around lvl 40, i realized i wanted to go nin. when nin was about 25, i went back to pld. so just stop trying to plan and play the game.