I got Dragoon =)

[Crossblades]

I recently got the DRG job and as soon I as my bros get their advanced jobs we're going to to train together. Is there anything I should know about or any advice you want to give me when it comes to Dragoon?

[Yeargdribble]

Well I've recently gotten on the DRG kick and gone on a crazy leveling spree while reading up a lot on the job.

Aim at your stats like this.

Accuracy > Attack > STR > DEX > anything else

Your decent WSs are multi-hit (Double Thrust and then Penta Thrust). Accuracy is the big thing on multi-hit WSs. You could have a ton of Attack, but it'll do nothing if the hit misses. STR only affects the first hit of a multi-hit WS directly (aside from the fact that 2 STR = 1 atk as well). At much higher levels, when using single-hit WSs and having capped atk/STR, you'll aim at a STR build, but that's pretty far off.

Beyond that, being a 2handed weapon wielder, you really don't want to miss. It hurts you damage wise and TP wise a lot more than a single or dual-wielder. Your hits will always land for a lot of damage as long as they land so make it a priority to make sure they land.

When you get Spirit Link (which heals your Wyvern and damages you) try to not use it between fights, but rather, near the end before the WHM sits down. Spirit Link tends to piss of WHMs a lot.

Your gear is gonna look like crap. There are a handful of pieces that are absolutely hideous, but are by far the best pieces in a slot for a long time. When you hit 25, try to get a Republic Subligar. Nothing comes close (not even AF) to it until 63. Another noteworthy piece you should get is a pair of Battle Gloves at 14. These will also last you potentially untli very late in the game.

DRG is slightly different from some other melee jobs. I'd normally aim at the best DPS (Damage per second) weapon in a slot. Usually even if a weapon has high damage, it may have really bad delay, making it do less DPS. However, with DRG having jumps, you'll often want to aim at the very high damage weapons. Generally this means the Lances (and as you go up they generally have good DPS also).

For food, I'd suggest using Rice Dumplings up until the atk% on them caps (around level 50). Beyond that you'll want to use the appropriate sushi or meat depending on your acc gear. Most people will probably want to use Sushi. You can only really get away with meat if you have a Peacock Charm, Lifebelt and 2xWoodsman/Snipers.

If there's anything I missed or any specific questions, let me know.

BTW... about looking bad.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e240/Yeargdribble/Ugh.jpg

[ScottNUMBERS]

1, Prepare to seek for long amounts of time. I suggest finding something to do while seeking e.g soloing, farming, crafting, quests etc.

2, DRG is ridiculed alot form what I see, don't let it put you off the job.

3, Don't forget to use food, Meat should be okay since you have Acc. bonuses as DRG, although I'm not sure when you actually get them, if you find yourself missing more than you'd like just switch to Sushi.

4, Keep your equipment updated. Don't just check AH check the internet for your equipment, there is some nice R/E equipment that you can get your hands on, lots of it is better than anything you can buy (e.g Pilgrim's Wand, Power Boots, Bounding Boots, Empress Hairpin, Parade Gorget, Note: not all of this stuff is any good for DRG)

5, Last but not least; Keep your Sub leveled. I wouldn't invite someone with a gimped sub even if it would make no difference to that players abilities. A gimped subjob shows that they haven't put effort into their job imo.

[Mirage]

That's because taru RSE looks retarded though :p.

[Lionx]

loldrg....

jk x3

DRG only gets one accuracy bonus at lvl 30, however that Accuracy bonus means a FREE Life Belt in the long run because its +10 Acc. Meaning the less of a need to put full Acc gear, i personally think alot of the loldrg comments were because everyone used to be pure Acc and DRG needs more ATK compared to other DDers.

Zomg subligar~!*blinded*

[Dr Aum]

(| Please forgive me. |) (http://drglfp.ytmnd.com/)

[Jimsour]

Just keep your accuracy going as much as possible.

You are using a two handed weapon, you miss one hit and thats a lot of TP you potentially lost. At the early levels all 2-handed weapon jobs (DRK, SAM, DRG, sometimes WAR) miss a lot because the gear just isnt available, but once you hit the 30s you should start seeing accuracy gear. Get it.

DRGs are made fun of a lot, a lot of the time its just a bit of humour and no DRG I know has any more problems getting parties then I do as a DRK.

Plus, Polearms look cool as hell.

[Yeargdribble]

I really don't think you can start eating meat until you're nearly 60. The 10 acc from your level 30 trait isn't enough. I've got Woodsmans, Tilt Belt and I'm using Rice Dumplings, so aside from my acc trait I have Acc+20 and I still miss far too much on XP mobs (I parse around 80% acc).

Keep in mind that even if you have more attack, it does you no good if you miss. Acc will allow you to hit consistently (even if it is for a tad less) and also will allows you to WS far more often. There aren't a lot of options for acc gear, so unless you have a PCC, I'd go with every ounce of acc I could get until much later. I'd only switch out a Lifebelt for something like Swordbelt/Vanguard Belt, if I had a PCC.

You really have to do your best as DRG because it has such a bad reputation. Most people that play DRG just play it really really badly, and this adds to the stigma. In reality, DRG is a pretty solid DD. Just take care not to do anything that would lend to the stereotype of a bad DRG.

[Lionx]

If you prase 80% Accuracy thats good enough really imo. I used meat all the way up until lvl 40 on WAR, because i had lil issues with Accuracy in general. I sometimes would be a little bit behind but not by too much.

Afterwards however Accuracy started becomming an issue, but i think people are too much into Accuracy seriously...if you do 80% hit rate thats really good, for me really 65-70% is fine, as long as you dont miss half your time.

I only have +19 Acc on my 60 PLD and i am hitting most things decently enough...so i wouldnt say ignore meat dishes especially when you already have an Acc Trait, and if you gear the right slots with Acc. You dont NEED a P.CC, a Tilt Belt/LifeBelt...Shikaree Ring/Verener Ring/Woodsman Ring, the ever usable Battle Gloves, Merman Gorget/ChivChain, and alot of other eqiups not including your own weapon which might include Accuracy...its important but dont go ALL out into Accuracy is what i am trying to say...

[Yeargdribble]

Acc will effect your performance far more than Atk until you're capped out on it. If you're already hitting 95% Acc (the cap), then obviously you are overkilling on acc and need to start worrying about Atk/STR. But until that point, you'll do far better DoT with a full Acc build. Hitting 95% of the time for 50 is better than hitting 80% of the time for 60. Honestly, many players won't have access to many of the better Acc gears (Woodsmans/Snipers, PCC). Without these, you will really need to focus more on the Acc gear available to you, which isn't much.

You can't really go too all out on the acc, just because it's not available on every slot. The only time I would consider switching an acc piece for an Atk piece is if the Atk piece had a significant amount of Atk (Spike Finger Gauntlets > Battle Gloves: 12 Atk > 3 Acc). The only other slot where I can think of this being a major issue is with Swordbelt vs Lifebelt.

You can put Acc on every slot you have and still have more than enough slots that have no Acc pieces to fill in with some Atk/STR.

[Garland]

Depends on what you're fighting, I think. In the old days, and probably still in low-mid level parties, the trend was to fight IT++ monsters for maximum EXP per kill, and hope for chain 5 at most. In these parties, you'll need accuracy all the way. Smart parties know that indefinite 5+ chains of Ts and VTs is better EXP in the long run. You don't need as much accuracy for these parties. I know these parties (TP-Burn style) are all the rage once a player can EXP in ToAU regions, and if past precedents are any indication, I imagine this mentality will or already has permeated down to low levels. So anyway, you might be better off carrying an attack build and an accuracy build. You never know what mobs your party will be targeting these days. In the old days you knew every party would invariably fight IT++ with a skillchain and magicburst. This is no longer written in stone.

[Yeargdribble]

Yeah, carrying both builds is a good idea. With VTs you'll need less of your acc build, however your melee Acc% numberes still hold true.

Someone hitting fairly weakly for 80% acc will out-damage someone hitting really hard for 60%.

I actually tried this in a PT today with a well geared SAM (O Kote, Valk Mask etc). His hits did impressive damage and his WSs were evn more impressive. However, he was parsing around 60% acc, and I was trying some meat as well as switching my Tilt Belt for a Sword Belt +1. That's a total of 10 Acc lost, but a huge boost in Atk. I was also averaging around 60% damage and parsing a little behind the SAM.

After having such horrid accuracy, I switched my Tilt Belt back on. This managed to bring my acc up to around 70% and I started edging out the SAM on Damage%/mob. I then switched back to Rice Dumplings an was getting just over 80% and was doing far more Damage%/mob than the SAM.

I really don't think you can have too much Acc until you're hitting over 90% regularly. Depending on the amount your PT likes to overhunt, this may require a different amount of gear to achieve. At low levels, it's unlikely that you'll ever realistically achieve this without super uber gear. Even against VT mobs, your acc won't be able to reach reasonable levels until you have access to more acc gear over all.

[Ouch!]

Hitting 95% of the time for 50 is better than hitting 80% of the time for 60.
Just thought I'd point out that the theoretical values received from those percentages in a test of 100 hits, hitting 80% for 60 actually yields 50 more damage than hitting 95% of the time for 50.

Anyway, my point is that if you focus too much on accuracy, you're not going to be outperforming anyone. A healthy balance between accuracy and attack/STR gear is necessary. It's probably easier and less costly to achieve 80% accuracy and still have room for attack/STR gear to raise damage per hit than it is to max out accuracy. Before I quit, accuracy gear was far more costly than attack/STR gear, and from what I've read, it's still that way.

I just think it's completely pointless to forgo one for the other.

[Yeargdribble]

Well the 50 and 60 were just made up numbers. Honestly, I the difference is potentially much greater. Berserk alone can cause me to do 20 more than my normal average.

I'm currently wearing the best acc build you can have without having HQ snipers and a PCC and I'm just edging into 80% accuracy. The parser clearly shows that I do better with more acc than with less. The fact that I was doing more damage with 240ish Atk and 80% acc than I was with 320ish Atk and 60% acc should say something about the importance of Acc > Atk.

The fact that acc gear isn't cheap is all the more reason to focus on it. Crossblades probably won't have 2xWoodsman's at 40. Losing 10 Acc from the ring slots is will put a big hit on his acc, so I think it's important to focus on as much acc on other slots as possible.

Wearing every bit of Acc+ gear possible, you can still get a very healthy balance of Atk/STR on the slots where no acc is available.

[Lionx]

Mmmm could i see that parser log..? Just like to know a lil more.

[Mikztsu]

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j63/OrunitiaFFXI/loldrg.jpg

[Markus. D]

Duo with other DRGs :D?

[Yeargdribble]

Sorry lionx >< I don't save my logs, just have them read to me as I'm playing since I only parse for personal reasons to figure out the most efficient food/gear options for myself.

Perhaps next time I can save some for you and try the same experiment. As for the details... we were both level 43 fighting Beetles in Western Altepa if that helps.

[Lionx]

Its alright lol, its always good to learn a lil more to help maximize what you do, i will eagerly await your new parser logs and information :)