Hmm, DRG Gear Question

[ringthree]

I rarely ever play DRG/melee though and it's even more rare that i xp/merit/event as DRG/melee.

Wah?

Screw that fucking ugly ass thing. Not saying Homam head or Ace's look anything better but being elvaan I'm willing to sac 2% haste for more accuracy.

Huh?

I changed the body piece to an attack piece because, with AJ and Homam pants, you have +45 ACC and +7 skill, which should be enough to use meat for anything that's not an HNM (and you'll probably use a mage job for that anyway).

Come on guys, it's 2008 not 2005. /mage is for soloing and situational stuff like second party healer in Salvage. DRG is now one of the best straight up DD's in the game. A Dragoon subbing a mage job to an event is pretty much a waste. It's a big cut into their damage, and its benefits are pretty much always at risk from AoE. If you need more damage bring a melee sub, if you need more healing come as a healing job.

You should focus on what any other DD would focus on, and play up your strengths. DRG is incredibly accurate to start, there is no reason to focus there. The pretty unremarkable TP gear that he has now is already 14 more accuracy than he needs to cap on Greater Colibri.

[Conrad]

I changed the body piece to an attack piece because, with AJ and Homam pants, you have +45 ACC and +7 skill, which should be enough to use meat for anything that's not an HNM (and you'll probably use a mage job for that anyway).

Come on guys, it's 2008 not 2005. /mage is for soloing and situational stuff like second party healer in Salvage.

He has WHM BLM and RDM leveled. He'll probably use any of those instead of Dragoon.

[ringthree]

I changed the body piece to an attack piece because, with AJ and Homam pants, you have +45 ACC and +7 skill, which should be enough to use meat for anything that's not an HNM (and you'll probably use a mage job for that anyway).

Come on guys, it's 2008 not 2005. /mage is for soloing and situational stuff like second party healer in Salvage.

He has WHM BLM and RDM leveled. He'll probably use any of those instead of Dragoon.

Pretty much my point exactly.

[Starr]

Screw that fucking ugly ass thing. Not saying Homam head or Ace's look anything better but being elvaan I'm willing to sac 2% haste for more accuracy.

.dat change

[Wolfknight]

Oh, and I spent equal/less on Thalassocrat (possibly 20-40k less then mezraq at the current price) having mined some Khroma Ore to fund ingredients. Although I did shudder on the synthesis, I hate 100~ synths...so random with T0 luck.

@ Wolfknight, Fowling over Ethereal? I wasn't sure about STR+1 Acc+3 vs. Attack+5. Although i had been debating it because my friend is a DRG Elvaan and swore by Fowling till he bought Triumphs. I'm open to try Fowling out, it's pretty cheap.

for exp and stuff yea I go with fowling I used it til I got assualt also really should get AJ, askar, or barone body to use if you can.

[shirak]

TP:

Thalassocrat
Pole Strap
Angon / Smart Grenade
Ares's / Ace's Helm / Askar Zuchetto / Walahra / Optical
Love Torque
Brutal Earring
Ethereal Earring
Ares's / Askar korazin / Homam / Pahluwan
Ares's / Drn. Fng. Gnt. +1 / Homam / Dusk
Toreador's
Raja's
Forager's Mantle
Swift Belt
Ares's / Homam Cosciales
Ares's / Homam Gambieras

Desired WS Setup:

Thalassocrat
Pole Strap
Angon / Smart Grenade
Ares's / Hecatomb Cap / Askar Zuchetto / Optical Hat
Love Torque
Brutal Earring
Ethereal Earring
Ares's / Hecatomb Harness / Askar korazin / Homam / Pahluwan
Ares's / Hecatomb Mittens / Drn. Fng. Gnt. +1
Toreador's
Raja's
Forager's Mantle
Warwolf Belt / Wyrm Belt / SwordBelt +1 / Life Belt
Ares's / Hecatomb / Askar / Drn. Brais +1
Ares's / Hecatomb / Amir boots

So the question is, what do you like doing in ffxi and how much do you want to deck your drg out.

For some cheap/worthwhile upgrades, Limbus and Nyzul Isle look pretty good. Long as you save some tags for Amir boots. Both those events are fun to do.

Missions are particularly important for end-game drg with eth/brutal/rajas/homam key components of our equips.

Heca is nice and great ws set, but there are other options as well if you don't want to spend a lot of time in sky (used to be neccessary). Same goes for ground kings, but those two heca pieces are possibly the best for ws. An option here is Einherjar maybe, have the chance at the abjs.

Drg rips things up these days. Its kinda a weak DD at 75, but meritted and properly equipped is a good source of near hate-less damage on the long fights (top 1-3 dd (not counting wyvern) on last 6 or so JoL), and /sam the mitigation to survive short fights along with great dd burst potential... and is pretty fun playstyle so it'll be a worthwhile venture.

Anyways, i'd think Limbus and Nyzul Isle are the best equip sources for an endgame drg.

[Kkel]

I rarely ever play DRG/melee though and it's even more rare that i xp/merit/event as DRG/melee.

Wah?

Come on guys, it's 2008 not 2005. /mage is for soloing and situational stuff like second party healer in Salvage. DRG is now one of the best straight up DD's in the game. A Dragoon subbing a mage job to an event is pretty much a waste. It's a big cut into their damage, and its benefits are pretty much always at risk from AoE. If you need more damage bring a melee sub, if you need more healing come as a healing job.

You should focus on what any other DD would focus on, and play up your strengths. DRG is incredibly accurate to start, there is no reason to focus there. The pretty unremarkable TP gear that he has now is already 14 more accuracy than he needs to cap on Greater Colibri.

You're welcome to think whatever you want. Personally i feel that DRG/WHM is close to the the pinnacle of the jobs abilities and that subbing melee jobs just pigeon-holes DRG, especially poor utilization of the Wyvern... but that's just me. I've put DRG/WHM through pretty every possible endgame pace and short of a decently accessible Refresh piece, i love it's balance. You say that /Mage is a big cut into DRGs damage, but it's really not. The job retains it's power and gains one of the most unique subjob advantages in the game.

Besides, with my other jobs, there's no need for me to play DRG/melee at anything. I play DRG/WHM because i enjoy it.

[S N K]

Come on guys, it's 2008 not 2005. /mage is for soloing and situational stuff like second party healer in Salvage. DRG is now one of the best straight up DD's in the game. A Dragoon subbing a mage job to an event is pretty much a waste. It's a big cut into their damage, and its benefits are pretty much always at risk from AoE. If you need more damage bring a melee sub, if you need more healing come as a healing job.

You should focus on what any other DD would focus on, and play up your strengths. DRG is incredibly accurate to start, there is no reason to focus there. The pretty unremarkable TP gear that he has now is already 14 more accuracy than he needs to cap on Greater Colibri.

Please tell me this post was sarcasm. I mean honest question, do you use your DRG in anything end game related?

Yes you can loldrg all you want but some of us have been blessed with end game shells that let us go on our drgs enough that we get to enjoy having them in big fights.

I've used mine on a lot of fights, Limbus and too much in sky to even recall and merits of course it's a beast and even if I sub whm I still can pump out some serious damage.

A mage sub does nothing to hinder the job and more often then not having your Wyvern spamming healing breath along with the rdm/whms having to spam cures helps a lot.

iirc I think I saw Kkel main heal in a DD pt No a Fafnir/Nidhogg with DRG/WHM because there was a shortage of mages. The whole 2005 comment really was farfetched and misplaced.

I sympathize if you don't get a chance to do all of what you can with drg or feel that it's limited but you've probably been beaten in the head by some idiots who think that drg is just a sub par job only meant for the lulz.

[Qlash]

I like Drachen Finger Gauntlets (+1), 2-3+ more hits of wyvern is usually worth it.
And add Mighty Lance for firesday ^^

[ringthree]

I rarely ever play DRG/melee though and it's even more rare that i xp/merit/event as DRG/melee.

Wah?

Come on guys, it's 2008 not 2005. /mage is for soloing and situational stuff like second party healer in Salvage. DRG is now one of the best straight up DD's in the game. A Dragoon subbing a mage job to an event is pretty much a waste. It's a big cut into their damage, and its benefits are pretty much always at risk from AoE. If you need more damage bring a melee sub, if you need more healing come as a healing job.

You should focus on what any other DD would focus on, and play up your strengths. DRG is incredibly accurate to start, there is no reason to focus there. The pretty unremarkable TP gear that he has now is already 14 more accuracy than he needs to cap on Greater Colibri.

You're welcome to think whatever you want. Personally i feel that DRG/WHM is close to the the pinnacle of the jobs abilities and that subbing melee jobs just pigeon-holes DRG, especially poor utilization of the Wyvern... but that's just me. I've put DRG/WHM through pretty every possible endgame pace and short of a decently accessible Refresh piece, i love it's balance. You say that /Mage is a big cut into DRGs damage, but it's really not. The job retains it's power and gains one of the most unique subjob advantages in the game.

Besides, with my other jobs, there's no need for me to play DRG/melee at anything. I play DRG/WHM because i enjoy it.

Let me first say that enjoyment and opinions about jobs are neither here nor there. I am just trying to illustrate that the mentality that you can only do DRG/mage at events or HNM is old school thinking and hasn't really adapted to the post-two-hand-fix state of the job.

I don't know how subbing a melee job "pigeon-holes" a DRG, in fact, it recognizes it's new found strengths and breaks the mold of the old biases against DRG lack of damage potential. Your statements about your enjoyment of subbing a mage job are good for you, but they just are what you are used to not what really matters.

Subbing a mage job makes a DRG a situational healer and back up healer at best, in this day and age, this is not really needed outside of low man events like second party healer in Salvage or Limbus. Not using a melee job eliminates a lot of the benefits from their damage capability, if this was not the case other jobs would sub mage jobs too (obviously not to the same benefit but the point remains the same).

Ultimately, there may be no "need" for "you" to bring a melee sub, but with how powerful DRG's have become, it is harder to justify a non-melee sub for most normal events.

[ringthree]

Come on guys, it's 2008 not 2005. /mage is for soloing and situational stuff like second party healer in Salvage. DRG is now one of the best straight up DD's in the game. A Dragoon subbing a mage job to an event is pretty much a waste. It's a big cut into their damage, and its benefits are pretty much always at risk from AoE. If you need more damage bring a melee sub, if you need more healing come as a healing job.

You should focus on what any other DD would focus on, and play up your strengths. DRG is incredibly accurate to start, there is no reason to focus there. The pretty unremarkable TP gear that he has now is already 14 more accuracy than he needs to cap on Greater Colibri.

Please tell me this post was sarcasm. I mean honest question, do you use your DRG in anything end game related?

Yes you can loldrg all you want but some of us have been blessed with end game shells that let us go on our drgs enough that we get to enjoy having them in big fights.

I've used mine on a lot of fights, Limbus and too much in sky to even recall and merits of course it's a beast and even if I sub whm I still can pump out some serious damage.

A mage sub does nothing to hinder the job and more often then not having your Wyvern spamming healing breath along with the rdm/whms having to spam cures helps a lot.

iirc I think I saw Kkel main heal in a DD pt No a Fafnir/Nidhogg with DRG/WHM because there was a shortage of mages. The whole 2005 comment really was farfetched and misplaced.

I sympathize if you don't get a chance to do all of what you can with drg or feel that it's limited but you've probably been beaten in the head by some idiots who think that drg is just a sub par job only meant for the lulz.

Umm, seriously, did you read anything I wrote? Because it sure seems like you completely missed pretty much everything I said, and became instantly defensive.

I said the exact opposite of what you are talking about. I said that /mage is unnecessary for DRG's because the are MORE powerful, not because they are lol... Dragoon's are now so strong as a DD, that to use a mage sub is to waste the potential of the job. Before the two-handed update DRG would sub mage to "justify" their presence in the alliance, this is no longer needed.

And if anything I have been in an LS that favors DRG over anything else (because the LS leader is obsessed with them LOL).

[Jaybar]

Only thing I dislike about /Mage is how the Wyvern reacts with Breath Attacks after the targetted mob is defeated. It's annoying to activate a Healing Breath and not have it go off because the mob dies beforehand.

In Dynamis, it's almost pointless to use it (with respect to number of people, and difficulty of mob). Mobs die so fast in City Zones with 20+ people that you'll have to wait until after a fight to activate if you don't want Wyvern to delay the breath. In that kind of circumstance, that could really hurt your healing abilities, not to mention DD abilities.

Your wyvern is also limited to a single party. You can't main heal an alliance. The Remove-Status breaths are just about pointless for end-game purposes (Except to remove Paralyze, probably the most beneficial Cure breath). Don't forget the Dragoon itself takes full priority on breaths. If someone is leaning on 3% HP and you get docked down just below 50% when you begin to activate Healing Breath, well, that guy with 3% HP won't be happy.

/Mage is great. It's the greatest thing I've ever done and seen in this game so far, as jobs go. It requires a lot of skill to handle and is much different than any regular melee job. Unfortunately, there are draw-backs and limitations, and these factors move me away from /Mage when it comes to helping my friends, myself, and my LS.

[DAKPluto]

Been mostly covered, I'll just put it simply.

P.assault gear isn't horrible, but you would do far better for youself going for Homam, Ares's, Askar gears.

[Kkel]

Ultimately, there may be no "need" for "you" to bring a melee sub, but with how powerful DRG's have become, it is harder to justify a non-melee sub for most normal events.

While i appreciate your enthusiasm for DRG melee and do agree that it has gained some ground in the damage department, the job still can't really keep up with the higher tier DDs in this game. Especially in endgame situations. DRG used to be one of the DD kings, but that was a long time ago and the odds of it ever being that way again are pretty slim. Yeah, it can still throw up huge numbers xp'ing on Colibri, but so can everyone else.

Ultimately, it's hard to justify DRG at all for most "normal" events, short of "DRG = Angon", depending on how you define "normal". DRG/Melee is just another baseline DD in a long line of baseline DDs. DRG/Mage at least brings something unique to the table.

It's up to you how you play the job, neither is right or wrong. I tend to find that most DRGs who have been playing the job since NA release have stopped trying to prove DRG's worth to anyone. We just play DRG because we love the job.



Anyway, on topic:

DRG has a lot of great options for hand gear, including Homam, AF+1, AF2+1, Askar, Dusk, Hecatomb, Ares... I see a lot of DRGs in Ares these days. I suppose it depends on where your priorities lay in terms of stats on your other gear. I've been using AF+1 over Hecatomb Mittens recently for WS but i doubt you'll see a huge difference between the two.

[Therin]

Ultimately, there may be no "need" for "you" to bring a melee sub, but with how powerful DRG's have become, it is harder to justify a non-melee sub for most normal events.

While i appreciate your enthusiasm for DRG melee and do agree that it has gained some ground in the damage department, the job still can't really keep up with the higher tier DDs in this game. Especially in endgame situations. DRG used to be one of the DD kings, but that was a long time ago and the odds of it ever being that way again are pretty slim. Yeah, it can still throw up huge numbers xp'ing on Colibri, but so can everyone else.

Ultimately, it's hard to justify DRG at all for most "normal" events, short of "DRG = Angon", depending on how you define "normal". DRG/Melee is just another baseline DD in a long line of baseline DDs. DRG/Mage at least brings something unique to the table.

It's up to you how you play the job, neither is right or wrong. I tend to find that most DRGs who have been playing the job since NA release have stopped trying to prove DRG's worth to anyone. We just play DRG because we love the job.



Anyway, on topic:

DRG has a lot of great options for hand gear, including Homam, AF+1, AF2+1, Askar, Dusk, Hecatomb, Ares... I see a lot of DRGs in Ares these days. I suppose it depends on where your priorities lay in terms of stats on your other gear. I've been using AF+1 over Hecatomb Mittens recently for WS but i doubt you'll see a huge difference between the two.

Agreed. DRG is great for Salvage zones and bosses, the kings, and other lesser events such as sea/sky and Dynamis/Limbus. But put a DRG on Tiamat or Khimaira and you'll notice immediately that it's no SAM.

[ringthree]

Ultimately, there may be no "need" for "you" to bring a melee sub, but with how powerful DRG's have become, it is harder to justify a non-melee sub for most normal events.

While i appreciate your enthusiasm for DRG melee and do agree that it has gained some ground in the damage department, the job still can't really keep up with the higher tier DDs in this game. Especially in endgame situations. DRG used to be one of the DD kings, but that was a long time ago and the odds of it ever being that way again are pretty slim. Yeah, it can still throw up huge numbers xp'ing on Colibri, but so can everyone else.

Ultimately, it's hard to justify DRG at all for most "normal" events, short of "DRG = Angon", depending on how you define "normal". DRG/Melee is just another baseline DD in a long line of baseline DDs. DRG/Mage at least brings something unique to the table.

It's up to you how you play the job, neither is right or wrong. I tend to find that most DRGs who have been playing the job since NA release have stopped trying to prove DRG's worth to anyone. We just play DRG because we love the job.

Fundamentally, your arguments were true a year ago, but now DRG dominates all jobs in accuracy. Freeing it to do a lot more than it did before.

I find it strange that the DRG fan boys are telling me that I am wrong and that I should believe that DRGs really are gimp still. This is utterly ridiculous. DRG can bring real damage now, and can do it without relying on SATA. I think that some of your have been beaten down into your roles for so long now that you don't even realize your potential. DRG/Mage is definitely nice, situationally, but if you are pulling a DRG for some other DD in any endgame fight, I sure hope it is because of a variation in player skill or gear, not because you actually believe that DRG damage doesn't keep up. Try parsing DRG/Melee at your end-game events, you might be pleasantly surprised.

[Kkel]

Fundamentally, your arguments were true a year ago, but now DRG dominates all jobs in accuracy. Freeing it to do a lot more than it did before.

I find it strange that the DRG fan boys are telling me that I am wrong and that I should believe that DRGs really are gimp still. This is utterly ridiculous. DRG can bring real damage now, and can do it without relying on SATA. I think that some of your have been beaten down into your roles for so long now that you don't even realize your potential. DRG/Mage is definitely nice, situationally, but if you are pulling a DRG for some other DD in any endgame fight, I sure hope it is because of a variation in player skill or gear, not because you actually believe that DRG damage doesn't keep up. Try parsing DRG/Melee at your end-game events, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Dominates in accuracy? What, how does that mean anything? Unless i missed some amazing update note that suddenly allows DRG to hit the 100% accuracy mark, they're no more accurate than any other DD worth their salt. And parsing 5% higher accuracy won't mean a thing without a consistent, powerful, punch-through WS. And don't say SATA Wheeling, since you've already denounced /THF. Again, i appreciate your enthusiasm but it seems like the majority of your comments seem to be coming from lack of any real endgame experience. Which is strange given the jobs you have leveled.

No one is saying DRG is gimp, we're just saying that DRG is specifically not top tier. That's reality. Sure, it can fill a DD slot, that's great, just like all the other mid-range DDs in this game.

My LS has some of the most pimped out DRGs on our server, me being one of them. We've done some amazing things thanks to our LS giving us some awesome opportunities to show what DRG is capable of. In the end though, I don't need to fire up a parser to know that my DRG will never, NEVER, be able to throw down on real endgame mobs like my SAM can, especially now that SAM has Sekkanoki. That's fine, it doesn't need to. That's not why i play DRG.

Edit: I just read through your blog. So i have to ask, if your LS says "Shit, we need a heavy DD quick! _____ popped!" do you immediatly think "I better suit up DRG!" or do you say "Be right there on SAM."?

[Octavious]

Yea, the reason I'm gearing DRG now is i've pretty much finished gearing WHM,RDM,BLM (HQ Staves 8/8, Gear & Merits Done etc.) aside from W.Legs & Nashira Seraweels, those mage jobs are done. I understand DRG doesn't have a fundamental niche endgame, however i'd like to gear up to start meriting on the job or just doing better in general. I like to solo quite often /BLU on Colibris/Puks and the like, as well as Campaign. I find DRG/BLU in Campaign keeps me pretty invunerable unless the mob is Crimsonarmor...damn his Banishga II spam...

That's fine, i doesn't need to. That's not why i play DRG.

I feel exactly like Kkel, yes DRG has decent/amazing accuracy but that doesn't make the job any better in endgame aside from being able to eat attack+% food. I play DRG because it can lay out decent damage in merit parties and because it's fun. WARs with Ridill can lay out some awesome DOT on any monster, WARs with Joyuese cans till lay out decent DOT. DRG Penta / Wheeling is very nice, however it can't compare to other endgame jobs in HNM environment (wishes). I would like to thank you all on the suggestions ^o^ i'm saving up for a piece at the moment, i'm feeling Dusk Gloves or maybe Triumph Ring if I can save more.

[ringthree]

Fundamentally, your arguments were true a year ago, but now DRG dominates all jobs in accuracy. Freeing it to do a lot more than it did before.

I find it strange that the DRG fan boys are telling me that I am wrong and that I should believe that DRGs really are gimp still. This is utterly ridiculous. DRG can bring real damage now, and can do it without relying on SATA. I think that some of your have been beaten down into your roles for so long now that you don't even realize your potential. DRG/Mage is definitely nice, situationally, but if you are pulling a DRG for some other DD in any endgame fight, I sure hope it is because of a variation in player skill or gear, not because you actually believe that DRG damage doesn't keep up. Try parsing DRG/Melee at your end-game events, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Dominates in accuracy? What, how does that mean anything? Unless i missed some amazing update note that suddenly allows DRG to hit the 100% accuracy mark, they're no more accurate than any other DD worth their salt. And parsing 5% higher accuracy won't mean a thing without a consistent, powerful, punch-through WS. And don't say SATA Wheeling, since you've already denounced /THF. Again, i appreciate your enthusiasm but it seems like the majority of your comments seem to be coming from lack of any real endgame experience. Which is strange given the jobs you have leveled.

/facepalm

DRG inherently have +22 Accuracy over almost all other DD's, this opens them up for many more options in choosing gear and turning several WS's into "punch through" WS's just by merit of hitting more in a multi-hit WS or by adding more modifiers for them because accuracy does not need to be piled on.

I have plenty of end-game experience on DRG and that was before the two handed updated, DRG has only improved (and improved massively) since then.

No one is saying DRG is gimp, we're just saying that DRG is specifically not top tier. That's reality. Sure, it can fill a DD slot, that's great, just like all the other mid-range DDs in this game.

My LS has some of the most pimped out DRGs on our server, me being one of them. We've done some amazing things thanks to our LS giving us some awesome opportunities to show what DRG is capable of. In the end though, I don't need to fire up a parser to know that my DRG will never, NEVER, be able to throw down on real endgame mobs like my SAM can, especially now that SAM has Sekkanoki. That's fine, i doesn't need to. That's not why i play DRG.

Edit: I just read through your blog. So i have to ask, if your LS says "Shit, we need a heavy DD quick! _____ popped!" do you immediatly think "I better suit up DRG!" or do you say "Be right there on SAM."?

Again, I have to defend the quality of DRG DD to a DRG fan boy, this is irony.

DRG can throw down close to what a SAM can do, and any large variations will be based on gear or quality of player, not some inherent difference between the jobs. If it wasn't for Hagun and the effect it has on SAM WS then the difference would be even smaller. And Sekkanoki is a toy in general, as it eliminates the TP bonus from Hagun. It's nice to have, but it's not as earth shattering as you might think. SAM is probably the top DD right now, but DRG is close behind. The fact that you are even comparing the DRG to SAM shows the radical shift that has taken place.

As for the NM situation, the first thing I do is look at the LS and party list and decide what I should go as, I never make determinations based on some universally applicable criteria. And honestly, I would probably end up going NIN anyway. LOL My gear is currently centered around the NIN/SAM/MNK gears, so DRG usually isn't first on the list, but neither is WAR or RNG.

How about what you do in an NM situation? Do you bring your /mage to a fight where your LS needs DD's? /Mage was fine when DRG weren't on the top-tier of DD's, but they are now, and its time to adapt.

[shirak]

Kkel, not sure why you are blind to the damage potential of Drg if you are as well geared as you say you are. I've already parsed and found myself better than other DD on long fights (6+ JoL #1).

Drg's don't have stellar Zerg damage (on HNM) but for low hp stuff we're one of the best.

I've already said both those things but have to reiterate past Khels' self-defeatism.

There's no doubt Sam is a great if not #1 DD, but that has no bearing on Drg, we parse and perform as well or better than any melee in any situation averaged out, given the right gears and merits.

----------------------
This thread is a good refrence for Drg endagem.

Lets not devolve it into drg vs other melee outdated opinions. Please get out of pre2007. Anyone with Kkels loldrg attitude just proves your stupidity these days.

Adding in: /mage still has its benefits and is a crucial component of our job (and in endgame). In particular, I'd like to give as an example Drg/whm for Nyzul Isle as a particularly potent and useful job for that event.