Merit Points Group 1 for Dancer and Scholar! (08/13/2008)

[LinktheDeme]

I wish people would stop referring to DNC as a buffer comparable to BRD. It's a front-line healer, as SE themselves have stated. You're lucky to get any kind of haste at all. I think they should have only given you curing (HP and status) dances.
You’ll probably find the merits are only going to make you a better front-line healer and not a better buffer.

No one levels dancer as is because its shit in any HNM God Sea God ZNM past tier 1 And lets not even bring up the fact of Mob's AOE. They need to get some type of specific buff otherwise BRD WHM RDM COR will always outperform at their slot.

[Talint]

I wish people would stop referring to DNC as a buffer comparable to BRD. It's a front-line healer, as SE themselves have stated. You're lucky to get any kind of haste at all. I think they should have only given you curing (HP and status) dances.
You’ll probably find the merits are only going to make you a better front-line healer and not a better buffer.

Right.

That'd be great, if DNCs were even able to cure people outside of their party. Except they can't because job abilities don't break party boundaries.

Not to mention the ridiculous timer that all the curing abilities are on. And a party healing waltz that doesn't exceed a Curaga. It's great that Healing Waltz can't erase enemy bard songs either. That's a nice, purposeful touch. I could sub WHM with DNC at 75 and get better versions of those things from a subjob than the DNC main job.

It's not "why get a DNC when you can get a WHM?". It's "why get a DNC at all?". A "front-line healer" means what exactly? Plinky-plink damage with a mediocre choice among the weakest weapons in the game all the while feeding the mob gratuitous amounts of TP? The job isn't worth it, let alone the trade-off.

[Kabbalah]

What Talint said. DNC is a fun job, but there's nothing it can do that other more established jobs cannot do better: There's no shortage of DDs, so if I want one, I'll just find one out of the thirty that are LFP and go. Healers are a bit tougher to find, but eventually, a SMN, WHM, SCH, RDM, or enterprising BLU will pop up. Support is the toughest thing to find, honestly, but the big thing is some form of refresh and, if the healer can't do it, haste: if it can't refresh or haste, it can't support. Yeah, there's crap like sleep, blind, slow, dia, and other assorted debuffs...that the DNC can't do, but let's not go over those.

So...what exactly does the DNC do? Right now, it's where the PUP was two years ago and where the NIN was back when ROZ came out: it looks it can be a DD, maybe it's an enfeebler, but it's spread itself out so thin among so many roles that it's probably going to suck at all of them until SE makes some fixes. Added on top of that are the weaknesses of the DNC's game mechanics that I've already detailed.

If a friend is playing one and wants to party, I'll invite them, but only because they're my friend, not because they're playing a DNC.

[Cow_k]

I really think dancer was added primarily as a means to boost solo play for melee, but honestly, at least pre-70, dancers really can take the role of a back up healer when all you have is one (pre-70 you're usually pretty hard pressed to solo cure a party though it is doable with the right set up, which is almost never available). I've done it plenty of times with some very good results, but I agree that I have no idea if they even had any intent with dnc doing anything endgame at all. With the way mob TP works, who wants a never wsing knife wielder doing 1-2 damage but yet feeding tp?

[Kabbalah]

A bit OT here, but I'm thinking that the DNC could use stances or states, just like SAM and SCH. Say one stance, the Lunar Stance would give extra accuracy, evasion, and subtle blow (let's be nice and make it capped), but lower attack and defense; the second, Solar Stance, would give extra attack, defense, and store TP, but lower accuracy and evasion. Both Lunar and Solar Stances would confer Regain status, but only when used at the correct times of night and day.

Probably a dumb idea, but whatever.

[Ahnuld]

I want Sonia's Reverie Flock and an entire series of different flock effects.

[Mikayla]

Dnc can get Conserve TP. BRILLIANT

I hate you

[Not Kuno]

I hate you

What if it proced on weapon skills too?

[Mikayla]

What if it proced on weapon skills too?

If you're having trouble keeping TP on DNC in the first place, you're either doing something wrong, or you shouldn't be using DNC against whatever you're fighting. >_>