Hello!
So since none of the class balances updates have touched dragoon yet, I thought it'd be cool to add my two cents, and perhaps get some inputs from others. A really common thing I read is that: "Dragoon is balanced, but the rest of the classes are OP", and that's great and all, but that doesn't progress the class forward. I've personally played this game since about 2009/10 on and off, and have played all classes (except twins, not opening that jar), but surprisingly have always ended up on my dragoon/pally. It's a class I enjoy, but it's just difficult to make a case for it nowadays considering the state of other stronger classes. I've experienced all the phases that pallies have went through (I'm looking at you evade/block pally, and reflect pally), but it's probably time to revive it and at least make it somewhat viable without having to play it for years to be good at it.
PVE:
I would honestly say dragoon PvE is fair, essentially you just flip on your clock and use rolling ground around the map. Mob clears are impressive, but boss kills not much. This is fine considering each class has their strengths, and I wouldn't expect pallies to be melting and shredding bosses like a mage or destroyer. Also, I'm aware you only really use POS for the resists, but I mean the set bonuses are really deterring. I wouldn't wish evade and block rate set bonuses on anyone, but the pally sets are boasting both. I have a stronger PvP bias, so I don't have much to say here.
PVP:
SO!... this is by no means an argument to #bringblockback, rather, how to make it viable in the current meta.
I've played with a lot of ideas here in the past, and the current problem is that EVERY class does what we could do but better. For instance, we could go "tank pally", stack your ele resists, hlt, and mdef/def, but other classes can do that while putting out MUCH more damage out and cc. Plus, in PvE no one really needs a "tank" anymore because almost everyone in the endgame has so much health and mdef/def. I'm currently running nature and dark damage and the cards are just about maxed, and I can confirm, I do little to no damage to people using fire/ice only, let alone people with my same ele set up or all resist. The percentage of the damage is simply underwhelming. So to recap, we can just run around being a ball of health, while doing little no damage.
i) BSQ/EW
So EW is another monster considering no one wants to have a pally in EW because they will allow for more do-able quests for the enemy guild, so that's probably up for another discussion. So lets move onto BSQ... I accept that pallies can be a low-damage dealer class, but how bout we enhance their ability to **support**. We have a ton of auras, a root we can go is to buff the auras or bring back time-reverse in group PvP. For time reverse, it would be cool if it would be allowed for EW/BSQ, but for half of cool down reduction and cast speed time so it won't be too OP (or cap the amount of players who get the buff). Or, buff the many auras we have to a very low percent of current stat. That way, there would be a demand to have pallies in both EW/BSQ. Further, a skill that could really be utilized is Revenge, and I know the people reading this probably died inside a bit, but hear me out. When I came back to this game awhile back and was trying to find a viable path for pallies, I dipped into revenge a bit for reflect pally. To no avail, I tried comboing it with Sacred Protection, which also didn't work. But honestly, that would be such an amazing combo if revenge and sacred protection worked together, and it would definitely fit into the "support pally" category, while tapping into increasing our damage output. The way it would work is you would cast your Sacred Protection on another member in group PvP, and as they take reduced damage from the skill which would be reflected to the pally, the damage received by the pally would be reflected to the damage dealer. As a result, you're useful as a support player, increasing your damage output, and utilizing the tankiness. On the Revenge note, it would be a really strong buff to pallies if revenge works on auto-attacks again (but to perhaps to nerfed percentages reflected). This would solve our underwhelming performance against invos and summoners, while putting our tankiness to use (I've attached skill descriptions to both these skills on the bottom since it's been awhile these were brought up).
The only viable way I have right now in BSQ is to run around trying to ground lock and wait until a damage class shows up and cleans up. But this means we're restricted to launching enemies (all our damage is air-borne, but it's not very high, so I wait for someone else to kill them). We essentially have to become ground lockers spamming crosscut, broom, sword dance, x-chain, and hammer and repeat to be at all viable, but this is difficult considering it's group PVP, and you can bet your life an enemies going to interrupt you after 1 rotation of skills. IMO, this is no way to play or have fun in a place where many call their "end-game".
ii) Room PvP
I'm comfortable with the state pallies are in terms of room pvp, however, I've learned this class inside out and have dedicated the time to learn the crazy 80 key combos and stuff. I believe time-reverse being allowed here plays a large role for us to be viable in room pvp, which allows for a wider combo selection. In essence, it's not very friendly to learn compared to other classes (maybe for the exception ninja?). However, the "very little to no damage" is still such a big factor considering I have to run around and hopefully kill my opponent after 8-9 combos if they are the same element, whereas they need 2-3 most of the time. I believe for room pvp, if a pally puts in the effort, he'll be able to beat whatever class, so hopefully someone else can input on this who sees a glaring issue I'm missing. I feel like my statement here for room pvp can't be made in group pvp, we simply get stomped there no matter who you are.
In summary:
PvE 8/10. Mob clears amazing, maybe buff our many auras to have an impact instead of base %. Boss killing is meh but it makes sense.
Armor sets 4/10. Maybe change POS set bonuses or future sets to be more in sync with the viability of skills i.e. no evade and block rate
Room PvP 8/10. Really subjective here, all I do is room pvp and I practiced a lot, but time-reverse allows for a better experience.
BSQ 5/10. Allow a nerfed time reverse here to a low number of allies, buff auras, revenge and sacred protection combo maybe. My standpoint is to buff the pally's ability to support others.
EW 0/10 <-- No data cause no one wants a pally in EW anyways
Sacred Protection:
At Lv. 1 – “Skill only can be used when there is target party member in range. When use this skill, you sacrifice oneself to take party member’s damage decreased by 30%.”
At Lv. 1 – “Skill only can be used when there is target party member in range. When use this skill, you sacrifice oneself to take party member’s damage decreased by 50%.”
At Lv. 3 – “Cast thorn shield around oneself which consumes 12 MP per 2 seconds. Attacker receives back 50% damage”
At Lv. 5 – “Cast thorn shield around oneself which consumes 12 MP per 2 seconds. Attacker receives back 70% damage”
Edited by Domeshot, 17 July 2017 - 10:56 PM.
