(04-14-2015, 03:20 PM)Domri Blackblade Wrote:(04-14-2015, 03:12 PM)Kayllen Wrote:(04-14-2015, 02:48 PM)Domri Blackblade Wrote: What if it's just some form of extremely advanced aetherial manipulation, this jump? Either way, it's something that would be available to the 1% in my mind anyway. Maybe that's why I am so lax on the hows.
When in doubt, its magic to Domri. LOL
Well that depends on who the 1% are, too. Do you mean 1% of Ishgardians? Yeah that's a fair number, likely. Probably a lot less, really, as we don't see armies of Dragoons but small 'squads' and individuals. As an example, the amount of soldiers who fought in the American Revolutionary War never amounted to more than 3% of the colonists at any given time.Â
Ishgard is a warrior nation with a warrior goddess that has been at war for over a thousand years (and still managed to help boot the Ala Mhigans out of the Shroud). That's a bit of an aside, I suppose.
REGARDLESS, -if- the standing military of Ishgard's force of Dragoons makes up 1% of its forces, which may be accurate, I'm not really sure on the numbers tbh, other than that they are rare and highly specialized, based on what we see and know already, 100% of Dragoons still have jumps and the ability to fight in an aerial fashion. So you aren't wrong but I don't think you're wholly right, either.Â
I will say that the one ability I concede as being 'off limits' as per a discussion with Berrod the other day, would be Dragonfire Dive. That was something that only the Azure Dragoon could do, apparently. Still, Dragoons are meant to be powerful, they have to fight dragons in the air, after all. But just like I wouldn't want to tangle with a Dragoon when they have the aerial advantage, I wouldn't want to go toe-to-toe with a monk armed only with my fists, either.
I mostly meant the 1% as more or less the most talented. In my own headcanon, becoming a dragoon is something that takes a lot of training, effort, and time. I can't get behind that it's something that can just be achieved and 'oh look I can leap now', if that makes any sense. I don't find anything off limits (except, yes Azure Dragoon abilities), but I feel like there needs to be a spectrum of reality on how long is spent getting from point A to point B in terms of skill.
And trust me, aerial combat may be great against giant things that fly, but could be disadvantageous against small, grounded targets. And I'd be pretty terrified of monks with heavy jamadhars as I would be terrified of a dude with a giant axe. There's an advantage and disadvantage to everything. I think everything is pretty balanced in the grand scheme of things. Just gotta think outside the box for some.
Agreed! Though I think because of the whole point of "it takes time" keeps coming up there's something I should address for everyone's benefit: Soul stones. As we know the soul stone that the Warrior of Light receives isn't the only soul stone. Soul stones seem to be a pretty massive 'edge' when it comes to churning out competent fighters when and where we need them. There seems to be a fair amount of pomp and pseudo ceremony involved in the passing down of a soul stone, as well. Anyway, it seems that the soul stones certainly seem to cut the time needed to train by a significant margin.
Now I'm not saying that soul stones should be like candy distributed on Halloween during an Oprah viewing, but it might explain how we have Dragoons when we need them despite taking losses and being constantly at war. Just a cheap 5 dollar lunch for thought.