Khadan

*ding ding* winner.

The entire concept of this thread could be boiled down to a nature vs. nurture question. For example we know for a fact that person's socio-economic situation, cultural influences, parental influences, and education have -huge- implications that shap someone; especially in their formative years (roughly ages 3 to 12). How you develop personally and psychologically will have large influences on what skills you develop and especially on what fields of interest you have. Now before anyone raises their finger to go "BUT...!" yes, we do account for outliers in these situations. They're called outliers for a reason and will continue to be outliers until the 'average' stops being average. What does all that pyschobabble mean for the layman and/or roleplayer? Well it means that if you really want to crawl into your character's head and determine their life from A to B, why they are the profession they are in your RP, and how that came about? You essentially need to design an actual human being from birth to adulthood. Sounds pretty daunting, doesn't it? Good. It should be. Especially since the goal for so many is 'immersion' and all that. As a sidenote, you don't need to 'live the life of your character from age three to thirty' in order to figure out the kind of person they are. It's shown in the majority of psych-studies that 'in general' while environment often influences nature, it's major events that will stick with the individual. So just bullet point out largely influential events in their life and fill in the rest as you go; in fact the 'rest' will practically fill itself in for you.

You left out the futa dominatrix bit.

I've used it as a tool in RP combat situations pretty much the same way a special forces team would use a flashbang grenade. Let's not forget the *BANG* sound at the end of the animation. As a bounty hunter this has been particularly useful to him in the past, especially if he needed to bring his quarry home alive or was outnumbered etc. To that effect, if Kayllen is facing off against a foe or group of foes especially, it definitely behooves him as someone who doesn't necessarily need to see or hear his opponents to know where they are when they're close to him but even if he did, to rob his opponent(s) of their ability to see and hear. Since most actual 'fights' last anywhere from three-to-ten seconds, that's a pretty significant time to give someone who knows what they're about an advantage over someone else who relies on not only eyesight but hearing to function. It costs mana so I assume like so many things in the FF14 world, it's just an expression of Aether which everyone but Garleans seem able to use in some form or another. Being of particularly low level if you want to even look at it like that, it could likely be translated as a pretty simple and cheap/dirty trick to use to give yourself an advantage. As for the 'enmity' effect... well there are mobs in the game that don't care about enmity and just do whatever they want. I assume players are the same. Some might care about the guy dropping flashbangs and want to stop him from doing that, others might just not care. I don't really care about 'enmity' in RP, as there are better ways to ensure people attack you over others with just tactics and such.

As an aside, if Tahz was wearing his fake!goon gear and was seen in Coerthas by anyone in any official capacity, he'd be making dust trails in the opposite direction. Ass and elbows m8

is the sheer amount of hyperbole necessary or was that part of the joke? I guess for Kayrren-kun... seven samurai-esque? I guess? It's hard to say.

So now that I've swept past the little field of passive-aggressive caltrops I might finally want to drop in a personal anecdote; take it as that and nothing more if you even read this post at all. When durping about in RP, doing my thing and bein' awesome etc, I may encounter one of these fabled "Irregular race/nationality combos". My character, being a staunch Ishgardian man, a devout Halonist, and a (former) knight of Ishgard, has a fairly good idea of what its people are like and the demographics of the nation that he as a citizen had been able to observe whilst growing up etc. Now let's say he sees the 'Unicorn', which we all know is really the main thrust of this whole thread, anyway, being the Ishgardian Miqo'te (Dragoon for bonus points). Odds are he will react like most people in that society would react when confronted with something very far out of the norm. It's like watching someone get on the subway buck naked and acting like no one should be even mildly jostled by the display. Playful simile aside, will I whisper you and say something like "OH EM GEE wut r u dewin' catman jones? U kant du dat! *spergs a bunch of nonsensical lore bullshit into their whisper box until they log off or ignore me*" No, that would be stupid and immature. Will I instead ignore this person outright like they aren't even there because they are just so -ridiculous- that it beggars belief? No, because that would also be stupid and immature. So what would I do and have done, then? Act like my character would act: curious, confused, perhaps even a bit put off by the strangeness of it. Perhaps make a comment or three or even converse with them directly in an attempt to understand the phenomenon and gain an understanding of it. Of course if any/all of these things is lacking then, well, the person isn't really breaking any laws by simply being a cat person with a spear in Ishgard, sure they're friggin' weird but oh well, the world is full of weird stuff. They want to fight and die for Ishgard then so be it! This example of course precludes things like verbally shouting heresies and trying to attack people etc etc. Simply 'existing' isn't a crime as far as I know, unless you're dragon scum then of course you can go get jumped on, nerd. Take that how you want, if you even read it at all. But really, judging stuff out the gate does no one any favors and really, as much as you may try to paint with wide brushes in an attempt to put yourself on a pedestal just remember that it only makes you and your failings all that more visible.

I find the propensity of those who are quickest to judge and dismiss the "Why's" of these issues are typically those most likely to engage in what they decry. Projection is a big problem in the more immature/inexperienced creative writing/roleplaying crowd. That being said, there are cases where making a character "over the top" is sometimes not even noticed until hindsight is activated by which point it's often perceived as 'too late to change it'. Alternately some people choose to double down and dig in their heels, etc. I like to stress often that in addition to my original post here in the previous page where I describe others reacting to your character's presence if they are anomalous, that taking a step back from your character(s) and reevaluating them is oftentimes a good idea. Skepticism is the healthiest form of mental exercise you can engage in and I advocate it regularly.

Quick clarification on #1, he doesn't poof into Aether sparklies nor does he actually even really 'die' by all accounts. Rather he just 'disappears'. Whether that's meant to take the place of dissipation into aether or just reflective of him being blown off the side of a mountain and recovering later? Who knows. I would hesitate to use it as an example in this case until it is revealed/confirmed what actually did happen to #1. As I've said many times before in regards to FF and death: Habeas Corpus. No body? No death. (or in this case no actual scene of them fading off into aether, etc.)

To be fair, though, the Machinist guild master Miqo'te appears only in Heavensward. Until we know if that person is there before or after the player migration it's hard to say if that's representative of population.

Just going to spineshatter my way in here before elusive leaping back out. (Unless something else catches my eye, of course lol) As a writey-person who enjoys writing writey things a big part of every little narrative is world-building. Or, if you want, "My world is the river and my characters are all the stones in said river." If writing a story is all about flow (get the references yet?) where continuity is king then the characters in the story should fit or at least be shaped by the river in some way. Is this a hard and fast rule? Nah, not really. Everyday in our own society you have people who try to break the mold and in fact 'progress' by many of its myriad forms is born of people mold-breaking in many ways. What does this ultimately mean for myself when I engage in writey-fun-times? Well let's take FF14 for example. When I first made my main character I had to do things like establish backstory, consider personality etc etc, the usual stuff. However one of the exercises I engage in -regularly- is to actively deny "This is the story I want to tell" or "This is the tale of unique person in a drab world" and so on and instead plot out the -reaction- of the people around that character. For example, does the character appear differently than the overwhelming majority of people and what are the reactions of those people upon seeing the character? Do I have to regularly break up the flow of the story to explain that "Yes once again for the one-hundredth time, he's a white-haired-red-eyed-betailed-and-behorned gentleman with a propensity for carrying a sword that's the same size he is and so on and so forth. "Drawing weird looks" is one thing and yeah it's an obvious attention-catch device for said character. But one must at all times consider the realistic reactions of real people to absurd/shocking/distressing exterior stimuli. Not everyone is going to stand about pointing and staring. Depending on how over the top said character is or how divergent they are can lead to conflicts and no I'm not just talking about the initial 'beat up the bar drunks to establish that this is a character that is not to be messed with' trope. tl;dr is your character a boulder in a stream that diverts the flow of the river around them or are they allowing the flow of the story to take them from the beginning, middle, and end?

Most of the people I RP with aren't adventurers. Actually, I think out of all my contacts, only two are. None go on adventurous quests, and many (like Val said) do kinda go for those non-adventurous jobs. There's the nobleman's daughter. A girl who ran from home. Doman refugees. Tribal miqo'te. Merchants. Rich merchants. Alchemists. Law enforcement. And so on. But none of them are "adventurers". 'Adventurer' is a pretty catchall term so I might be at fault for leaving it too open, perhaps. However I DID say that only 90% of the community RP as adventurers which, in turn, leaves you and your friends a 10% variance. But I'm just mincing words at this point. Without a demographic of who plays what and what categories those fall under I can't say what the actual percentages are. Though I'll still maintain that at least 70% of RP'ers are RP'ing something that would fall under an 'Adventurer' umbrella. If someone wants to get a census or a poll going though I'd be down to contribute my info on it. Most people I know don't do that, either. In fact I'm not sure I've heard anyone claim to be more than "affected by" the MSQ, which considering the global ramifications of, I'm not surprised by. Remember, though, there are no harmful ideas, just harmful actions. Luckily no one suggested that everyone plays an adventurer, though! No one claimed otherwise about the community. In fact I think that most people will agree with the notion that disagreement is better for conversations than everyone just nodding along. So, really, different opinions are actually part of what MAKES a community! =) Interpretation is an interesting word choice, here. I suspect that a wealthy merchant from Ul'Dah, for example, wouldn't really have much of a notion of what they were seeing if they happened to witness a Dragoon leaping into the air and slaying a dragon. This is in fact a good thing when it comes to crafting a narrative. IMO play that out. As for the rest of the hyperbole, luckily that kind of person(s) you describe here are in the severe minority, that or I'm misreading almost every person I've observed or talked to thus far and everyone is a lvl 50 WAR/PLD/DRG/MNK/WHM/BLM/SCH/NIN/SMN/BRD that disguises themselves as a lecherous cat man =P

Interested parties congregate naturally.

A bunch of stuff. I'm actually not just fixed on Dragoons. I think that all skills should be taken in moderation unless we're just going to agree to RP anime #123807141. As for the rest of your stuff, we'll just simply have to agree to disagree =) You didn't advocate for moderation. You advocated for: I appreciate the attempt at shifting the goalposts, though. If you're unwilling or unable to answer any of my points then do feel free to 'agree to disagree' but realize that that is literally you being unable and/or unwilling to answer the points presented. As for us agreeing to disagree on you advocating for what is essentially someone telling others how to RP? No, sir, I do not agree to disagree. I avidly disagree and until someone can convince me with logic, facts, and sound reason otherwise; I'll always oppose that notion. I've seen what happens to a creative writing/Role playing community when thought policing and narrative denial is allowed to pervade; it's not pretty and I truly do not wish to see that happen here, unless an actual FF14 lore writer comes in and lays down some ground rules. Now something a bit more ON topic: IF someone or rather a group of people would like to get together and discuss openly and freely their take(s) on Dragoons and their lore especially how it pertains to Ishgard etc, I'm totally open for this. From there we could easily come up with a "What is known and what is suspected/open for debate/interpretation" type thing. This is the kind of thing that is 'proper' and as long as minds remain open and new ideas are welcome to being discussed then I think it could be a wonderful resource and/or starting point for people wishing to partake in that facet of the FF14 world. I know I'd love to see one of those on Monks, Ninjas, and Paladins someday.

I think there's a lot in just this one post that needs to be addressed, not all of it here and perhaps not all of it publicly. Firstly: I don't see how any of this is relevant unless you make the assumption that every player character is ICly on par with the bakers, butchers, and manure shovelers of the world. Your anecdotal experience isn't really relevant when we add in "adventurers" (i.e. pretty much 90% of the RP Playerbase). The very same adventurers who accompany the Warrior of Light to destroy primals, the same adventurers that brave the many coils of Bahamut, and the same adventurers that are turned to to help resolve conflicts all over Eorzea up to and including the battle on the Steps of Faith. Adventurers may not be "god tier" or anything but even the ironically named 'god tier' people you mention seem to suffer the same limits and problems that 'adventurers' suffer. Raubahn loses an arm in an instant by someone who might have been considered 'rank and file soldier status'. Thancred takes an arrow to the knee. Yda gets her fancy hat ruined, and so on. I don't think anyone really is 'god tier' in FF14. Some are stronger than others, yes, but none are invulnerable. Many people's characters do have the same skills and powers as "gladiator X" or "Paladin Y". Directly on topic, all Dragoons can jump and launch themselves down to deal significant damage to whatever they hit. That's their shtick. Just like many Monks can open chakras to blow holes in things with their bare hands and Thaumaturges can launch balls of flame and car-sized chunks of ice on people, or Summoners calling forth mini-primals to wreck things as well as inflicting what I can only call "Aether Ebola" on people, and Ninjas can breath fire and perform acrobatic stunts of insanity and so on and so forth. Why you're fixated on just Dragoons is kind of silly in light of all the other crazy feats capable by $jobs. Why? No really, why? No one is clamoring for Dark Knights to be RP'd "properly". No one is demanding that we figure out how to play a Ninja "properly". There's no outcry for how to "properly" be an Arcanist or a Thaumaturge or anything else. So why is the Dragoon the focus of this unwarranted ire? What threat does it pose to you and your pretendy fun times that no one else uniquely threatens? So no, I staunchly reject this notion of line drawing and that someone can just come along and arbitrarily dictate to the community at large that "ur dewin' it rite". In fact that's spurious bullshit that crests the height of pretentiousness to think that this is a sound line of reasoning. Can there be discourse? Yes please let's welcome it with open arms. Can there be disagreements during said discourse? Of course that's normal and to be expected and, in fact, I wouldn't trust the conversation if there weren't disagreements; this ain't a freakin' hugbox situated in an echo chamber, right? The moment we accept that that kind of thing is "okay" even in the slightest, then you start seeing people spending more time policing RP rather than just RP'ing. "Community" for whatever it's worth, ceases to be a community and just sort of slithers into the realm of 'echo chamber'. Let's promote discussion and positive thought and not just watch a video and decide that narrative denial is the proper course of action. I have to wonder though, would the reaction be the same if there was a video of Ninja's doing crazy ninja stuff? I guess? Not everyone falls into this sweeping category, though. But I mean if we're generalizing in sweeping statements then I guess every Ninja wants to be Naruto and every Monk wants to be Goku? Obviously that's false, though. Give some benefit of the doubt. You don't want to budge on a claim that nobody made? Ok. Though I think in this is where your real issue lies. Without going into some long-winded diatribe about you being worried that people are going to just start godmoding you because "I saw it in a cinematic once!" I would give the same advice that I gave earlier: Stop worrying about other people and just focus on yourself. If the potential actions of a tiny minority worry you so much then perhaps your focus needs to be adjusted. Let's not start speaking about pseudo-authoritarians telling us how to think when we're perfectly capable of thought without oversight =) Besides, I'd be more worried about the Dragoon RP'er who used the abilities in more creative ways that surprise you rather than just doing barrel rolls all over the place. *steps off soap box*

I don't think RP has to be 'fair'. It's not a competition. I feel quite the opposite. No, it isn't a competition, but yes, it does have to be fair. If someone runs around RPing a Midlander Super Saiyan, I'm going to ignore them. If a dragoon leaps into the air and rockets down at supersonic speeds, only to instantaneously change direction on a dime? I'm going to ignore them. Not only is it not "fair," but it is entirely against any sort of laws of momentum and physics ever. Yes, we have to distill belief of certain things when playing a fantasy game, but the laws of motion still exist. The problem here is that neither you nor I are qualified to make judgements based on what "The laws of momentum" are and how they apply to pretendy fun times. If you want to say that "I reserve the right to not pretendy fun times with people who pretendy fun times in a way I don't arbitrarily like" that's fine, too. But do own up to what all of this actually is rather than this ovewhelming need I see from people to simultaneously say that they don't want to "Police RP" in one hand and then "But I'm going to suggest we police RP" in the other. it's a bit nonsensical and I'm growing rather tired of seeing that contradiction in terms over and over. Not to point any fingers at the people who do this, you know who you are after all, but it's a moot point. "Does RP need to be 'fair'?" Hmmm. I suppose? I mean it's, again, rather arbitrary. What is fair? I mean war isn't fair. Life isn't fair. Someone somewhere will always have something you do not have just as you have things others do not have. That may be an aside to 'what is jealousy and why is it a thing' but really, I think it's relevant. This whole thread has been pretty regularly peppered with this weird notion that $persons have a $thing that other $persons don't particularly want them to have for personal reasons. This sort of 'narrative denial' is as tired as the whole talking out of both sides of our mouths arguments made when we want to police something without coming off like we're policing something. If we're strictly talking "What are Dragoon abilities and how do I counter them as a non-Dragoon who fears that there are aerial Dragoon Drones flying over my house put up there by the NDA (National Dragoon Agency) and at any time they could leap down and spear me in my scrotum for simply uttering the word 'heresy'"? Well that may be a different discussion for a different thread. I don't think anyone in this thread or in RP would ever advocate that a "Dragoon" (being of sound mind and body at the peak of his skill and blahblahblah) is going to be able to come by and justify one-shotting your character by simply being airborne. Will ground bound targets or even airborne targets have much to fear from Dragoons? Yes, of course. Just like a Dragoon has much to fear from a Thaumaturge laying down flares and lightning everywhere or a competent archer who might Hawkeye their ass right out of the sky. We're so caught up with one instance and expression of 'power' that we fail to see the rest of the big picture. So let's please cease the fear mongering and realize that we (or our characters anyway) live in a powerful world filled with powerful people doing impossible things. Magic is prevalent and used in everyday life. Some nations have knights that leap through the sky and slay dragons while others having roving armored paladins who dispense justice and protect people and others still come from warrior lineages of fistfighters able to use chakra in ways that could probably cave in a small building. Does the enemy of a Dragoon have much to fear from said Dragoon? yes. But does any enemy of any $job have much to fear from said $job? Easily.

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. 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. 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.

fite me m8 u wot m8 Last gif is accurate.

fite me m8 u wot m8

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. 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. 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.

ughhhh I haven't had a good RP fight in a long long time. Kinda seems a bit off topic but eh reading that people still enjoy it makes me happy. Coming from a community from *game that shall not be named* where RP fighting was practically a blacklisting offense? This is great. =)

Honestly, and I mean for this to come off as neutrally as possible and as someone who truly values things like continuity, solid explanations, and above all 'rules' and high standards in my RP, but I think you're fixating on a very, very, small portion of roleplayers. A subset that you, yourself, by your own admission wouldn't be playing with, anyway. I get it, we're in the same boat, even, as I'm likely not going too interested in the legions of Miqo'te Azure Dragoons who've been in Ishgard this whole time but worship a different god and are also a Nunh and don't help populate nor govern their tribe(s) that we'll likely see, soon. Stop fixating on a .25% figure and look at the grander scheme of things. Ishgard is getting a much-needed expansion (here's hoping for Ala Mhigo next!), Ishgard's most fabled warriors are getting a bit of spotlight for doing the actual thing they are meant to be doing. They aren't invincible, they aren't godlike, and they certainly aren't a one-shot solution to every problem. Honestly if we're going by in game lore and MSQ's etc, the Monks have by far the greatest amount of Dragonball Syndrome in the game. Will some (a very small percentage) take the cinematic and apply it to their superman complex? Yeah of course they will. But those are the people who are ALREADY doing it and have done it with other things. They don't matter. You stated you want nothing to do with those people nor they with you. That's fair. So stop stressing over it and trying to convince people that it's a problem when it isn't. You just do you and let others sort themselves. People like you and I have bigger fish to fry, anyway =)

Physics being bent and broken is nothing new in FF =P

The drop in those pics is barely a meter. Maybe two at most. The camera then cuts to a different dragoon altogether. It's a different dragoon that's getting caught in the mouth. The first dragoon is not "shooting down like a lightning bolt." Yes, there's a sudden change in momentum (speed, velocity, acceleration, jerk, the interesting thing we're seeing here is jerk). EDIT: Or maybe I'm wrong. EDIT 2: After multiple viewings, all I can say is that the only odd thing is how the sudden forward momentum is completely halted. It's a little jarring. The downward motion in and of itself is not that startling, given the supposed weight of drachen mail combined with gravity and a clear intent to drop. Neither is the leap off the dragon's back, assuming that it's the same dragoon. I refer yet again to slope-soaring gliders turning over into a nosedive. I'm just not sure how dragoons manage it (that it can be done without aether is plausible). I was about to grind my face into my desk lol. I've been told to "rewatch the video!!111!!oneone so many times now. I've gone through the bloody thing frame by frame and I think I may be at that breaking point of frustration where I start cutting frames and drawing diagrams lol. ANYWAY, if we're on to 'how are these things possible' then we're at the same place everyone who is done trying to prove/disprove the validity of is at: "Okay it's a thing but how is it a thing?". This is a good place to be and the conversation on this topic is probably due for a fresh thread with a little less, albeit thankfully dwindling, vitriol.

I would advise re-watching the Heavensward opening cinematic. Nowhere in there does this happen. What you're likely seeing is the sudden cut from one airborn dragoon hurling his polearm to another dragoon leaping in a certain direction only to be taken midair by a dragon's maw (if what you're looking at instead is the sudden "jerking" motion of the first dragoon hurling said polearm, note that aerodynamically speaking, a sudden change in profile can result in increased drag that consequently results in a loss of airspeed and a sudden drop in altitude). Also the "instant liftoff" looks more like a leap to me. Yes, granted, more likely aetherically assisted than not, "anime-style" powered jumps, if you will. Interesting side-note: the first major "bolt" that hits the dragon in the opening cinematic is actually a dragoon impacting the dragon's back. Close inspection of its subsequent flailing reveals a dragoon with his polearm embedded in the beast's spine. What we do see in the cinematic, at the point of the links provided by Zelmanov, is a person shooting into the air, literally arresting or transferring all the momentum of that jump and altering their direction. He wasn't at the peak of his 'arc', he shot up, practically stopped with some acrobatic stuff, and shot down like a lightning bolt. Of course when he leaps off the dragon again he's caught in its mouth. Dragoons may be elite and specialized but the job is still dangerous otherwise there'd be a thousand dragoons all over and no dragons.