(12-07-2014, 06:50 AM)Zelmanov Wrote: - The existence of a "Novice" Dragoon is nigh impossible, due primarily to the fact that the title is awarded post-dragon killing. So a Dragoon is someone who has -already- proven their worth. Considering how many people have ongoing mastery of their "Class" as part of a character, you can understand why some people may be miffed at the thought that someone enters fully formed while they can only create a small puddle on the floor. At the very least, even a new dragoon is good enough to have gone to battle, killed -dragons- and returned, even if his acrobatics are...in need of polishing.I keep hearing this idea that one is not a Dragoon, unless one has earned the title by killing a dragon, but I really suspect we're going to find out this isn't the case. There look to be two different usages of the word "Dragoon":
Dragoon Job: A group of elite Ishgardian soldiers trained specifically to fight dragons.
Dragoon Title: Any Ishgardian soldier who has successfully killed a dragon.
There are some circumstances in which case the job could require the title, but these don't make much sense (would the manpower starved Ishgardians cull their potential Dragoon recruitment pool by first sending them untrained against dragons, just to see who survives?). Becoming a dragoon is likely a years-long, if not life-long process that weeds out all but the most capable of soldiers before they reach the point that they first enter combat against Dragons. I've heard Attack on Titan brought up in this thread, and that really does seem like an apt comparison. That would make the idea of "novice" Dragoons both reasonable, and necessary. Whether or not any are on the outside world, well that's a matter for a good RP story!
It is possible that the Dragoon job abilities can't be learned until after killing a dragon, such as if they are some sort of "grant" of power that occurs after a soldier has proven his or her worth by killing a dragon. Or, perhaps, "Now that you've shown you're skilled enough to kill a dragon in combat, you'll enter the 'Dragoon Crash Course' six step program, which will teach you to... kill dragons in combat. Good luck!" Anyway, these sorts of approaches would leave the full lore behind the job just as a inane as that in the job quests themselves. I hope that's not the case :-]