What makes a good Dragoon?

[Ackermans]

Apologies if this has already been asked, but I'd like to know for myself. Kind of as a side note, I think I'll only ever play as a Dragoon. I'm a horrible tank (like if the tank dies in a dungeon, I just let the aggro fall on the healer/other DPS. It usually results in a wipe. Shame on me) and I don't feel confident that my Healer abilities would be up to par. My attention span and just general ability to pay attention is absolutely mediocre. More often than not, while I'm DPSing, I'll space out a little (or a lot, oops). The only class I've ever seriously played (or actually leveled past level 25) is Dragoon. Even after playing as a DRG for so long, I'm still not very confident in my skills. This is probably because I never did dungeons very often, partly because of the obnoxiously long wait times with DF, and partly because I was, put simply, really really scared at having to deal with other players. I'm always nagged by the thoughts of, "What if I mess up? What if I do something wrong? What if I get yelled at?" Because God knows my absolute least favorite thing is being yelled at. A few times while I was running Cutter's Cry, the tank complimented our group saying it they don't often run with a group this good. Whether they were complimenting the healer, or the other DPS, or the group as a whole, it was a huge ego boost. My method in dungeons is: if the tank marks mobs, attack mobs in order. If he doesn't, target tank and select their target. But if they're a tank that hops targets a lot, it doesn't really work as well... There was actually one instance when I did the Daily Roulette. I got a PLD group in Copperbell Mines. The tank was marking mobs, but I kept drawing aggro. Like, every single time. I was attacking the mobs in order (1, 2, 3, etc.) so I began to wonder if I was attacking the wrong mob, but no one was saying anything, so I just let it be. I really wanted to ask him if I was indeed DPSing the wrong mob, but I couldn't work up the courage. When it comes to me learning new things, more often than not it entails a lot of hand-holding (like I mentioned before, my confidence is totally subpar). If I'm being completely honest, I mostly just want to avoid messing up and getting scolded. (This kind of turned into a story of my life kinda thing...this whole post kind of feels like a mess)

 

TL;DR What do I do to be a good Dragoon? is the main question. What do I do if the tank doesn't mark mobs? Am I supposed to know from the get-go the order the mobs are supposed to be killed in?

[Platinum Mountain]

Thrust things! Then disembowel them and then thrust them again until they're dead! If you notice they happen to be alive, disembowel them and then thrust till they're either dead, or you notice their bowels are quite not still empty, empty them again.

 

I rarely had aggro issues myself, even when hitting the right targets. Maybe my tanks were such good. And your best bet on the order is just really to follow what the tank is  hitting and hit that!

 

If you need any sorts of help or any such, feel free to contact me, my character's name is my Username. I'm more than happy to help out a fellow Dragoon and can even drag you to dungeons for futher helps. Atleast then you don't have to worry about screwing up things alone when we can do it together!

[Aya]

Personally I just use the lance to look good!

[Boo the Hamster]

TL;DR What do I do to be a good Dragoon? is the main question. What do I do if the tank doesn't mark mobs? Am I supposed to know from the get-go the order the mobs are supposed to be killed in?

If the tank doesn't have a mob marked, you want to bind a key or button to 'target the target of current target (assist target)' under targeting.  Should be the twelfth option there.  In fact, this is probably the first thing you want to do as soon as you log into XIV again.  Most tanks I run with are generally too lazy to mark for various reasons until the coils, so that is what I personally use.

 

I'm going to be honest with you.  If you're doing it right and the tank is doing it wrong, you're going to rip aggro from the tank, even if you target what he targets.  Though if you said you're in Cutter's Cry, Elusive Jump is your new best friend.  Learning when and when not to use this skill is the difference between a good Dragoon and a bad one.  It's not just an aggro dump skill, it's also a retreat button, but you can commit suicide in some arenas if you do press it at the wrong area.  You did do the job and class quests, right?

 

If you didn't, do them as soon as possible.  Make it a habit to use Jump and figure out the timing for when and when not to use it.  Otherwise, a standard rotation for your level (I assume you're sub 50 considering what dungeons you mentioned) is Heavy Thrust->Phlebotomize->Impulse Drive->Disembowel, then the standard True->Vorpal->Full thrust combo until either the heavy thrust buff or the disembowel debuff goes away.  Re-apply buffs/debuffs as needed.