The Absolute State of Dawn Warriors

[Dame]

Helloooo! I'm writing this to you, Yuna and server, as the sole active 4th job Dawn Warrior.

For the few who are not familiar with the plight of the sword bishop by now, let me explain exactly why only I stubbornly hold on to this forsaken class.

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Before I go on to complain RELENTLESSLY, I'd first like to say thank you, Yuna, for the super speedy, responsive updates and fixes! Your work does not go unnoticed!
This server is the best I've played on, and I hope it can make it long into the future.

NOW ON TO THE TALES OF TORTURE I EXPERIENCE ON A DAILY BASIS.

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Benefits of Dawn Warrior:

• We can jump pretty well
• We level up to 150 quickly
• Rage is kinda cool sometimes
• Intrepid slash looks nice

(Simplified) Downsides of Dawn Warrior:

• No party utility
  • No Crash
  • No Rush
• No defence skills
  • No Power Guard
  • No Achilles
  • No Guardian
  • No Magic Guard(?)
  • Discount rack 90% stance
• Lack of skills and extra SP
• Orbs dispelled every 5 seconds

(Detailed) Suggestions for Dawn Warrior:

I can tell that the goal with Dawn was to distinguish it from the other classes, so as to not feel like a clone or be grossly overpowered. Unfortunately, the result is that we feel like a very confused mage who picked up a sword instead of learning magicians basics.

Crash​

The #1 complaint I get for playing this class is that I do not have Crash, when every player has come to expect it from me as a warrior.
I cannot do a boss fight without 1+ people mentioning how much happier they would be with my presence if I had crash.

Mobbing Part 1 - Moon Shadow​

This is an area that Dawn feels like it was meant to dominate as a warrior, but frankly, I'm disappointed!

Past the point of grinding up guildies at Petris like a mage with restless legs syndrome, and doing low level questing, Moon Shadow loses its magic.

The primary locations to grind are at LHC, the Future, and Stronghold - all involving huge HP sandbag targets. Moon Shadow's 500% x 1 is... lacking. Of course add orbs to get the true damage, but when we compare this to say, Dark Knights, with 190% x 4, along with a very similar buff to orbs, I hope you will see the disparity.

"but your attack hits 6 targets and DK's only hits 4!" I hear you cry out.

We simply cannot reliably hit 6 targets the same way a warrior with rush can hit 3-4.
Absolutely unfeasible.

With all of that in mind, the actual worst trait of Moon Shadow is it's need for jumping - and it's CAST DELAY after you jump attack!

Not only is it worse on paper, it requires jumping in nearly every map in order to utilize it's ability to hit 6 mobs, and this jumping HALVES the attack speed.

Mobbing Part 2 - Impale Me Now​

IMPALING RAYS. OK. LETS TALK ABOUT THIS.

This skill is a glorified monster magnet. I cannot come up with any use for it outside of it's hitbox being mildly larger than Moon Shadow, and therefore using it to encourage monsters towards me.

In the time I cast this skill, I could have used 2 x Moon Shadows, making it exactly on par with my mobbing skill - but on a 10 second cooldown.

I'm happy to see it go away in place of another skill, but if it is to stay it seriously needs some love. Impaling Rays = SO bad.

Staying Alive​

No Power Guard.
No Achilles or damage reduction.
No Guardian for Block, or equivalent for dodge.
Not even proper stance.

Aran: 100% Stance

Warriors: 95% Stance + 25% chance to avoid all damage with Guardian.

Dawn Warrior: 90% Stance and a free kick to the knee.

Explorer's Blessing​

We just don't get it. None of the Cygnus do.
Skill points are useless by lvl. 160

Mastery​

In keeping with the presumed goal of creating a unique class, I propose something not seen on warriors or mages - Advanced Mastery.

A large downside to our mobbing ability is the single line of damage on Moon Shadow. The damage of this skill varies GREATLY as it is now. Advanced Mastery would balance out the numbers we see, and hopefully provide an easy-to-tweak variable to keep us viable and fair.

Skill Point Availability​

As of writing, I'm currently at lvl. 194 with 50 extra SP I'll never use. To max the skills we (literally only I) use, it takes just lvl. 157.


TL;DR
We're like mages, but our FMA has 10 sec. Cooldown.

We're like warriors, but with way worse survivability and 0 benefit to a party.

We're like night lords, but our flash jump has a DELAY TO IT.

To fix this awkward state, I suggest adding to Dawn Warriors:

• + Crash
• + Advanced Mastery
• 95 - 100% Stance
• Moon Shadow delay reduction after jumping
• Impaling Rays buff / replacement

Thank you for hearing me out

 

[Dennis]

100% agree on this. I feel like this would help out us Dawn Warriors.

 

[Natalka]

Dawn Warrior definitely needs a significant amount of help, and as you concluded it really comes down to their underloaded 4th job kit and skills they lack completely, rather than something you can just fix with numbers buffs. With their current design of being a squishy close range single target DPS with negligible utility, you'd have to make them the strongest single target DPS in the game by some margin to actually make that "balanced" (but would still not feel much better to play). Obviously Dawn Warrior do not do anywhere near that amount of DPS and it would be better for them to be rounded out as a class anyways.

I only really have two things to add; 1 that honestly Dawn Warrior should probably also get Achilles or some amount of damage reduction in its kit while it's being cleaned up, mostly because otherwise it'll be pretty miserable at Empress Cygnus fight. Theoretically Dawn Warrior should be good at the fight because of Holy element, and because having a defined single target and mob skill rather than Brandish (etc.) functioning for both is for once an advantage. This would basically be moot though because any close range DPS which lacks damage reduction or evasion is screwed in the fight, because taking Dark Genesis while snow is on the ground (like 70% of the time) risks an RNG instant kill based on tick timing which literally can't be responded to. I should know because Thunder Breaker is in that situation, and it sucks, but Thunder Breaker at least has a lot of advantages that Dawn Warrior doesn't even approach.

I guess technically you could Soul Leap out of Dark Genesis but considering it has a slow startup and a delay after casting I think that's pretty unrealistic. Honestly there's no reason for a warrior not to have damage reduction. Even going without a monster movement skill can be tough but that's a little more survivable.

The other thing is just that Moon Shadow is actually (theoretically) good at Knights' Stronghold grinding, because Holy element is a big crutch and you will actually be hitting 6 targets in most cases without effort. Even so this would probably make them like... um... 5th or 6th best at grinding there? It's not really that significant of a saving grace, I just wanted to mention it. I mean, if Dawn Warrior players keep getting tired of the class during pre-200 bossing then it'll continue being a theory anyways. q~q

Thanks for writing all of that up as well.~

 

[Dame]

Dawn Warrior definitely needs a significant amount of help, and as you concluded it really comes down to their underloaded 4th job kit and skills they lack completely, rather than something you can just fix with numbers buffs. With their current design of being a squishy close range single target DPS with negligible utility, you'd have to make them the strongest single target DPS in the game by some margin to actually make that "balanced" (but would still not feel much better to play). Obviously Dawn Warrior do not do anywhere near that amount of DPS and it would be better for them to be rounded out as a class anyways.

I only really have two things to add; 1 that honestly Dawn Warrior should probably also get Achilles or some amount of damage reduction in its kit while it's being cleaned up, mostly because otherwise it'll be pretty miserable at Empress Cygnus fight. Theoretically Dawn Warrior should be good at the fight because of Holy element, and because having a defined single target and mob skill rather than Brandish (etc.) functioning for both is for once an advantage. This would basically be moot though because any close range DPS which lacks damage reduction or evasion is screwed in the fight, because taking Dark Genesis while snow is on the ground (like 70% of the time) risks an RNG instant kill based on tick timing which literally can't be responded to. I should know because Thunder Breaker is in that situation, and it sucks, but Thunder Breaker at least has a lot of advantages that Dawn Warrior doesn't even approach.

I guess technically you could Soul Leap out of Dark Genesis but considering it has a slow startup and a delay after casting I think that's pretty unrealistic. Honestly there's no reason for a warrior not to have damage reduction. Even going without a monster movement skill can be tough but that's a little more survivable.

The other thing is just that Moon Shadow is actually (theoretically) good at Knights' Stronghold grinding, because Holy element is a big crutch and you will actually be hitting 6 targets in most cases without effort. Even so this would probably make them like... um... 5th or 6th best at grinding there? It's not really that significant of a saving grace, I just wanted to mention it. I mean, if Dawn Warrior players keep getting tired of the class during pre-200 bossing then it'll continue being a theory anyways. q~q

Thanks for writing all of that up as well.~

Absolutely in favor of damage reduction for the melee class! My suggestions were trying to avoid just becoming the hero alternative, and keep it some uniqueness. I am definitely dying a looooot more than I ever have on a warrior before.

Thanks for adding your view!

 

[4thJobHokage]

I agree Dawn Warriors need a buff. As an Aran I also have no Crash, BUT I get 100% Stance, & I also get 15% damage reduction from High Defense & an additional 30% damage reduction when I have Combo Barrier up. If Dawn Warriors don't have crash I think they should have other things to compensate for that the same way Arans do.

I feel you on the unused Skill Points, Arans don't have level 40 skill books like Cygnus, nor do they have Explorer's Blessing so I have 125 unused Skill Points even after maxing all of my 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Job skills. Arans are strong enough though that it ends up fine, while Dawn Warriors could use some love.

Someone thought of this in another thread, personally I think it would be cool if Dawn Warriors had a party Stance skill, but that's just a random idea that sounded cool to me.

I think DW's should either get Crash+Damage Reduction equivalent of Achilles or if they don't get Crash they should get 100% Stance like Arans do + Dmg Red equivalent of Achilles. I don't know enough about DWs to comment on Moon Shadow/Mastery/Impaling Rays.

 

[Jeemie]

Damage reduction sounds like a great plan for DW but would also need something else for it to be attractive to those in parties as well.

If for lack of damage, a crash that works for both weapon and magic can be seen as really attractive as it would help fill two roles in a party versus one, allowing for another utility or DPS class to take the slot.

 

[yuna]

Will be implementing some changes that should hopefully be received well, thanks!