DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

[Evion]

I am going to be one or the other. I am currently a lv 20 RDM/ lv 7 WAR. (SOB). I know either of these setups would be a good attacker with some versatile magic ability. DRG/RDM setup WOULD have a sweet Wyvern over the shoulder and vast misc abililites, while DRK/WHM would have better W Magic including raise and better euipment. WHICH IS BETTER?! Please help.

Thanks,

Evion

[Murphie]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

Well, I'm going to start by telling you to level your sub, and to level one that is more appropriate for your main at the moment (RDM).

DRG/RDM and DRG/WHM both have things to recommend them, but they aren't the main subs you should be worried about for DRG anyway. If you intend to solo only, and not join a party (where they will expect you to at least have /WAR and probably /THF available), then the choice is really up to you. WHM will probably provide more utility, at least IMO.

[raidenn]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

/SAM when you get DRG at 60.

Level your WAR sub first before working on the others.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

Unless you intend to solo or exp in small groups exclusively, you need to have /WAR, /SAM, and /THF for DRG. That said, I don't see the "defensive" Wyvern as optional for career DRG's--every Dragoon should have at least /WHM or /RDM or /BLU usable at some point.

If you just want to try out DRG, then certainly /WHM or /RDM will be fine for a while, though I personally prefer /WHM over /RDM.

[Evion]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

Well, I'm going to start by telling you to level your sub, and to level one that is more appropriate for your main at the moment (RDM).

DRG/RDM and DRG/WHM both have things to recommend them, but they aren't the main subs you should be worried about for DRG anyway. If you intend to solo only, and not join a party (where they will expect you to at least have /WAR and probably /THF available), then the choice is really up to you. WHM will probably provide more utility, at least IMO.

DRG/RDM VS DRK/WHM. Sorry if any confusion. I got two posts so far and no opinion yet on which would be better... SOB>>>>

[Taskmage]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

Well first of all, as a general rule neither of these combinations would really be any good in a party. With the exception of a couple jobs that are versatile by design (rdm, blu, smn) parties in FFXI function by everyone focusing on what they're best at to make the party overall more efficient. You can argue that that isn't the most fun or interesting way to play, but ultimately the people you're going to party with will expect you to conform to that concept and make things decidedly unfun for you if you're too persistent about it. That's not to say that it's not possible, I know a guy who leveled to 50+ as smn/nin which is frankly a horrible, useless combination, but being a gay emo kid in real life I guess he's pretty practiced as shrugging off persecution, which you get bet he got his fair share of.

drk/whm is actually ok, maybe even optimal up through level 20, maybe as far as level 30. In that level range there's often a shortage of healers and you have precious little to do with your mp anyway other than Drain. So, for that period of time, you may as well help out with the curing when things get dicey. Beyond that though, your party is going to have a main healer that is probably much more efficent at it than you due to better casting-oriented traits, more efficient spells, more mp, etc. You're going to be wanted to focus on dealing as much damage as possible without getting yourself killed, which whm sub doesn't really help out with. War and thf are the most common, accepted subs for drk.

drg/rdm is actually quite decent as a solo class, but again because of the tendency of players to min/max it's going to be extremely rare for this combination to be desirable in a party. Really, even for solo you're probably better off with /whm rather than /rdm. The offensive magic you get from rdm will always be heavily resisted because your skill will be capped at half its normal level. Imagine as a level 20 rdm casting a nuke on mobs of the level that level 40 jobs exp on. That's about how effective that will be. The enhancing magic you get has pretty much the same problem. It's effectiveness is based on your enhancing magic skill level, which is going to be junk if you're only getting it from your subjob. /whm at least gives you access to some useful status cure spells.

Whatever you choose, hope you have fun with it.

[Murphie]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

DRG/RDM VS DRK/WHM. Sorry if any confusion. I got two posts so far and no opinion yet on which would be better... SOB>>>>

Oh. Even worse. I didn't notice the K there.

DRK/WHM is just terrible for any sort of party situation past the early parts of the game (up to 30ish?). Maybe for solo. MAYBE.

DRK wants to have /WAR, /THF, /NIN, and maybe /SAM, or /DRG or something. I don't know. Some career DRKs would know more about that.

DRG wants to have /WAR, THF, /SAM, /WHM and/or /RDM, and possibly /BLU, or /BRD, or I don't even know. Again, career DRGs are your target audience there.

This game is based around party play. While some job combinations can and do solo, the majority of your time will be spent in parties. As such, you're going to want to have options available that are optimal for party play. Meaning the subs listed above.

[raidenn]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

Never heard of a DRK/WHM before but hey try it out . Both look like they're made for soloing. Its going to take you a long time to solo a fight with DRK/WHM.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

As far as mage subs go, I actually recommend /BLU for soloing purposes. You just can't beat Power Attack as a cheap, fast Healing Breath trigger and the benefits of Cocoon for soloing (+%50 DEF Boost) are pretty obvious. Its a pretty powerful combo.

/WHM and /RDM are nice, but I also edge out /RDM in favor of /WHM's status cures, Auto-Regen and Clear Mind trait. Again, this is for solo purposes.

DRG/WHM does actually work in a PT setting given the opportunity, the FFXI community, however, is highly resistant to job combinations they're not familar with in EXP PTs.

It is best to have subjobs such as WAR, THF and SAM prepared for a long term career as Dragoon. After that, mage subs are more about preference (or what they've already levelled). I've seen people swear up and down that /BRD is the best solo sub and I think they should be locked away, but i think they just don't want to level RDM, WHM or BLU fully.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

Opps. I didn't read carefully. XD

I used DRK/WHM from Valkrum Dunes to Qufim Island; that's from Lv.10 to at least to Lv.22, I think, before I switched to DRK/RNG. It's a pretty good combo during that range and up to Lv.29, IMO. I was landing enfeebs better than most RDM's and WHM's in parties, thanks to my capped skills (had MND and INT equipment to macro in.), and was helping out with cures and -na spells.

DRK's at those levels can wear all the tank armor--and I pretty much did--so taking a few hits isn't too much of a problem. I've intentionally taken monsters from dying tanks using Cures + Bind a few times. :b Fun. (Even more fun is after getting hit a couple of times, cast a Drain to kill the monster--which nearly heal yourself to full. XD )

But, as Taskmage says, the real healers can do a better job, and their MP reserve would have increased enough by Lv.30 that you don't need to help out. Can't afford to ignore DD support job like /WAR, with its wonderful Beserk...

[Freedan]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

Don't let people discourage you from playing a job combination that you want. I'm planning on going DRK/SMN

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

Don't let people discourage you from playing a job combination that you want. I'm planning on going DRK/SMN

So you're going to be emo AND have obnoxious pokemon roleplay macros in /say?

[Murphie]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

Don't let people discourage you from playing a job combination that you want. I'm planning on going DRK/SMN

I'm hoping that was sarcasm.

[Taskmage]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

hehe That smn friend I mentioned must have used two whole macros for Diamond Dust with all the /say and /em in it ...

If you really have your heart set on playing one of these combinations then go for it. I've tried to talk people out of subjob combos before and make them see "the error of their ways" or whatever, but it's just not worth the pain on the part of either person and really, whatever you have fun with just go with it. You should just be aware that a lot of players you encounter might not be very accepting of your choices, and you might be more effective and enjoy yourself more with a conventional (some say cookie-cutter) subjob.

And really, as other posters have mentioned, there are a lot of subjobs that have their place, even the ones you mentioned. There's no reason to marry yourself to one particular subjob. Playing the job to its best involves knowing what levels and situations each subjob really shines and then picking the best one you have available. That's my opinion anyway. I think a lot of people here agree. To each their own though.

I saw Yellow Mage lurking around here a minute ago. When he first posted in this forum it was a thread about the pros and cons of being a career rdm/pld, which spawned a similar if somewhat more heated discussion. Maybe he'd drop in and share some experience about how the game plays with an unconventional subjob.

[Freedan]

Re: DRK/WHM Vs. DRG/RDM

So you're going to be emo AND have obnoxious pokemon roleplay macros in /say?

Um, maybe.

I wasn't being sarcastic when I said I wanted to be DRK/SMN. Once I level SMN to 30, I'll be DRK/SMN until I have to level SMN again.