Warrior vs. Beastmaster

A heated argument nowadays is whether BSTs should stray away from soloing and partying exclusively with other BSTs, and instead, gear themselves to parody their WAR counterparts as Damage Dealers (DDs). This post examines some of the arguments for and against the idea:

Why you should:

1. Being able to party for experience points is more efficient than soloing.
2. You have two options for earning experience points rather than just one.
3. Strong pets are not abundant in many lvl 75 areas, leaving BSTs to be reliant on weak jug pets. A BST that has access to DD equipment can help alleviate his or her pet's shortcomings.
 

Why you should not:

1. Effective BST DD equipment is very, very expensive.
2. BSTs lack the job abilities that allows a WAR to hit faster, more accurately, or harder over time. It is commonly thought a BST DD is far less efficient than a WAR DD.
   
3. Outperforming your pet in damage can lead to your own demise.

As one might have guessed, most BSTs do not gear themselves to melee, and I have had many players scoff at my "attempts" to do just that. Phrases such as "[q]uit trying" and "[s]eriously, why bother?" are just some of the comments that I have received regarding my BST melee optimism. Apart from my reasons above, there is one additional reason as to why I want to deal damage on BST: I am tired of leveling only with other BSTs. While some might point out that I lack the ability to group with other BSTs, I will counter with the fact that I have leveled my BST to 75 otherwise solo, and soloing on BST is not very different than the mechanics of a BST duo.

While other BSTs find their challenges in conquering NMs, exp mobs, or events that require them to band together, mine lie in testing my combat abilities against other melee jobs. Both challenges are respectable in their own rights, and whether or not I will be able to parody a WAR DD is still a big question. Either way, I have decided to continue improving my BST DD even if that limits how strong my DRK can become.



Notes:
a) Soloists can level-up independently of other jobs. Generally BST, BLM, SMN, BLU, and PUP are considered soloists, but the efficiency of each varies on the situation. In addition, non-soloists can gain better soloing capabilities when subbing that job as a sub-job.