Not a parody but an honest statement: Why do people seem to think that the Dragon Scale Shield is a worthless Shield? Whenever I have used it defensively, people have replied to me "why bother using that when there are better options?"
Just myself wondering, is it just because of the lack of Normal Defense or what?
You could probably get more detailed with it, but I think it generally shows the situation well enough.
I don't really know how it is personally since I really only use Swiftstrike and just recently got the Tortodrone shields, which I own for nothing more than novelty; don't use them much in practice.
The biggest problem I'm certain of is that it doesn't have normal defense. You're giving up a huge amount of durability vs. a wide array of monsters for a shield that's the best, close to invincible in only one place; C42. Not to mention that piercing defense is at the moment shrug worthy considering that one of the two families it's suppose to defend against are considered a joke and can hardly be call "monsters". Poison, while bad, isn't really all that deadly outside of C42; the only reason it's bad at all in there is because of all the fire that saps your health as you fail to use your health capsules.
So, basically you're creating a shield for C42 only, and outside of that, you're only using it for defense against elemental damage and fire...well if one is going to do that, you might as well just get Grey Owlite and get the benefit of normal defense and shock resist, which is tons better than piercing and poison. Yeah, it'll be less durable in C42, but it's still good to use there, which honestly makes Dragon Scale's most justifiable point to craft even less so.
...at least it looks nice. Not to me, but a lot of other people.
Wanna know why people don't like dragon scale shield?
Because most people don't shield.
Because most people don't know that T3 beasts deal almost exclusively pierce (making DS shield beat Aegis because its got status resists).
Because most people only use swiftstrike and BTS.
Yeah I used to use it for C42 and it helped a lot, but nowadays I get by with BTS so it just sits around collecting dust in my inventory.
That, I really don't know.
A lot of people didn't like it because of the whole no normal thing, but its still the greatest thing for bullet attacks in piercing/elemental areas... and there are plenty of those. If you know you're going to be tanking the usual bullets over melee attacks, its the best thing. If not, then its mediocre- like using barb thorn shield for shadow/normal. Of course, it only works in fire/poison areas... but that goes for ALL the shields
"why bother using that when there are better options?"
Striker 2 says: "yea, like the Swiftstrike Buckler. What idiot would use anything else?"
I find the Dragon Scale Shield to be amazing. As long as you take it to the right place. It covers so many specialized forms of damage that I'm honestly surprised it isn't used more often. Elemental, piercing, poison, and fire. Sure, piercing and poison may not be considered huge threats, but elemental and fire to go along with it? That's pretty great stuff!
The major problem would definitely have to be the lack of normal defense. That one damage type that no one thinks is a threat until they get face planted by an elite mode Trolljan. At which point, most people with any idea of defense would probably prefer something like the Grey Owlite or Volcanic Plate Shield.
Still, this doesn't stop me from using it in those places that obviously require it. Compound 42...