@xechidna
Tough choice indeed. The Korean Open Beta starts this Thursday 17th, so you might want to wait a little bit to see what changes it brings, as well as how builds develop and see if a build fits your playing style more or not.
Also, for Barbarian mobbing check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5LUheiVgDM
@WorldisMine
Sure, every build is viable. However, there are some builds that are more “efficient” than others, and unfortunately there are quite a few of them above the Swordsman C3->Peltasta C3->Cataphract C1 build.
Right now, here are the builds I think work best for Dragoon:
Swordsman->Peltasta->Hoplite->Cataphract C3->Dragoon
Swordsman->Peltasta->Barbarian C3->Doppelsoeldner->Dragoon
Swordsman->Peltasta->Hoplite C2->Corsair C2->Dragoon
Swordsman->Peltasta->Hoplite C3->Doppelsoeldner->Dragoon
*Swordsman->Highlander C3->Anything->Doppelsoeldner->Dragoon
We will see which builds are victorious among those once the Korean Open Beta starts (and develops for a bit), but right now there are way too many viable builds for Dragoon, since this Rank 7 class has both attributes to use 1H Spears and 2H Spears, making something like Barbarian C3 be able to pick up Dragoon.
There most likely will be more balance changes (more skills, changed values, skills moved to different circles, etc), so we will have to patiently wait for everything to calm down before start picking up the “best” builds for Dragoon.
@Ranlek
With a level 200 cap, Hoplite C3 allowed a more efficient stat build compared to others, as it pretty much the only build that could realistically go with full STR. But, while this is good for PvE, it is not so much for PvP.
I do think that if you take something like Rodelero, Corsair or Barbarian; you will get some pretty nice CC skills that will surely help during PvP.
However, if what you only want to do is use a Spear in PvP, then there are quite a few other builds that could work even better without having to pick Hoplite at all (you can see more about that on a previous reply in this same post).
But like I said before, you might want to wait a little bit for the Korean Open Beta to start and see what changes go through regarding the class balance.
We are most likely still a few weeks/months away from our International Open Beta, so we might as well sit tight and patiently wait for the updates to calm down.
@Hordew
Highlander’s attribute only works with 2H Swords.
On the other hand, Peltasta gives you utility that will stay with you through the entire game with an AoE taunt (+25% HP while using it), Block (+25% block and defense when manually blocking), as well as empowering other builds such as high evasion ones thanks to the +18% evasion attribute from Guardian.
This is why it is almost mandatory to take Peltasta for most builds.