I'd sub a dagger class because I like their PvE style, very cool and straightforward IMHO. But in PvP they lack some, so dagger is in the grey area atm.
They removed Might Mortal from dagger SA options - Might Mortal daggers still exist, but they aren't as powerful as in C2. Might Mortal gave dagger specials a higher landing rate. And as if that wasn't enough, dagger specials totally ignored P.def and heavy armor. I also think that their moves' landing rate was nerfed all together in C3. I know I heard a lot of daggers complain.
I remember being ripped to pieces by a dagger in C2. I was in Blue Wolf Heavy, and I went from full HP to 0 in a matter of seconds. But I do think the dagger was higher level than me.
The C3 nerf was quite a few things infact. In C2, daggers were overpowered, and when they nerfed them, they got it so badly even other classes that were previously owned by them felt sorry.
Unlike most weapons special attacks, the daggers specials were changed so they only landed about 25-30%, due to saying hitting a sweet spot in the armour was a difficult move, therefore should be hard to do (I agree), next they said if your dagger does manage to hit the sweet spot, the P def. of the armour will still be in effect. (so now you have to aim at the sweet spot, which is in fact the entire piece of armour. They removed Might Mortal as an SA that you could put on a dagger, although they didn't remove MM from teh daggers that already had it before the nerf. Therefore they made MM daggers really rare/expensive. There were a few other nerfs, but those were the main ones. Personally I wish they had nerfed 1 way or the other, but not both. I also think they should base the special on the dagger being used, and not the special (a move they still haven't nerfed), so reds can't grab the cheapest NG dagger they can find, and DB people with pretty much the same damage as if they used a top A grade dagger (a small variance, but really not that much).
As far as the melee classes are concerned, yeah the daggers are excellent DD's. IMO the best. Alot of melee classes think they are DD's, but when you compare damage, they aren't even close. That being said, archers and mages (the range classes) do FAR more damage then the daggers. In PVP, if a dagger can manage to get to the enemy, they are a serious threat. The problem is with root/entangle/ice ect. and the archers fast running speed, it can be a problem to actually reach your targets to kill them. Heck my Bishop has killed red daggers way higher then her by rooting them and blasting away. Even if it takes her 10 roots, and 40 bsps'ed wind strikes, she can still do it.
If you don't know how to play a dagger, you will be owned by almost everything. If you are crafty, you can be a worthwhile opponent. Yeah, daggers are also one of the most squishy things in the game. Lowest CP and pretty much lowest HP of any char in the game. Other melee classes, while they don't do as much damage, they also last a lot longer, so aren't as hard to play, this is why there is no longer a mass influx of daggers in L2. Actually there was a mass exodus in C3, and with the few fixes they have done in C4, they are starting to regain a bit of their numbers again.
my friend has played a TH since Prelude and ive been with him every step of the way. You cant ask for a better DD partener when fighting mobs, i wouldnt even take a mage over him ( have fun with your mp regen kthx.
TH are good DD's but other melees are better. I never lose agro to a dagger, my specials hurt far more with 100% land rate and i have a much better defense rate.
Daggers are only good for lure/silent step and fake death tbh ;)
what really grabs aggro are criticals, and the TH shines at.
probably dearf -8 con (+PL) w/ focus duals can do it.
No need for PL, but yeah you need focus weapon, with buffs it's moronic to use a blunt or fist weapon becsoe it add nore more extra damage, becose you so rarly crit. Even if you take an out of mastery weapon you deal so much more damage.
SPS, ever compare damage with a similar lvled dagger???
LOL!!!
Everytime I hear someone in a party bragging about the amount of damage they are doing its the glads. I even have been in parties where the glad ran out of SS, and said well we have to stop til I get more SS, I can't keep doing more damage then you, so I will lose aggro. We asked how much he was doing and we laughed :)
BTW the party was a Glad, an AW (me), 2 archers and a SH. The archers were criting like crazy, and the SH, well... The 3 of them were doing STUPID amounts of damage, yet the Glad figured he was out-damaging all of us, as he was holding the aggro.
Notice I said the Archers and the SH were doing huge amounts of damage. Didn't mention mine in there. If I wanted to be a true DD, sure I would have picked an Archer, or a nuker. As a dagger, I find myself somewhere in the middle, less damage then quite a few, but also more squishy then quite a few. Seems to be the more squishy you are, the more damage you do, and vise versa.
There is a reason why the success rate of deadly blow etc.. is about 30% , because it's very powerfull .
( PVE : a Th in a party is very good , we never die , we inflict continuous hits )
The adventurer has nice skills , i can't wait to be one
Ps: your answer was fair , sorry if i was a bit arrogant .