I have played this game since 2004, and in that time I have seen damage-dealing (DD) jobs swing back-and-forth in a never-ending war of superiority. For most of FFXI's life, Samurai and Monk can be seen as the two jobs who have consistently held their own. In the older days of the game, jobs like Dark Knight and Dragoon were hard to level, as no one wanted them. Players felt those jobs were harder to play for the average user, and that would lead to favoritism over other DD jobs. (the terms, LOLdrk and LOLdrg spring to mind). It got somewhat acceptable for Dark Knight when Resolution was introduced. During the days of Voidwatch, a Resolution spamming Dark Knight was amazing. It trumped other options, and we saw a flood of new Ragnaroks because of it.
Dark Knight has been my main job since 2005, and I have tried my best to create a reputation as a Dark Knight. Too many DRKs in the past have given the job a bad reputation, but it was helped by the Resolution update. It was so cool to see other players on Dark Knight .. although I was wary of the passion those players had for the job. My father, he plays on the Xbox, and he decided to make Warrior his main job. When Abyssea came out, we decided to make Empyreans together (yes, I made a Redemption despite its hilarious stats). We then built our own relic weapons, the Bravura and Ragnarok. I made my relic, got it to 95 ... then the very next day, Delve was introduced! I had just spent millions of gil on the job, only for it to be usurped by Bereaver. I kept my Ragnarok in my storage for many months, until finally, item level 119 reforging was introduced for relics .. and everything was right again. I enjoyed being a damage dealer, and especially a Dark Knight, because you don't see many of them around. My father and I would take our heavy DD jobs to events, and have a lot of fun doing so.
My second job has always been THF. I always wanted THF to have more power, to be somewhat closer to the heavy DD, so it wasn't just a Treasure Hunter job. The enmity side of the job died out many years ago, and although I liked using THF to make money, the job is actually quite boring .. aside from using Flee. So I used THF to further my other jobs, and used Dark Knight as my main damage dealing job.
And then it happened. BANG! Rudra's Storm update. Now we see Samurais, Dancers and Thiefs EVERYWHERE. MNK is still around (just), but where are the other jobs? Warrior, Dark Knight and Dragoon. Three DD jobs with HEAVY gear, with HEAVY two handed weapons. Yet .. my weaponskill averages for Torcleaver/Resolution come out at around 3-4k in Woh Gates. A THF or DNC can easily do 10k+ WS averages. HOW does a Thief or Dancer (barely wearing anything and wielding two small daggers) do MORE damage than a Warrior, Dark Knight and Dragoon without even trying? Just by looking, you can see how that does not make logical sense.
Here is a comparison between those jobs and my DRK:
I made a Woh Gates Capacity points party last night. For the first time in many months, I decided to gear my Dark Knight up and take it out for a spin. With Bard buffs, I was told I was keeping up with the THF in the party .. but I was still slightly behind (and I ain't no slouch). The Sneak Attack/Trick Attack Rudras Storms (often with skillchain) kept the THF ahead of me rather easily. My father, who is 50 years old and plays the Xbox with a controller,(and is not known as the quickest player ever) was playing Dancer. He was slightly behind me with bard buffs, and he wasn't even trying to keep up. He plays the game rather casually, and he doesn't care to beat anyone, he just plays to relax.
And it got worse. We lost the bard, and I replaced the bard with a geomancer. It was impossible then, no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much accuracy I stacked, I could not keep up with the THF. My father, playing Dancer, started beating me on damage. The big scary looking Dark Knight with a Relic Great Sword could not beat a THF (delve daggers probably) and a DNC (Izhiikoh/Sabebus) on damage. I was told at the end of our party that my father had beaten me this time. He was happy to come out ahead for a change (because he never does), but I was left thinking .. why is my Dark Knight so weak?
My father told me he hasn't played Warrior for a long time, and misses playing it. I look around in today's game, and I don't see many Warriors, Dark Knights or Dragoons. It's filled with Thiefs, Dancers and Samurais. A mythic Samurai is supremely broken, and is still by far the best DD job in the game. The ONLY way a DRK WAR or DRG can compete is to have a Mythic Weapon. Why should any player who loves their heavy DD job be forced to build a Mythic to be accepted? It's not fair to those players.
I hate the Rudra's Storm update, I really do. And I hate how powerful Samurais are (the good ones who know how to use a Mythic) compared to other DD. The average weaponskill for these jobs are pitiful in comparison to Rudra's Storm. This rant needs to end, so I will give some suggestions:
- Dark Knight - Make Endark II instant cast. Endark is NOT fun to use, it takes a lot of time away from damage dealing. Also lower the dread spikes cast, or make it instant. These two spells make it much harder for a DRK to be consistent. Also make Torcleaver stronger than Resolution. Apocalypse is COMPLETELY useless since the introduction of Trust.
- Warrior - Either buff the weaponskills, or make the job exceptionally harder to kill. The biggest downfall for Warrior is its lack of survivability. Give Warriors much more defense in general, that way a Warrior can remain constant in battle, whereas other DD jobs might struggle to stay alive. Put Ukko's Fury back to how it used to be.
- Dragoon - Fix the wyvern and lower the recast on Call Wyvern a LOT (seen this comment an incredible amount of times). Make jumps much more powerful/useful. Make the job more appealing by giving the ability to customize the wyvern. Adjust weaponskills for the job.
At the moment we have three jobs not using the heaviest looking gear, but deliver the heaviest numbers. Change this so I can play my Dark Knight (and my dad his Warrior) without feeling like we are costing the party. No player should be forced to build a Mythic to be considered on their favourite DD job for anything in today's game. Aside from all that, I like all the recent updates to the game. I just wish I wasn't stuck on THF or Corsair 99% of the time. I play this game to be a Dark Knight, I don't really care about other jobs, I always have the most fun on DRK. Give us something, and I don't mean Endark II .. I mean, REALLY give us something. Balance in this game would be a beautiful thing.