PLD, WAR, & DRK balancing ideas

Everyone know that PLD has the worst DPS out of all the tanks right now and DRK DPS is okay at best... but some balancing ideas that might make these 2 jobs better at DPS before Stormblood hits might give these jobs some better recognition.


Let's start with PLD Sword Oath; all it does is make your auto-attack a double attack... very underwhelming... How to make Sword Oath better; all offensive abilities and weaponskills get double attack of either 50-75% of original potency, and doubling effect potency of DoTs and debuffs, and give Royal Authority Weapon skill damage dealt increase by 10% (20% in Sword Oath) for 20-30 seconds, making Stance dancing more effective for PLDs. Also give PLDs AoE healing Spells as well as giving PLD some offensive spells... And make Provoke cause a damage dealt 10% decrease for 15 seconds.

Now for DRK; Power Slash's Dark Arts effect should be a damage Dealt increase of 10-30% for 30 seconds while also having increased enmity. Dark Arts should be constantly active buff that can be turned off at any time like Darkside, stop MP Drain and all MP Refresh entirely, except recover effects. Grit needs to be an Ability that doesn't use MP rather than a spell and share a recast timer with Blood Weapon. Living Dead should be replaced with an ability that makes sense for a DRK to have, maybe have this ability be a 30-50% HP recovery, and depending on whether or not Grit is active, ignore Damage Dealt penalty that Grit has, and greatly refreshes MP regardless if Darkside and Dark Arts are active for 20 seconds, but removes all buffs placed on the DRK once it ends, and have Living Dead cooldown timer, and maybe calling the ability "Blood Kain" and give DRKs a Provoke-like ability called "Antagonize" that also increase targets damage taken by 10% for 5 seconds(3 seconds in PvP).

Since balancing those 2 jobs means nerfing WAR right? Not really... Just buff Defiance to where it has 15% damage taken reduction while still giving WARs that HP boost... Yes I know make WARs more OP even though WARs are OP as is... Except WARs have been OP since FF1 so it makes sense...Give WARs a Provoke-like ability called "Enrage" that inflicts blind debuff on target and but also increases their damage dealt by 10-15% or cause critical damage whenever they land a hit while "Enraged" for 15 seconds (10 seconds in PvP) making it a high risk-high reward ability for WARs. Let's be honest that kind of effect for a provoke is perfect for WARs... :D


As for what Stormblood will be in terms of balance adjustments, I hope they make DRK and PLD almost as OP as WAR, but not quite... I do hope that Developers read this and take these ideas for the tank jobs of now balance them accordingly when Stormblood launches, because PLD and DRK do need better adjustments when necessary...

PLD is supposed to be an "iron fortress" type of job; it is supposed to be a job that can tank a lot of damage while being unable to deal a lot of damage. I think thematically it only makes sense for PLD's damage to be the lowest out of all the tanks, and every buff given to PLD dps only serves to distance it from that theme. I think that instead of increasing PLD's personal dps, Square Enix should nerf PLD's damage while giving it utility that increases the damage of other party members. There are probably a lot of ways to do this, but of course balancing will always be an issue. In any case, with such changes, the PLD would deal poop damage as it should, but raid groups would still want a PLD in the team because bringing a PLD into the team doesn't equal a loss in raidwide dps compared to WARs or DRKs.

Edit: DRKs and WARs are currently in a good spot IMO. It's PLD that needs some love. DRK doesn't need any more damage. Grit having a huge MP cost is actually a fun mechanic for DRK. You have to make sure you're not just absentmindedly stance dancing due to the huge mp cost. This encourages DRK players to think and plan more. Having a recast timer shared with Blood Weapon limits control over stance dancing. What if I wanted to drop Grit but NOT use Blood Weapon yet because I want the extra mp I'd gain if I could use Low Blow and Plunge during Blood Weapon? I'd have to wait a few seconds so that Low Blow and Plunge would land in my Blood Weapon window. Living Dead is fine as it is -- only noob groups or pugs can't make full use of it which makes it extremely satisfying when you do have a group who can use it to their advantage. WAR tankiness is in a good spot right now, so that 15% damage reduction is indeed too OP. The "Enraged" mechanic for a WAR provoke is interesting and would push the WAR more into the OT role, but I will not comment on its validity xD. Interesting nonetheless.

Can we merge this into one of the other 5 tank balance threads?

I think the Tank roles are balanced all just fine.

I don't want the game to be all about DPS DPS DPS DPS DPS DPS DPS. Which true alot of threads or fights the more deeps the better.

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Originally Posted by DestroyerOfLargePlanets

PLD is supposed to be an "iron fortress" type of job; it is supposed to be a job that can tank a lot of damage while being unable to deal a lot of damage. .

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This is true but the game design doesn't need an iron fortress type of job. That's why paladin have received quite a hefty chunk of dps buffs over the last few patches because no one wanted them in there groups cos nothing hits hard enough to need an iron fortress all that matters is dps...

It's the same thing that's happening to whm's. The game doesn't need such powerful heals all it needs is dps and whm's dps is pretty far behind scholar and ast.

And again with a lot of groups not wanting monks. While there dps is great a dragoon with battle litany is a much better choice for the parties dps. Or even a ninja with all of its utility is preferable to a monk

nahhhhhh nahhhhhhhh DRK is perfect as it is, like absolutely isnt flawed in the least, whatsoever.

Besides tank damage is still TOO HIGH and makes some beginner DPS feel bad about their numbers. I propose that in SB we base tanks damage off their MIND STAT, which will bring PLD raw numbers up to compete with WAR and no one will ever play a tank again after. This will go along very well with the roll out of skip potions, in order to avoid making any new players feel bad about their damages.

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Originally Posted by Martin_Arcainess

I think the Tank roles are balanced all just fine.

I don't want the game to be all about DPS DPS DPS DPS DPS DPS DPS. Which true alot of threads or fights the more deeps the better.

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Dps will always be the thing you concern yourself once you pass the mitigation/healing requirements of a fight. What else would you try to improve once you clear a fight, other than kill speed?

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Originally Posted by DRKoftheAzure

Since balancing those 2 jobs means nerfing WAR right? Not really... Just buff Defiance to where it has 15% damage taken reduction while still giving WARs that HP boost... Yes I know make WARs more OP even though WARs are OP as is... Except WARs have been OP since FF1 so it makes sense...

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say this in a "balance" threat you made make me doubt complety of you real intentions.