DRK or PLD - did I make the wrong choice?

I'm doubting my decisions.

Pre-3.0 I played PLD as a main. I say main, I took a few months out of the game and finished off the 2.55 as a combination of PLD and DRG. Now I would like to really like to focus on tanking, and as a result decided that I would try DRK. I've just made it to 55 (well, 54.9) doing pretty much all the side quests available and what not. However, I've started to doubt my choice and wonder if I should change my focus to PLD before spending the time on 55-60.

Reading around on here from the theory crafters, DRK is lacking a little bit right now, and is in need of a few buffs here and there. PLD on the other hand seems to be in a pretty good place, with an arsenal of cooldowns and plenty of good things going for it. DRK is a really fun class to play, don't get me wrong on that, but at the moment it seems like I'm going down a losing path for eventually doing endgame content which I didn't really get to do pre-expansion.

So I turn to the community - do I stick with DRK and do the MSQ as the new class, or do I change to PLD and use the MSQ and side quests to help with the XP gain there? Thankfully gear is easy and will transfer, so no problems there.

If you intend to mting raids, it'd seems PLD will remain as the most stable tank.

However, DRK is pretty good if you are planning do dungeon speed runs (Unleash...salted earth...and maybe abyssal drain if you have the mp *cough* blood price *cough cough*)

No one can really say for sure yet until people actually try using DRK for the new raids to come. We will see soon enough.

I won't say that you made a wrong choice, both have their uses in different scenarios. Dark Knight is simply not a proven tool yet, too early to judge anything.

DRK is suffering from some serious issues right now, and the very recent removal of double Dark Arts has put us in an even worse place. With any luck, the Devs will be quick to make up the lost ground. Hopefully, we'll start to see some much needed changes when Alexander pops up.

Prior to 3.0 I've leveled both Pld & War to 50. Currently my Drk is 59. From playing Drk I feel more squishy than a Pld but not as squishy compared to War. I invested all my stats in Str.( will change still playing around with stats) ( accessories are all vit but might change later)
I'm enjoying the self regeneration through skills but feel that a lot of Drk skills are really gimmicky. The only reason I continue to play as Drk is because I like the Salted earth skill. In my opinion Pld is still the best tank.

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Originally Posted by Kiteless

DRK is suffering from some serious issues right now, and the very recent removal of double Dark Arts has put us in an even worse place. With any luck, the Devs will be quick to make up the lost ground. Hopefully, we'll start to see some much needed changes when Alexander pops up.

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Well I don't use a parser but someone on reddit said they only lost about 50 its not the end of the world.

Like was said before, if you plan to raid it's probably not the best tank to go with until it gets those fixes. While I fully intend to raid, my old group isn't in any rush to get to there (the content is going to be around for a long time).

If your having fun I'd say go for it. They'll fix it eventually, and if not, I'm getting ready to level up SMN or DRG XD

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Originally Posted by Kuroregal

.. I invested all my stats in Str.( will change still playing around with stats) ( accessories are all vit but might change later)
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Don't bother unless you're MTing a progression static and/or your healers request it .. just leave your bonus points all in STR.

By ilvl180, your accessories are worth more STR/VIT than the 35 points you can allocate. This is only getting worse. The value of your allocated stats are not what they use to be.

PLD will always be a viable tank, its your standard hardcore mitigation meatshield and it's a good/safe choice whereas others may wain from patch to patch. Being that DRK and WAR serve a similar position in fights, it's likely that one will be preferred over the other for a while, and from time to time the preferred DPS-tank will vary based on changes to the jobs or to the game. SE is always trying to make all its jobs viable.

IMO, if you want to be a tank and you really like DRK, then level/gear DRK as your main, but get a second tank up there as well (either other tank will serve your purpose). This'll allow you to play DRK when a DRK is needed, and to still be tanking when DRK isn't sought after. Like you said, they share gear anyways. My current intention is to main PLD which is my favourite job, and get DRK up there because its another fun job and sometimes a tank with more DPS or a separate set of skills will be preferred.

Unless you're shooting for server/world firsts DRK will be alright. They get a lot of shit but they're not THAT bad. Not as good as PLD/WAR but it could be worse.

Just looking back at WAR for example, it was not up to par originally and SE made much needed changes to it. If DRK is lacking, they will adjust.. eventually.

I do all current content as DRK and have no problems. I do solid DPS both tanking and not tanking. None of my static healers have claimed it's to hard to heal me. I'm currently only i172, I just wanted to hit i170ish in tank gear and focus on getting WAR to 60 for Alex release so I can have both to swap for fights.

The only issues I have with DRK are the lack of group utility and the massive TP drain that is Blood Weapon. I'd also like Dark Arts + Dark Dance to just focus on parry and drop the evasion. Keep the average mitigation the same but only with parry since there are a lot of mechanics you cannot evade.

It doesn't actually matter The current content is easy, there is no Class check.
Depending on your schedule you can have all 3 tanks level 60 within pretty much a week to three weeks, they all use the same gear except weapon so who gives a shit, level it all and run dungeons with the one you feel comfortable/appropriate.
There is no heavensward content yet where it matters what tank you play.
This is like 2.0 when people were tripping about Warriors in progression when Warriors issues came alive at Titan HM and Coil.

As a raid leader I think it will be harder for all of these drks to find groups just on the sheer population of them alone. And I wouldn't take 2 drks in a static. As a pally/war you will likely have a better chance of finding a place in a group as they seem to be a minority at the moment when compared to drk.

But drk isn't a bad job at all IMO. It will get to where it needs to be and the hype will die.

Yep, going to be a tough life for all these DRKs who skirt by FCoB being barely passable as 123 PLDs. Those players are going to be heavily exposed on a complex job like DRK.

I guess the main question is which one first. PLD seems, from the sounds of it, is currently quite a bit better than DRK in terms of general mitigation and overall raid utility as OT. Since I've only got one shot at the MSQ (and the experience that comes with it) I'm just wondering whether to push for the several million XP for 55-60 on DRK and face the full 50-60 grind as PLD, or do the 50-55 grind as PLD, switch to PLD for now so that I have a stable and (to an extent) "always wanted" tank whilst I'm doing the 55-60 run for DRK.