WAR or DRK - Which Do You Enjoy Most?

Since I can't decide which one I enjoy playing more, I figured I'd like to hear from those of you who have played both. Which one do you enjoy the most, and what is it about that job that puts it above the other for you?

i'm still leveling war, but so far i prefer drk. so far, warrior is 100% dps with tanking baked in, but i almost always tank, so i like making tanking decisions. for example, the drk has to decide between dps and enmity combo. the warrior just does the enmity combo and that happens to be the best dps too

also, leveling war, there isn't anything to do besides spam overpower and sometimes i run out of tp. at least the drk has the back and forth of spending mp and regaining mp

What about PLD? - #TrollPost

I honestly prefer WAR and PLD myself. WAR has a unique rotation it uses, albeit for maximizing damage. The only thing is that it's still a bit strong, so I don't necessarily play it as much since I do prefer finding a challenge in a job outside of the skill ceiling required.

I prefer dark knight too. He's the perfect MT in this game and he looks awesome with his greatsword. Moreover he has good dmg mitigations and still a good dmg output.

Warrior. Nothing can beat the sound of Fell Cleave.

DRK is better than Warrior in every way imo. WAR really doesn't have much it needs to watch for, while DRK is constantly an active juggling masterpiece. Where the WAR is a slow and sluggish Mighty Glacier, DRK is more akin to a savage Lightning Bruiser.

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Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima

What about PLD? - #TrollPost

I honestly prefer WAR and PLD myself. WAR has a unique rotation it uses, albeit for maximizing damage. The only thing is that it's still a bit strong, so I don't necessarily play it as much since I do prefer finding a challenge in a job outside of the skill ceiling required.

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I assure you I wasn't trolling, I wanted to enjoy PLD but I just can't, its not engaging enough to me and I don't find it anywhere near as fun as the other two... so my question was between DRK and WAR.

Gladiator, I like GLD, you should try it out, it's cool, you can use {Feint}

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Originally Posted by Gilthaen

Since I can't decide which one I enjoy playing more, I figured I'd like to hear from those of you who have played both. Which one do you enjoy the most, and what is it about that job that puts it above the other for you?

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DRK out of the two. WAR is super boring to play optimally.

I enjoy them both. I main warrior and it's my favorite job above all other things. But I've been taking DRK into roulettes lately because it's a lot of fun to play, period.

Paladin is good to play strategically at higher levels, like current tier savage and extremes, but I find it's not much fun outside of that.

For warrior, it drives my co tank nuts to play it because he absolutely hates maintaining the stacks or needing stacks for certain moves at certain times. That's one of the things I enjoy about it, so it takes a certain mindset to get the most of out warrior and enjoy it.

Id have to say drk, I just like the circle aoe better for enmity , I dont like the cone of overpower. That being said I do enjoy fell cleave alot, I enjoy the self heals of a warrior as well. Ive just always been a sword type myself, drk is just super cool and fun to play has the best animations in the game to me. But I really just like all three tanks and two of the healers I think SE did a great job on all of them. Cant sleep on paladin!!

For those of you who find Warrior boring or mundane... watch this video, Warrior at a high level of play is a lot more involved than you probably think it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUXck-0vh5k

It really isn't. All three tanks are pretty boring at a very high level.

WAR just happens to have 18 seconds of [What am I doing with my life] which makes it somehow even worse than Always Busy DRK and Easily Optimized PLD.

But that's okay because tanking in general isn't that interesting intrinsically in this game.

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Originally Posted by Instrumentality

It really isn't. All three tanks are pretty boring at a very high level.

WAR just happens to have 18 seconds of [What am I doing with my life] which makes it somehow even worse than Always Busy DRK and Easily Optimized PLD.

But that's okay because tanking in general isn't that interesting intrinsically in this game.

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Did you watch the video? Because what you're saying is in stark contradiction to the contents of the video unless he made it all up.

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Originally Posted by Instrumentality

It really isn't. All three tanks are pretty boring at a very high level.

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That's bait.

Either that or it may be time to play other games til the expansion.

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Originally Posted by bounddreamer

That's bait.

Either that or it may be time to play other games til the expansion.

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My motivation for tanking is extrinsic. That doesn't make tanking in the game bad.

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Originally Posted by Gilthaen

Did you watch the video? Because what you're saying is in stark contradiction to the contents of the video unless he made it all up.

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He didn't make anything up. What Xeno finds very interesting about tanking in this game I find lacking. I don't necessarily mind being a very glorified dps, but it's not a motivation for me.

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Originally Posted by Instrumentality

My motivation for tanking is extrinsic. That doesn't make tanking in the game bad.



He didn't make anything up. What Xeno finds very interesting about tanking in this game I find lacking. I don't necessarily mind being a very glorified dps, but it's not a motivation for me.

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Fair enough, to each his own I suppose. I personally find enjoyment in pushing dps as much as possible while still performing tanking duties exceptionally. Stance dancing and seeing what you can get away with and what you can't is fun for me. Out-dpsing actual dps classes without any tanking/agro issues is fun, though obviously if all dps players play to their potential this won't happen, but we know that often times they don't.

Yeah, that's it. I don't find enjoyment in just doing my job, lol. Maximizing performance is what you do because it's your job in your raid and not doing that is letting other people down. There's no like fun in that for me because that would imply I had a choice in doing that or not.

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Originally Posted by Gilthaen

For those of you who find Warrior boring or mundane... watch this video, Warrior at a high level of play is a lot more involved than you probably think it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUXck-0vh5k

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While Xeno is the one that got me interested in tanking in this game, War is about the least involved tank to play mechanically than the other two, with comparatively few things to really pay attention to. Stacks are gained automatically, requiring no real input on the player's part beyond knowing when to FC, and their highest dps combo also generates excess enmity, which makes maintaining aggro child's play. Comparatively, both DRK and PLD are much faster in play style, and the player needs to be aware of whether or not they need to generate extra enmity, or if they can push more dps. Not to mention all the ogcd's of DRK translate to a very involved experience, which WAR just doesn't have. IMHO, anyhoo.

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Originally Posted by Thunda_Cat_SMASH

Shortened for space.

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Can you give some examples of how PLD is more involved than WAR? I just don't see it. I feel like PLD is much more easy to optimize than WAR at the highest levels of play. I might be wrong but I can't see such an in depth video being made for PLD, one that is as involved/in-depth as that warrior video Xenosys made.

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Originally Posted by Gilthaen

Can you give some examples of how PLD is more involved than WAR? I just don't see it. I feel like PLD is much more easy to optimize than WAR at the highest levels of play. I might be wrong but I can't see such an in depth video being made for PLD, one that is as involved/in-depth as that warrior video Xenosys made.

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Paladin is the only tank in the game that has a damage maximization minigame attached to every pull, for example.

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Originally Posted by Instrumentality

Paladin is the only tank in the game that has a damage maximization minigame attached to every pull, for example.

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That intrigues me but I confess I have no idea what you mean by that, can you elaborate?

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Originally Posted by Gilthaen

That intrigues me but I confess I have no idea what you mean by that, can you elaborate?

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Paladin is the only tank that has an ability that does damage based on the percentage of HP it has remaining that is also not player death related. (Being above 0% HP is not sufficient to do maximum damage as Paladin.) In fact, Paladin is the only Job in the entire game that has that mechanic.

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Originally Posted by Instrumentality

Paladin is the only tank that has an ability that does damage based on the percentage of HP it has remaining that is also not player death related. (Being above 0% HP is not sufficient to do maximum damage as Paladin.) In fact, Paladin is the only Job in the entire game that has that mechanic.

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...What ability is this?

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Originally Posted by Nirurin

...What ability is this?

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Maybe he means Spirits Within and using it on pull before taking damage? I'm just guessing on what that guy is talking about, but that's the only ability I can think of that is related to hp.

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Originally Posted by Nirurin

...What ability is this?

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Spirits Within. It deals more damage based on how much health you currently have, capping at 300 potency if you're at full health. In my (limited) experience, though, as long as you're at relatively high health when using it, it doesn't make or break anything, and while I found it interesting, I never really found it more engaging than Dark Knight's MP management or Warrior's stacks.

OH ok, when I read his post I thought he meant that a move did more damage the *lower* the paladins health was. Forgot about spirits within.

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Originally Posted by Instrumentality

Paladin is the only tank that has an ability that does damage based on the percentage of HP it has remaining that is also not player death related. (Being above 0% HP is not sufficient to do maximum damage as Paladin.) In fact, Paladin is the only Job in the entire game that has that mechanic.

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Im like everyone else, If I see myself at full HP, and press the button, the moment I press it, I take some crit or something, and I do less dmg.

I generally assume the healer is going to try to keep me near the top of my max HP to begin with, and dont bother timing it anymore.
But it interesting to point out that some people do enjoy that feature, and can make it stand out among the other jobs, simply because trying to time it right feels more fun than the other alternatives.

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Originally Posted by Claire_Pendragon

But it interesting to point out that some people do enjoy that feature, and can make it stand out among the other jobs, simply because trying to time it right feels more fun than the other alternatives.

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Honestly, I'd like more abilities like spirits Within, with effects that range in potency depending on the current HP total, whether it's an ability that deals more damage the user is at, or for a random thought, a mitigation effect that gets stronger at low health, for example, 60% mitigation when used at 10% health or less. Trying to time that one with a Bene could be pretty fun.

Perhaps a dps job trait, wherein they get a passive buff the lower their HP is?

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Originally Posted by Thunda_Cat_SMASH

Honestly, I'd like more abilities like spirits Within, with effects that range in potency depending on the current HP total, whether it's an ability that deals more damage the user is at, or for a random thought, a mitigation effect that gets stronger at low health, for example, 60% mitigation when used at 10% health or less. Trying to time that one with a Bene could be pretty fun.

Perhaps a dps job trait, wherein they get a passive buff the lower their HP is?

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I like the idea of a mitigation based on your HP being lower. And I'd love to see it on PLD, as this would make it the perfect class for it. Since PLD has the least number of things to watch, watching when to use these would be great way to add a unique playstyle, while still being decent even if they just pressed it when they wanted to.

As for being a passive, that doesnt sound as fun, kinda meh.

Saying spirits within is a main mechanic of PLD is grasping at straws, PLD is just a tank without an interesting mechanic. Anything unique it does have is hardly used enough to make it a main gameplay focus and the way the game is balanced it's current toolkit could never be retooled to work as such. PLD doesn't have a mechanic and until it does it will be the boring tank.

I guess I'm boring, then. I rather like that the PLD play style lets me spend more time keeping tabs on the party and things going on around me rather than solely on hitting a long string of buttons in the right order. I'm still new, though, maybe this will change as I get more proficient with DRK and WAR.

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Originally Posted by Lyraele

I guess I'm boring, then. I rather like that the PLD play style lets me spend more time keeping tabs on the party and things going on around me rather than solely on hitting a long string of buttons in the right order. I'm still new, though, maybe this will change as I get more proficient with DRK and WAR.

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PLD does make a good job for a raid leader, since they can focus more on what the group as a whole is doing. I mained PLD for most of 2.x then swapped over to WAR during final coil and never looked back. It's also good for those new to tanking which is SE's obvious intention with it. Whether or not that should be the case is another can of worms.

I thoroughly enjoy WAR, but I find that it's very rare for me to get to use the job's full potential. Sure, I finish most dungeon bosses at 1500+ DPS, but those times when my healers dies halfway through a boss and I have to jump back into Defiance and do everything I can to survive that I really feel the adrenaline.

But then, I'm an ex-raider from the SCoB/FCoB days, so I guess I'm looking for thrills.

That said, DRK is really great as well. Obviously doesn't have the same self-healing as a WAR, but the short cooldowns and amount of buttons available for pressing at all times is really fun and engaging. Should probably play DRK more, now that I think about it.

As for PLD, I think it's too simple. I really think they should give it more shield-based skills with short CDs, and a shield-attack blunt resistance debuff. That'd go a long way to making the job a little more interesting and a little more viable for raids together with MNK.

Why not both? I personally play PLD and WAR both. I'm a very mediocre DRK and it doesn't really match my playstyle (have it at 60 though)
War uses Sophia weapon and PLD has 260 relic.

PLD for progression raiding (We already have a WAR in our static)
WAR for dailies and other easy things to speed it up. Nothing as satisfying as fellcleaving a boss for 11k and skipping half the mechanics

I prefer to play WAR, but that's mainly because I'm comfortable with it and I know its capabilities and there isn't much thought process to it. Muscle memory. But, I like DRK since it is flashy. Greatswords are...err... great.

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Originally Posted by VargasVermillion

Saying spirits within is a main mechanic of PLD is grasping at straws, PLD is just a tank without an interesting mechanic. Anything unique it does have is hardly used enough to make it a main gameplay focus and the way the game is balanced it's current toolkit could never be retooled to work as such. PLD doesn't have a mechanic and until it does it will be the boring tank.

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While PLD doesnt have a full on thematic mechanic, it IS a mechanic to the move that is unique to PLD.
So after it was mentioned, I actually liked the idea of making PLD have that theme even more.

But something for the OP to consider.

Out of all 3 tank, everyone can agree PLD is fundamentally the easiest over all.
Placing its DoT into its combo has given it enough "complexity" that its not really faceroll boring. (As you cant just apply it, when it wears off, like WAR and DRK can)

But if you'll notice, most people tend to enjoy what they are "good" at, but also want to be slightly "challenged" at what they are good at.
This balancing act is what usually determines what jobs people enjoy.
Something is TOO hard, it becomes work, and doesnt seem worth the effort to get better at it.
If its TOO easy, then you'll be day dreaming.

WAR focuses on pre planning, and DRK is about multi tasking.

If you are a person who likes to preplan stuff, chances are you will enjoy WAR.
And the opposite, if you enjoy multitasking, then you'll enjoy DRK.

It's also possible to like them for other reasons, minor things like, more DPS on WAR, more likely to be OT as WAR, just playing DRK reactionary, hitting things when they pop.

Over all, its heavily dependent on the person, as each person is better and worse at different things, so one person will claim DRK is easy, whiel claiming WAR is hard, or the other way around, that WAR is easy, and that DRK is hard. (While most agree DRK is easy, I personally find WAR easier, but Im one of those people who play a job solely for wielding a 2hand sword. Otherwise I would be on WAR or PLD with a 2hand sword, if it were possible)

& my answer to OP's question is: PLD, it was my 1st class plus gives me easyer time to react to stuff. I mean as much as I could figure out DRK (lv60) it feals to off for me & my WAR is still lv34 cause I can't stand 1 sound effect & thats what I need it at for Mercy stroke (its a pettty reason but it annoys me so much that any time I think about getting it to 60 I cringe so hard it never happens... which has been 4 times min since 3.0)

Incase u'r wondering "What sound effect?" its Skull Sunder the 2nd attack in Buchers Block combo, the high perceing ringing annoys me every time

I've actually been leveling WAR and DRK in alternation in PotD to mix things up a bit (started as a way to get some progress in those Jin's while getting Kinna for PLD). I realize that PotD isn't really a great way to evaluate gameplay in general, but based on that I seem to enjoy playing DRK more while if I'm being honest it seems it's easier to play WAR effectively. And being the boring person that I am, I still actually prefer playing PLD in most cases. I suspect that's because that's my 1st job (and still my only job at 60) and I feel like I have much better situational awareness and simply play it better than the other two tanks. I wouldn't mind at all if PLD added a couple of shield-based abilities, preferably off-GCD. I'm kinda looking forward to the promises of streamlining the ability count they've promised for 4.0.

I have both at 60.
For me, I enjoyed DRK more than WAR.

DRK story is one of the best out there. I enjoyed learning the job while leveling it.
Don't get me wrong I still enjoy WAR as well. But I enjoyed DRK so much to the point that I am considering a new main job.