Think Dark Knight will have any HP-sacrificing abilities, for Solo or Off-tank roles?

[kyuven]

Yea, you know? We playing Final Fantasy franchise!
Fundamentally they are reduced to the other job called "Beastmaster" (also known as Trainer or Mediator), SMN was never a pet class job to begin with, FACT.

Edit: We had many, many discussions about how a Final Fantasy SMN could be done for a MMOG. SE ignored all, understandable because they already finished it and did not want to remake it.

Yes, this is the FF franchise but so what?
The FF franchise ripped monsters and concepts wholesale from D&D from the word go (for example, Mindflayers) and the very concept of Dark Knight did not originate with FF.
I personally commend the development team for being able to look at the classic jobs and be inspired by them, but not restricted by them. Just because something is like X in Y game, doesn't mean it has to be X in Z game.
And also, in what game was SMN never a pet class? I seem to remember FFXI's SMN being a pet class, what with SMNs running around with their summons that did stuff.
In FFX Yuna was technically the pet class. Though her "pet" replaced the party.
in FFXII and FFXIII they were basically summoned pets with the same restriction as Yuna had going for her, except applying to the whole party.
"Summon creatures to fight for them..." I simply can't comprehend how people don't understand this could easily translate to "pet class."

[Kagalli]

Honestly, this DRK isn't a real DRK, should rename the class to Rune Fencer or something, having a DRK tank is insulting.

[kyuven]

Honestly, this DRK isn't a real DRK, should rename the class to Rune Fencer or something, having a DRK tank is insulting.

Personally I always found having a dark KNIGHT, clad in full plate armor and carrying a two-handed sword, that WASN'T a tank to be insulting.
But then, tanks weren't strictly necessary in the single-player FFs. They are in the MMOs.

[TruebladeNuke]

Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection for PSP (in classic graphic design with better quality, not the 3D graphic)




And the PS1 remake

Already noted that when I pulled up the Wikipedia list in my earlier discussion, tee hee. I already knew FF4 was popular, but I forgot how popular. That many remakes should explain things.
Still feel ripped off upon realizing that the very first version of FF4 I played was nerfed though after all this time. No wonder why I quickly felt the GBA version was superior, lol.

One fact does remain though: No matter what version of FF4 you look at, Cecil remained notably as a Tank, despite being a Dark Knight, in all versions. (Before becoming a Paladin of course) There's... a small handful of FF games that put a more aggressive spin on Dark Knight, but that's the FF series changing up lore on the classes and what not, along with game mechanics in general, per FF release.

HP sacrificing combined with some of the more aggressive Dark Knight versions out there, is probably why people expected Dark Knight to be a DPS in this game. Nope. It's a Tank instead. Boiling away all the little details, I feel this was needed anyway because, again, we're lacking in Tank and Healer roles in this game to begin with. Some class has to fill that role of being the 3rd Tank. Warriors in heavy armor tend to fill that role easily.

And while this isn't what this thread is about, I can't help but wonder if Samurai will get the same treatment and become a Tank in this game?

[Lemuria]

Samurai would have made more sense as a tank, but I guess they couldn't wait for the Doman expansion and decided to plump for Dark Knight instead. Personally though, I can't consider it to be a true Dark Knight without HP sacrificing abilities. Oddly enough though, I couldn't really consider it a tank if it had HP sacrificing abilities. So, I can't really take the idea of a Dark Knight tank all that seriously.

There have been scarce few FF games which did not have a Dark Knight capable of sacrificing HP for damage, either a damage buff or an attack in its own right. It's been a staple of the job, and removing it is like removing cures from a White Mage. People are naturally going to compare Dark Knight to similar titles such as FF11 since they're closer gameplay wise. And in FFXI it was a damage dealer with fancy skills like Blood Weapon to offset their HP-devouring attacks.

All that said, I'm glad we're seeing a new tank arrive. Time will tell whether or not it actually catches on and alleviates the void of tanks we're currently facing, but it's a step in the right direction regardless of the name.

[Alacran]

I know I was taken aback by the Tank role reveal. They gave the teaser hint and so much hype followed, finally i would be able to play as a DRK along side my friends. My brother loves WAR so we were all good to go, he would tank, i'd dps and our little group would have a blast experiencing the game the way we wanted to play in the roles we enjoyed most. After all was said and done i get it... I see what they did and are trying to do and to be honest I don't think it could have worked any other way. I hate the idea of tanking, i hate that i can't do things with my static as DRK, but im going try my best to learn all the job has to offer. As a long time fan of the series im happy with the idea of my DRK not being a squishy bleeding mess of a dps that is the stuff of healers nightmares. I would be lying if I said I wasn't salty about it though... Can't wait for Samurai tank.

[Radacci]

PLD and WAR can solo fine, without sacrificing their HP, i'm sure DRK will as well.

[AsahinaMyLove]

cant be a real dark knight then...
its a tank, no skills that needs HP to be aktivated.

Please name it as Buster-Blader, or 2Hand-sword or He-Man. <,<

[Edellis]

A tank that sacrifices HP to do anything is about as paradoxical as a Ninja that would think to be a tank.

Unless this HP sacrificing ability is so good it deals Flare-level AoE damage, i shudder thinking about how bad a bad DRK could be in queue.

[Divine_Intervention]

i don't think it's conducive to have a tank that has any sort of ability to decrease its own survivability, especially given the job is going to attract a lot of "OMG EDGE" people who don't care about tanking.

See DC Universe Rage Tank