Is it me, or is DRK really isn't that super great, nor super bad.

[Pinkie_Pie]

Its just...

Blah..

It doesn't hit hard no where near against a warrior nor the health

Doesn't have the defensive mitigation like a paladin but damages just a tad more then a paladin.

Depends on parry with a long cooldown to reduce the damage of a mob (parry reprisal) for 10% when a warrior can do it just by storm path combo(doesn't stack it seems)

It seems its a "Tricks of all trades, master of none" right now.

[TouchandFeel]

To me it feels, like you alluded to, somewhere between PLD and WAR right now, which to me is not a bad thing. It's not a good thing either and it will all be up to preference of playstyle and cadence.
I haven't hit 50 yet with DRK, so I feel that it's dynamic will drastically change once I get access to Dark Arts and do the 50-60 progression with the job.

[Ditto]

I'm at 50, and so far I can agree with this. It doesn't have the HP or the umph behind the hits a Warrior has, unless you are using Dark Arts on a Souleater, and so happen to crit.

Problem I'm encountering right now is MP starvation. Save for Blood Price, which is only useful when you're getting hit a ton of times within that 15 seconds, your only other way to recover MP in Grit is Syphon Strike. However that recovers a pretty pathetic amount.

With so many of their skills being reliant on MP (Dark Arts, Unleashed, Unmend, Dark Passenger, hell just enabling Grit costs MP) there is too much to use MP on but too little ways to get it back unless you spam Syphon over and over, fighting against the Darkside MP drain. (Though I'm sure it's intended use is as a burst stance)

Basically, I find myself rarely ever using the Power Slash combo, and instead am constantly fighting MP decay in Darkside, using Dark Arts for heavy hitting Souleaters.

But of course this is just at level 50, wonder how things will change at 60.

[Kalma51]

I'm hoping that Dark Arts with those High Pot attacks will make Drk shine with Warrior.

[BadRNG]

Basically, I find myself rarely ever using the Power Slash combo, and instead am constantly fighting MP decay in Darkside, using Dark Arts for heavy hitting Souleaters.

I feel like this may be design? Since Dark Arts PS does extremely high enmity, you only occasionally need to use the threat combo, and instead focus on regeneration MP/HP.

I will agree that Blood Price doesn't seem like it's enough in a lot of situations. Single boss fights who cast spells often are the worst. At 60 we do get Carve and Split which restores MP, but I'm not clear on how much, and it has a 60s cooldown. None of the other skills seem like they'd matter in regards to this.

[Kalma51]

Probably would never use CaS outside of Dark Arts honestly. Hard to pass up 450 for some mp that you'll get back easy enough on rotation.

[BadRNG]

Probably would never use CaS outside of Dark Arts honestly. Hard to pass up 450 for some mp that you'll get back easy enough on rotation.

Maybe not when DPSing, but while tanking MP doesn't come as easy compared to all the uses for it (which is what we were talking about). Based on the E3 video it looks like it restores somewhere in the 11-13% range MP, certainly worth considering, especially with it being oGCD.

[Marxam]

My one gripe is that yes, it is the median between PLD and WAR, and the stances reflect that. Grit = Shield Oath, Darkside = Deliverance and it even acts the same way with Grit being on a gcd and Darkside off gcd. It feels very awkward switching between the two and turning Grit on and off as it will interrupt your combo similar to PLD oaths. I always keep Darkside on unless I messed up and only turn Grit on or off as I feel this is how it should be played. The only time I turn Grit off during mt is if Blood Sword is up and I need mp. I simply pop a cd during the time I'm out of Grit and combine BS with BP for massive mp recovery then its back to mt.

[BadRNG]

My one gripe is that yes, it is the median between PLD and WAR, and the stances reflect that. Grit = Shield Oath, Darkside = Deliverance and it even acts the same way with Grit being on a gcd and Darkside off gcd. It feels very awkward switching between the two and turning Grit on and off as it will interrupt your combo similar to PLD oaths. I always keep Darkside on unless I messed up and only turn Grit on or off as I feel this is how it should be played. The only time I turn Grit off during mt is if Blood Sword is up and I need mp. I simply pop a cd during the time I'm out of Grit and combine BS with BP for massive mp recovery then its back to mt.

That is how it is meant to be played, which is why Darkside isn't really like Deliverance at all, it's not a dps stance, it's "you better have this on no matter what you are doing" stance.

And while I hate it, I think the MP cost and GCD/combo breaking aspect of Grit is to prevent the exact situation you are describing. They don't want us popping out for Blood Weapon. Blood Price is "supposed" to be the BW equivalent but it doesn't really work out to be as reliable, at least not against bosses.

[Kalma51]

I think that Carve and Spit having a 60 sec CD is a bit harsh considering that Warriors Fell Cleave is just waiting on 5 stacks (shouldn't take long to get) and PLD has a really strong combo finisher with no cd other then rotation.