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

[RyuDragnier]

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.

I thought they set up Blood Weapon how it was simply because they DO want us to have those few moments where our defenses are lowered to do more damage and gain back the MP we spent. That's pretty much the only time I drop Grit, so over the course of 4 minutes, I pull the 'burst' outside of Grit for a total of 1 minute and 30 seconds. There are of course moments where you really don't want to do that, but I don't really see them crop up often outside of having a bad healer.