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

[Faytte]

30% chance to block 20% of a hit (ignoring Dr \\\\\\'s base parry chance), add into this 20% chance to evade 100% of a hit (ignoring DRK\\\\\\'s base evade chance), also calculate in the 33% up time on Dark Dance, and it gives you roughly 8.5% total mitigation, obviously at the mercy of RNG.

Sentinel 40% damage reduction with a 10s duration and 180 CD ends up being 2.2% overall mitigation since it has such a tiny up time. Obviously designed to handle large burst spikes.

Paladins have shields which if you know how they work are like an always on buff vs physical. They have their own chance to proc (rolled before parry) and block more damage than parry does (which only increase with better shields. Even crap ones now are blocking 25 to thirty. Block is locked at 20).

Dark dance compares to having a shield at all times and bulwark for when you need it not to sentinel. Sentinel compares to dark wall and its much better than it.

[Faytte]

Vs raid bosses the self healing of dark it too weak to matter. Strong bursts matter more than stronger over time healing (which dark has). Warriors can heal twice (thrill and equilibrium) and Paladins new healing spell is amazing.

[MythToken]

Sorry we are so good
<--War

[Faytte]

Keep this in mind---
--leveled a drk to 55 before i gave up on it. As a Paladin/War primary, its bad.

I'm not telling you this to make you feel bad, but knowing how the classes are used in raids from 2.0 coils (t1-t13) I can tell you ..its bad.

I say this in hopes the class is BUFFED--because that is what SE tends to do, listen and alter.

[Starkbeaumont]

well, 60 since last night: carve and spit is def nice, but imo could give a bit more MP back, but free mp is free.

now farming for gear first. once ppl in my fc caught up we will try primals. so far i haven't had any problems, except with really lazy healers, though i don't know how the other two tanks play at 60. War shouldn't be much different anyway, except for the self heal. Pld is probably even more of a wall now.

I do enjoy drk a lot, just wishing for a bit more synergy of some of it's skills.

[TouchandFeel]

I agree with many of the comments that DRK needs some tweaking to be more equivalent to the other tanks, but I disagree that it is terrible.

My main issues with DRK are as follows (some may be repeats of what has already been said.) Mainly they have to do with visual feedback on abilities since DRK is much more reliant on conditional states than the other tanks to perform.


- Too many abilities use up too much MP and then also use up TP as well. MP depletion should really be more relegated to Darkside upkeep, Dark Arts usage and maybe the OGCD damage abilities. I feel putting MP costs on things like Unleashed and other base abilities, they should either have a reduced MP cost or have it switched to just TP.
- The Darkside visual fx needs to be adjusted. currently it is too spread out and not noticeable enough when multiple effects are going off around the DRK, which is pretty much always. It needs to be more centrally confined to the drk's body and be more concentrated visually. Something like red flames or a red mist emanating off the drk's body would look good imo. This would be useful to be able to visually track that Darkside is up without having to search for it in your status bar icons, especially since it can turn itself off if you are low on MP.
- Reprisal currently feels a bit clunky. I understand the concept and intended mechanics behind it, but it just feels a bit unintuitive, particularly because if you are MTing, it is very important for mitigating damage and it becoming available for usage is not the most noticeable thing on your hotbar when you are focusing on the battle. One thing that would really help Reprisal feel better would be a small visual/audio fx that plays when Reprisal procs, so you can see it become available without having to watch your hotbar so much.
- Blood sword should be available with Grit on but replenishes less MP and also does not provide the skill speed buff. Would work normally without Grit.

Those are the main ones I have noticed so far, but I am still leveling DRK. There are some other things I feel may need some tweaking such as their defensive cd's and potential party/raid utility but I can't quite put my finger on what exactly the issues are and how to address them right now.

Overall, the class is very enjoyable and the mechanics are very fun, I love Dark Arts, it just needs some tweaks and minor adjustments which is to be expected with new classes in a mmo.

Anyways, I suspect there will be some tweaks and changes coming to the new classes and probably the new 50-60 abilities for the other ones, maybe with the first major patch, 3.1, similar to the WAR makeover of 2.1, although probably to a much smaller extent.

[Niyuka]

Keep this in mind---
--leveled a drk to 55 before i gave up on it. As a Paladin/War primary, its bad.

I'm not telling you this to make you feel bad, but knowing how the classes are used in raids from 2.0 coils (t1-t13) I can tell you ..its bad.

I say this in hopes the class is BUFFED--because that is what SE tends to do, listen and alter.

That is my observation so far too. The DRK is not unsalvagable, but he doesnt hold a candle to the warrior as OT (its not even a contest: DRKs are shitty offtanks, and if you have a monk, are utterly useless in every regard), and he doesnt match the PLD as maintank - except when there is no warrior OT to apply Storms Path, then its a bit more close.

Basically, the DRK is good if paired with a warrior OT, and no PLD is available. He is the "backup" PLD, thats his niche. But he is inferior to either tank under pretty much every condition known to me. Not FAR inferior to the PLD, but still.

[Avalon_Albrook]

This class is less than a week old. The immediate panic of "oh god the mp drain is awful" and other statements is just silly. Play it and learn it and get the feel for its capabilities.

It's a rather impressive tank class. I've been maining PLD since 2.0 beta and I'm absolutely in love with DRK so far (at lv57). Once you learn to ride the bicycle that is what you can burst and when and learn what is really the Dark Knight strategy, mp is a non-issue, threat is a non-issue, you take damage like a pro, you self-heal like a pro (seriously, laying down multiple dark arts buffed Abyssal Drains on almost 10 mobs in the Vault starts to feel a little godly) AND you can pump out some severe numbers.

Keep this in mind---
--leveled a drk to 55 before i gave up on it. As a Paladin/War primary, its bad.

I'm not telling you this to make you feel bad, but knowing how the classes are used in raids from 2.0 coils (t1-t13) I can tell you ..its bad.

I say this in hopes the class is BUFFED--because that is what SE tends to do, listen and alter.

As a Paladin primary, it's the opposite of bad.

And since this class was designed and launched with the expansion that brings us Alexander, a raid we have no knowledge of whatsoever and can't predict at all what'll be needed in it, your talk of what was expected of classes in Coil doesn't really matter and shouldn't be used as a negative against DRK.

[Fendred]

From the overview of the class and what I've played of it so far, darkside goes down regularly and is supposed to go down regularly. We have abilities that consume darkside, and its in those moments that we'd want to get our MP back with siphon strike. Blood weapon is only useful during tank swaps, which is when the dark knight will have the opportunity to deactivate grit. The game is built around the WoW model for combat, and I can say from years of playing across games using this model that you'd never put down your tank stance when faced with a boss. Damage reduction cooldowns are supposed to be used to stop instant death from massive boss attacks, not extend the benefits of "grit" so you can regain MP off a single cooldown. Remember, you'd have to keep grit off for a full 15 seconds because grit dispels the effect of blood weapon when you reactivate it.

[Timat]

From the overview of the class and what I've played of it so far, darkside goes down regularly and is supposed to go down regularly. We have abilities that consume darkside, and its in those moments that we'd want to get our MP back with siphon strike. Blood weapon is only useful during tank swaps, which is when the dark knight will have the opportunity to deactivate grit. The game is built around the WoW model for combat, and I can say from years of playing across games using this model that you'd never put down your tank stance when faced with a boss. Damage reduction cooldowns are supposed to be used to stop instant death from massive boss attacks, not extend the benefits of "grit" so you can regain MP off a single cooldown. Remember, you'd have to keep grit off for a full 15 seconds because grit dispels the effect of blood weapon when you reactivate it.

You are not supposed ot have darkside fall off

The idea is to manage your MP and keep it rolling

furthermore, abilities dont consume darkside, they require it active to use.