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

[Faytte]

I agree; it's tough to say. Blind as a mechanic just feels like it does... Nothing. I could be wrong, though.

Last time i checked, it applies a 20% miss rate on all physical abilities and auto attacks. Hardly nothing? Some mechanics ignore this effect, some dont. If you go blind Titan NM before his mountain busters you can notice this--during the original clears I would have about a quarter or so of the busters simply miss me because of a good blind. Consequently in EX his busters could no longer miss because a mechanic (tank swap) was tied to them, but you will still see plenty of auto attacks miss.

In any case, blind if a fantastic defensive mechanic but it --IS-- RNG

[Giantbane]

War gets ... ToB ...

ToB pairs very nicely with a cross classed convalescence. Both have 2 min cooldowns, both 20s duration. 20% more HP and 20% better heals is effectively *almost* as good as Rampart (convalescence would need to be 25% to match the effect exactly).

Drk gets convalescence, but it doesn't have anything to pair it with to create that 3rd dependable mitigation ability vs. physical.

[ShaolinMike]

DRK, even with its perceived initial shortcomings, is the only tank class that makes me want to tank permanently (I've done 100+ clears on both WAR and PLD.) I'm only at level 50 with it, but I can already tell that a lot of people aren't playing it the way that (I think) it's designed to be played.

[Tila]

DRK, even with its perceived initial shortcomings, is the only tank class that makes me want to tank permanently (I've done 100+ clears on both WAR and PLD.) I'm only at level 50 with it, but I can already tell that a lot of people aren't playing it the way that (I think) it's designed to be played.

Can you explain? Im genuinly curious, I wanted to like DRK, but found it to clunky and all over the place.

[Faytte]

And what way is that? No offense, but theres only so many ways you can play a class overall. The defensives are very clear cut. Keep up grit. Stay in Dark side. Use blood price, draw aggro, use dark arts on soul eater...what else?

The issue isnt even their offense or aggro, its their defensive, and their defensives dont take skill to understand.

[Faytte]

Can you explain? Im genuinly curious, I wanted to like DRK, but found it to clunky and all over the place.

That is because it is.

[dank1]

It was originally intended in response to DRK's apparent inability to deal with auto attacks.

Even with evidence the masses still don't buy it. I love that "I'm not really buying the 20% evasion" like it just disappears depending on what you are fighting? Dark Arts has a 5s CD so you aren't wasting it at all, and you can evade boss auto attacks.

I find it interesting that it's still believed WARs will be top DPS while tanking still. Oh well!

You cant evade raid bosses attacks aka coil
DA does have a 5 sec cd, but MP is not an infinite supply, especially if you wanna talk high dps while tanking, your mp for DA would go to Soul Eater

[ShaolinMike]

Can you explain? Im genuinly curious, I wanted to like DRK, but found it to clunky and all over the place.

Not much to explain really, it's just my personal preference. I don't know if the clunkiness is due to the fact that it actually IS clunky or that people had gotten so used to playing PLD / WAR that this just doesn't feel right to them. Perhaps I didn't play either tank job long enough to have their playstyles so ingrained into my way of thinking. Either way, I'm enjoying the job so far. I never chose which jobs to play based on them being "the best" at whatever they did. (I mained SMN all through the sh*t storm it received after having thunder taken away).

[Cyrus-Wallace]

Alright, I've been tanking Neverreap and Fractal. ilvl 160. I felt like DRK is too squishy. Apparently, for "big" pulls, Paladin still is the #1. I mean, I gathered the first 5 monsters in Neverreap and I ate damage like a champ...

[Lorielle]

Alright, I've been tanking Neverreap and Fractal. ilvl 160. I felt like DRK is too squishy. Apparently, for "big" pulls, Paladin still is the #1. I mean, I gathered the first 5 monsters in Neverreap and I ate damage like a champ...

Coming from Paladin, you're going to feel that way because PLD in general is built to tougher. That transition to DRK softness is better from WAR. Though I can't really vouch how WAR feels when it comes to DRK's defense.