The lens through which we must view DRK when discussing its balance and problems.

[Faytte]

If drk gains mitigation, it has to stand to lose damage and some of its aoe. Right now they excel DRAMATICALLY in many areas over both over tanks (certainly Paladin). If they begin to gain onto a paladins tankyness, then they need a rebalancing elsewhere. Dark Knight offense + aoe + more mitigation and utility would basically result in unbalance in the opposite direction. Keep that in mind when asking for buffs. This happened to some degree with the war rebalance--its was gain a little, give a little and since many DRKs never tanked seriously before, you should know that you guys are LEAGUES ahead of the other tanks in certain areas, so being behind in others makes sense on paper. I'm not saying you shouldnt gain more mitigation (I think you should) but you cant have your cake and eat it to. Paladin has next to no aoe and pathetic damage while main tanking compared to either tank, it gains mitigation and utility in return for that. War has damage and mitigation, but no group utility.

[BadRNG]

People seem to forget that Reprisal STACKS with Warrior's debuff leading to a steady 10% and sometimes 20% reduction of ALL damage from a boss.

Do you have any proof of this, I know both debuffs can be active but that doesn't mean it's actually working properly, have any tests been done to confirm?

If drk gains mitigation, it has to stand to lose damage and some of its aoe. Right now they excel DRAMATICALLY in many areas over both over tanks (certainly Paladin). If they begin to gain onto a paladins tankyness, then they need a rebalancing elsewhere. Dark Knight offense + aoe + more mitigation and utility would basically result in unbalance in the opposite direction. Keep that in mind when asking for buffs. This happened to some degree with the war rebalance--its was gain a little, give a little and since many DRKs never tanked seriously before, you should know that you guys are LEAGUES ahead of the other tanks in certain areas, so being behind in others makes sense on paper. I'm not saying you shouldnt gain more mitigation (I think you should) but you cant have your cake and eat it to. Paladin has next to no aoe and pathetic damage while main tanking compared to either tank, it gains mitigation and utility in return for that. War has damage and mitigation, but no group utility.

The thing is being the best aoe damage tank is a completely meaningless distinction, what fight does that actually matter? No one cares about performance in four mans, that is not and should never be relevant to the discussion. It's why it was fine that BLM got a single target buff despite being kings of aoe, because realistically that's not a very important skill on the majority of encounters.

Your last sentence is crazy though, WAR has no group utility? Storm's Path is the best tank utility in the game. Storm's Eye is icing on the cake.

[Xenosan]

The thing is being the best aoe damage tank is a completely meaningless distinction, what fight does that actually matter? No one cares about performance in four mans, that is not and should never be relevant to the discussion.

Quality of life. That's DRK's forte. Ground Placement DoT, a gap closer, a ranged AOE, and more oGCDs than a Dragoon can shake a spear at. Things PLD/WAR know they'll never have

But

Warrior has Slashing buff, Damage Down debuff (both 100% up-time), and absurd DPS.

PLD has better self mitigation, much unique party-wide support, and a STR Down debuff -- also 100% up-time (DRK Delirium INT-Down false equivalency responses incoming!).

DRK has QoL, but like AST, it is not fitting into optimized raid configurations as well as it should. With Tank/Healer roles, there's no middle road. Raids go with the best until over-gearing and Echo allow otherwise.