Turning DRK into a tank was a huge mistake.

[Velstriker]

Here's my 2 cents on the subject of VIT vs STR accessories. PLD has a shield that has a passive mitigation therefore they can use STR accessories to give a bit more POW considering they loose 20% damage from Shield Oath. WAR Defiance gives 25% more hp but takes away 25% damage, therefore they can use STR over VIT accessories because they get the added HP from their tank stance and need to make up their damage reduction from Defiance. DRK on the other hand has Grit which works exactly like Shield Oath, but they don't have the passive mitigation from a shield, and they don't have the HP boost given to WAR with Defiance. What they do have is Darkside, which gives a 15% damage boost. THEREFORE they get the damage boost that other tanks get from wearing STR accessories BUILT INTO their job and so it frees them up to wear VIT accessories to make up the downside of not having a shield for passive mitigation or a 25% HP boost from Defiance. Sure you can use STR, thats fine, its more POW POW, but I think the job really shines as a tank when wearing VIT.

[Aegrus]

If only there was a way str would affect defensive abilities... OH WAIT...

Clemency: 1200 potency (based off attack power)
Equilibrium: 1200 Potency (based off attack power)
Swapping full vit for full str changes the heal from ~3400(vit) to ~4450

Inner Beast and Souleater both heal equal to attack damage at 300 and 260/500(DA) potency respectively. I know with inner beast its easy to get 2k/3kcrit heals with berserk
while pure vit drops it by almost a quarter

Not to mention passive healing increases with bloodbath up.

Not only this, tank dps DOES matter. The longer the fight goes on the scarier mechanics can get. Some fights have a hard enrage (ravana) but others ramp up damage till the tank dies, Alexander floor 4 (extra laser burst each time he does the tank buster). In both these fights DPS matters tremendously as you can avoid an extra tank buster or hard enrage by moving faster through the fight.

HP matters as far as you can soak a buster hit and possibly one auto attack, but beyond that, any extra is just that. When learning, VIT is nice to give breathing room, but when you want to down a boss before an enrage, you need DPS wherever you can get it, so you swap enough Vit pieces out so you can still survive a hit but contribute as much damage as possible.

[l---------------l]

If only there was a way str would affect defensive abilities... OH WAIT...

Clemency: 1200 potency (based off attack power)
Equilibrium: 1200 Potency (based off attack power)
Swapping full vit for full str changes the heal from ~3400(vit) to ~4450

Inner Beast and Souleater both heal equal to attack damage at 300 and 260/500(DA) potency respectively. I know with inner beast its easy to get 2k/3kcrit heals with berserk
while pure vit drops it by almost a quarter

Not to mention passive healing increases with bloodbath up.

Not only this, tank dps DOES matter. The longer the fight goes on the scarier mechanics can get. Some fights have a hard enrage (ravana) but others ramp up damage till the tank dies, Alexander floor 4 (extra laser burst each time he does the tank buster). In both these fights DPS matters tremendously as you can avoid an extra tank buster or hard enrage by moving faster through the fight.

HP matters as far as you can soak a buster hit and possibly one auto attack, but beyond that, any extra is just that. When learning, VIT is nice to give breathing room, but when you want to down a boss before an enrage, you need DPS wherever you can get it, so you swap enough Vit pieces out so you can still survive a hit but contribute as much damage as possible.

And you dear sir/lady just said what I was about to bother writing, thanks!

[Ditto]

What they do have is Darkside, which gives a 15% damage boost. THEREFORE they get the damage boost that other tanks get from wearing STR accessories BUILT INTO their job and so it frees them up to wear VIT accessories to make up the downside of not having a shield for passive mitigation or a 25% HP boost from Defiance. Sure you can use STR, thats fine, its more POW POW, but I think the job really shines as a tank when wearing VIT.

Except so do the other tanks, War especially. Darkside is literally just a weaker version of Maim, that is toggle. And then of the 3, FoF gives the largest benefit, at the cost of downtime.

The difference in damage output when in your tanking stance between a War and a Drk is only 2%, not including things such as Unchained, Berserk, and IR that the War has which gives them the edge over Drk.

Darkside is not a unique concept that only we have, don't know why people think it is. I guess it just stands out too much seeing as it's a stance and not a refreshable buff through a rotation like Maim is.

So yes, the other tanks DO get that damage boost.

[Velstriker]

Except so do the other tanks, War especially. Darkside is literally just a weaker version of Maim, that is toggle. And then of the 3, FoF gives the largest benefit, at the cost of downtime.

The difference in damage output when in your tanking stance between a War and a Drk is only 2%, not including things such as Unchained, Berserk, and IR that the War has which gives them the edge over Drk.

Darkside is not a unique concept that only we have, don't know why people think it is. I guess it just stands out too much seeing as it's a stance and not a refreshable buff through a rotation like Maim is.

So yes, the other tanks DO get that damage boost.

Good point, I completely forgot about Maim. I was just looking at stances. Considering I mained WAR through most of 2.0 I should've remembered that. When it comes down to it though, I like the way DRK plays. It, like all the new jobs, could probably use some tinkering to bring it up to snuff with the other jobs in the field though. I hope SE gives DRK similar love that they gave to WAR in 2.1