Dark Knight, or Paladin?

[Drakkaelus]

MP management as DRK just seems like an extra thing to worry about, but the effect is to bring it up to PLD/WAR standards.

Yeah, this bothers me about the DRK more than anything else. You have this extra shit to worry about but there doesn't seem to be any payoff. A WAR that knows how to stance dance and use their cooldowns properly is rewarded with a massive spike in damage. It's not necessary but it's something to shoot for if you're looking to get the most out of your job. But you have to do all this fussing over your MP as a DRK just to function at a basic level and it doesn't look like there's any way to go above and beyond with it without running out of gas in 5 seconds.

[Phoenicia]

Snip.

Snip.

DRK MP management is fine and is in line with WAR's wrath management and PLD's CD management. Granted PLD is the "easiest" to "manage".

DRK has the highest consistent damage if MP is managed. And ONLY 2 of the DRK CDs are buffed by Dark Arts and they are VERY potent. DRK is by no means squishier than PLD or WAR. ALL three tanks have the exact same effective HP with slight difference due to base VIT. The different tool kits make up for what they lack in different departments. (PLD has a shield, WAR and DRK have self heals for fluff damage, etc.)

Now if MP management is not your thing, that doesn't make the DRK weaker than the other two tanks. It just means DRK is not the tank for you.

[Drakkaelus]

Now if MP management is not your thing, that doesn't make the DRK weaker than the other two tanks. It just means DRK is not the tank for you.

I don't mind the concept of MP management at all. I just find the way it's implemented on the DRK kinda...clunky? I don't know how put it exactly, it just doesn't feel like it flows naturally and the MP costs for a lot of spells just seems all over the place. I mean, DA+DP eats up damn near half my MP bar for what, exactly? Grit eats up all that mana for what, exactly? That's what I mean by there not being much payoff to it. It doesn't feel like it's adding anything, it's just...there.

It just seems like they slapped arbitrarily high MP costs on everything to make you "manage" it (i.e. spam Syphon Strike forever)