PLD synergy issues

[Sqwall]

Basically, just making DRK a direct upgrade to PLD was a horrible idea. Jobs like WAR, the 3 healers, MCH, DRG etc. work well with every other job in the game, but DRK's design still directly conflicts with PLD and MNK nearly 2 years after HW was released and I don't understand why it hasn't been changed.

YES!! This completely! I have been waiting for someone to post something about this. This just shows me that not everyone has played all 3 tanks and some of the DPS that have conflicting skills. To me this is why PLD is completely no longer viable in end game. DRK has all the skills PLD does and does it better. If your smart about the MP management DRK eclipses PLD in every possible way. Same with WAR, It does way more DPS and higher AOE DPS + the debuffs are a simple rotation.

I'm with you SE needs to address this issue quickly and make it worth while to put that shield back on for me. I suppose I'll work on finishing DRK 56 and WAR 56.

[Lyth]

DRK has all the skills PLD does and does it better. If your smart about the MP management DRK eclipses PLD in every possible way. Same with WAR, It does way more DPS and higher AOE DPS + the debuffs are a simple rotation.

If you're just looking for someone to validate your point of view, I'm sure that there's someone out there willing to do so. That being said, there's nothing that prevents you from doing raids on PLD. You'll always find fights which work in favour of one tank over another. But you can't make that judgement if you're not actually pushing the limits of the job. WAR may bring the highest personal and raid dps by design, but there are plenty of mediocre WARs out there who still manage to consistently get outperformed by their co-tanks, whether they be on PLD or DRK. So you should always ask yourself if you could push your own skill further before you ask the devs to push your job's power further.

That's not to say that PLD couldn't benefit from a rework. But I do feel like a lot of its naysayers haven't really explored what it can or cannot do as a job. If you haven't had moments where you wished that you had access to Spirits Within, Cover, Tempered Will, Hallowed Ground, Sheltron, or Divine Veil while on another tank, you haven't really played PLD.

Rotations aren't actually what make a job simple or hard. Any rotation becomes second-nature with enough practice. It's a combination of maximising your uptime and recognising how to tailor your rotation to each individual fight that makes the difference. That being said, faster-paced jobs with higher APM requirements tend to be more rewarding to execute, once you learn how. That's part of the reason why some people love jobs like DRK or NIN, while others find them unnecessarily fiddly.

Either way, take all this with a grain of salt (or provide the salt yourself, in some cases). It's all going to change in two months anyways, so why not wait and see?