It's Time for That Talk Again [Darkside Animation]

[Baci]

Well, where's PLD's awesome aura-like thing?

The OP is complaining about a "lack-luster glow effect" when.... PLDs don't even get a glow or anything like that.

Where's our angel wings? Where's all the light that we're supposed to have? We don't have any of that.

Passage of Arms

[Lyth]

Doesn't Darkside last forever? Like until you turn it off? It'd be unfair if Dark Knights got some cool animation for the entirety of the fight. It'd be like Warriors glowing red for the whole fight. Which would be cute, especially on my Lala.

Actually, both WAR and DRK have had permanent passive auras since their respective releases. WAR's aura becomes brighter as your gauge level increases, while DRK has a flickering red cloth effect to show that Darkside is active. Both are permanent. DRK's was originally brighter to make sure that the player knew that it was active, but was toned down because people felt that it was too intrusive. That being said, they've created a number of different in game auras for DRK which are NPC exclusive and are more visible without spanning most of the screen.

The community keeps asking about DRK's aura because the devs have consistently teased at it but not followed through. The original job actions reveal in HW showed a very different DRK aura that a lot of the playerbase liked:



Likewise, the job storyline for DRK features a different aura as well, also not available to the player, but available to NPCs.



It's worth noting that the glowing eye effect associated with Inner Release was historically a part of the original DRK questline, two years ago, but was simply ported over to WAR because it looks cool.



Likewise, if you've been following along with the Hildebrand storyline:

I wonder when they'll stop teasing with the lore and actually follow through with it. It's not like they actually need to create anything new, because several of these are already in game and have clearly been linked to DRK.

[Kalocin]

Instead of looking at the other tanks, I think a better way of wording this argument is that Darkside just looks obnoxious and bad. It looks like a placeholder effect from development and they never got around changing it.

[Kabooa]

Dark Knight level 78 trait: Darkerside

Evolves Sole Survivor into Soul Survivor.

Evolves Darkside into Darkerside.

[Kumori_Kumo]

It's worth noting that the glowing eye effect associated with Inner Release was historically a part of the original DRK questline, two years ago, but was simply ported over to WAR because it looks cool.

Not to Um-Actually you, but it was part of the WAR quests before DRK was even a thing. S'what made it so cool to finally get it.
But yeah I still find their justifications silly, they should just let you use it regardless of presentation.

[Lyth]

...

I suppose it was actually a BLM thing, by that same token. It might just be me, but it feels like a lot of these fun flavour abilities and animations get shunted towards WAR because they tend to be more outspoken about it, so SE feels the need to cater specifically to them.

[Kumori_Kumo]

it feels like a lot of these fun flavour abilities and animations get shunted towards WAR because they tend to be more outspoken about it, so SE feels the need to cater specifically to them.

Maybe! I dunno, when I saw IR gave the effect I kind of expected DRK would get their pasty-flames back, and was surprised they didn't. I mean in a game that's so married to aesthetics, it seems weird not to prioritize things that complete the player's experience.

[DRKoftheAzure]

What about DRK nerfs? How do you justify that?

[Ryan77k]

No nerfs! Not now, not never!

On a side note, I sort of reminded myself that maybe it's unfair to compare Darkside's effect with that of WAR's IR. And I'd be willing to leave it at that, if WAR didn't also have the wrath/abandon effect that also looks totally boss and is active most - if not all - of the time. I liked what someone earlier had said about NPCs getting their own unique glows, like Frey's during the early quests, or the same type of glow that Julyan Manderville had in that particular Hildebrand quest. I'd much rather see them ported over than continue on with the utter 'meh' that Darkside is.

[Reynhart]

I would love the black flames that was in the initial reveal, but unless they completely reprogram how said effects are displayed on, amongst other things, mounts I'm afraid we won't be getting it.

They could make all effect disappear while mounted. Or Darkside only displays when the weapon is unsheathed, like the weapon glowing effects.