4.1 Dark Knight Feedback and fixes

[TruebladeNuke]

I waited until after 4.1 released to see if any changes would come to DRK, and before I finally threw my own voice in. But seeing as how no changes came for DRK, I'm going to finally speak up. Let me start off by saying that despite always being a PLD at heart, I actually ended up loving DRK during Heavensward to the point of which I would take it more over PLD during my dungeon runs.

Why?

To some others, DRK was just another damage soaking tank that kept it's own HP up there through Dark Arts + Abyssal Drain combined with Blood Price and defense cooldowns. And while I myself did those things too... to me however... it was a matrix evasion tank. The fact that I could buff myself to having a roughly 40% dodge rate against all incoming enemy auto attacks on large pulls was very satisfying to me. IMO, THAT is what made DRK stand out from the other tanks to me when dealing with mass pulls. But the developers took that away with the release of Stormblood... by getting rid of Dark Dance. And to rub salt on that wound, they follow it up by increasing the MP cost of Dark Passenger. Suddenly, my favorite strategy of tanking as a DRK against mass mobs that was followed up off of the usual cooldowns of Blood Price, Abyssal Drain aggro control, and a standard defense cooldown... was no longer there. I wouldn't begin to really feel it though until I started taking DRK to level 70 after I got PLD up there.

And let me tell you, I just wasn't having anywhere near as much fun on DRK anymore. Oh sure, the new abilities are nice, but they don't help much when it comes to damage mitigation, save for the one you learn at level 70... which can then only be used at level 70. After a few runs of taking my DRK through lower level dungeons again, I couldn't help but feel that something was really off. And then I note the "Anticipation" skill that's sitting where "Dark Dance" used to be... and realize that one of my favorite damage migation strategies as a DRK is completely gone...

After I finally got around to WAR and started taking it to level 70 myself (and getting it to level 70 just a few weeks before Patch 4.1 came around to give WAR more buffs), I couldn't help but note that I was actually having more fun on WAR then DRK. Yes. You read that right. I was having more fun on WAR then DRK. (Mind you, I do play as all three tanks and have fun with all three) Combine that with the fact that I'm a PLD at heart and rather enjoying all the buffs PLD got for Stormblood... that alone should tell you that DRK went from being my top favorite tank to play as... to being my least favorite of the three the moment Stormblood launched. And it seriously saddens me. I can't be a matrix evasion tank as a DRK anymore... which was my #1 favorite thing about the job against mass pulls.

Long story short, I miss Dark Dance. I seriously do. And that raised MP cost of Dark Passenger is not helping matters. With all that said, I'd like to purpose my own suggestions to how to make DRK better in Stormblood. (Mind you, it's still useable in content, and I still play the job. I just don't like what the developers did to it for Stormblood) Some of which I'm about to suggest may very well result in me echoing what others have said already:

Suggestion #1: Buff Shadow Wall.
As it currently stands right now, it's basically just a weaker Sentinel with the same cooldown time. There's 2 possiblities I would like to suggest here for buffing Shadow Wall.

Possibility #1: Buff Shadow Wall's damage mitigation to 40%. This will make it exactly like Sentinel.

Possibility #2 (My preferred one): Decrease Shadow Wall's recast timer by a bit. If it's going to be weaker then Sentinel, it should have a shorter recast timer.

Suggestion #2: Change Dark Mind.
There's only one possibility I wish to suggest here.

Change Dark Mind from "Reduces Magic Damage by 15%. 30% if Dark Arts augmented" to "Reduces damage by 10%. 25% if Dark Arts augmented." (Dark Mind has a shorter cooldown compared to other defense cooldowns mind you)

Suggestion #3: Un-nerf the increased MP cost of Dark Passenger, bringing it back to Heavensward level of MP usage.
I don't think anything else needs to be said here.

Suggestion #4: Add a Dark Arts trait to "The Blackest Night"
"Dark Arts Effect: "The Blackest Night" shields everyone in your party within a certain range, totaling 10% of everyone's maximum HP. Gain 5 points of Blood Gauge for each shield broken." (I considered 10 points of blood gauge per shield broken, but in an 8 man party, that sounds kinda OP to me...)

And now... the big one...

Suggestion #5: Give "Dark Dance" back to DRK, complete with the Dark Arts trait of buffing the DRK's evasion by 20%. Delete "Anticipation" from the role actions and replace it with a re-worked "Foresight". (I have no details to share about how a re-worked "Foresight" would work as of now, so don't ask)

Have I mentioned how much I want my matrix evasion DRK tank back?

And those are the biggest changes I want to see. Heck, I would be pretty happy if they even just gave us back our Heavensward "Dark Dance" back. But I'd be very happy if they took all these suggestions for DRK and put them in as changes for DRK in the next patch... or a little later. (Heh, heh. "Happy" DRK. Is there such a thing?)

Now, mind you, this is just my opinion of course. I did make an effort to not have the changes come off as OP sounding, but I don't often take the time to actually think about how to make skills work for jobs. I usually just leave that to the developers... usually.

Alright, I've dropped my 2 cents. Carry on.