Oh Square Enix… (A Heartfelt Open Letter To The Developers…)

[SyzzleSpark]

What is the point of exaggerations like this, honestly?

That is an exaggeration, to be sure. But a skill so situational doesn't deserve its own button. It should do more, or its effect should be baked into something else, particularly now, at a time when almost every other tanks' skills have been re-worked to be nearly universally useful, with the sole exception of like... Tempered Will, I guess. I think DRKs are just feeling it a lot harder right now because A. This raid tier has very few adds, and B. We are underpowered in many other ways, so we're looking for abilities that aren't already pulling a lot of weight to find head-room for buffs or fixes.

Just my two cents, but Sole Survivor felt a lot better when DS had its MP drain, as you could play dangerously if you knew an add was coming. Now you kinda have to struggle to keep your mana low enough for a Sole Survivor proc to be exciting. That's not a problem with the job though, just a personal observation.

[Crater]

What is the point of exaggerations like this, honestly?

It's barely an exaggeration. Sole Survivor does literally nothing in two of the four fights in the current raid tier, and in the remaining two (three if you count Exdeath separately) fights, it gives you a mid-level heal at the exact moment that you no longer need healing, along with a paltry amount of MP that doesn't even cover a single Dark Arts.

The old version of Shake It Off let you cleanse the fire DoT if you ran into Halicarnassus after tethers and got clipped by the fire circle, and that's legitimately comparable in the strength and usefulness of Sole Survivor across the whole raid tier.

It absolutely needs a massive buff so that it's actually useful in every fight, whether there are adds or not.

[SyzzleSpark]

It absolutely needs a massive buff so that it's actually useful in every fight, whether there are adds or not.

What is interesting is that a 20% HP heal is pretty much exactly equivalent, assuming equal ilvl/stat layout, to the 1200 potency heal of Clemency and Equilibrium. So why is it that ours is on a 2 minute cooldown and requires that the thing dealing the damage we are trying to heal off die first? 3/4 of a DA's worth of mana doesn't close that gap, imo.

[Argyle_Darkheart]

It's barely an exaggeration.

I'm well aware, but exaggerating the issue isn't helping anyone. It's unnecessary and makes you (not you, specifically, mind) sound like an idiot.

[Crater]

I'm well aware, but exaggerating the issue isn't helping anyone. It's unnecessary and makes you (not you, specifically, mind) sound like an idiot.

Exaggerating issues is a prerequisite for having SE listen to your feedback. You may not like that, and I sure don't, but you cannot look at the current state of the game's tank balance, or the trajectory that tank balance has taken since Stormblood released, and credibly argue otherwise.

[Lyth]

I think some people just don't want us to object so loudly, in the hopes that things stay the way they are. The courteous thing to do is to complain quietly in the corner.

After all, tank (im)balance is the best it's ever been! You're fine the way you are. I don't actually play your job, and I might not have bothered to unlock it, level it, or tried to raid on it, but trust me, it's fine. It's just 300 dps. That's like what, 2% [sic] of your dps? Your single target stoneskin definitely makes up for it. <insert throwaway comments about "superior design" and higher difficulty here> We haven't heard that one before, have we?

Everyone's been afraid of nerfs since the start of SB, when the devs started being more hands on with balance changes. They worry that if DRK's issues get addressed, it's going to negatively impact the other two tanks. What people don't realise is that it's in everyone's best interest to have a variety of options when it comes to their tanks, rather than having one or two must-picks. Let's make DRK equally desirable to groups again. Bring the player, not the job.

[Eyvhokan]

I'm well aware, but exaggerating the issue isn't helping anyone. It's unnecessary and makes you (not you, specifically, mind) sound like an idiot.

Others have already touched on why people use hyperbolic language to draw attention to things.

Compare and analyse it in other hypothetical situations:

In the abstract, in an edge case that old Shake it Off can be used, it is a party wide damage gain, as it frees up a single healer GCD to cast Broil2/Malefic3/Stone4 for single target, or in a situation where Sole Survivor has some use at all (multitarget), Miasma2/Gravity/Holy. Note Shake it Off can also be applied earlier than Esuna. Sole Survivor gives a fraction of a Dark Arts back.

If you are ever in the situation where there's a dispellable debuff on you, and the healer is otherwise occupied (say Gaoled, or too busy watching Netflix), oSIO would be a nice skill to have, while pretty much there are even fewer times you have the situation where I think "Well, what would be really handy here is sole survivor!", due to the fact it is conditional on a condition where it's basically no longer (or less) needed or wanted, as it is based on the mob dying.

Endgame usage has been covered by Crater.

I want to hear the reverse, how is old Shake it Off worse than Sole Survivor? And if it is, doesn't the fact one has to actually look into it for it to get an 'edge' of uselessness mean that saying one is worse than the other isn't really exaggerating the issue at all?

A few jobs have situational or almost useless or superfluous abilities, but it really seems more like Shake it Off uselessness became such a meme that SE changed it for the PR.

[SyzzleSpark]

I think some people just don't want us to object so loudly, in the hopes that things stay the way they are. The courteous thing to do is to complain quietly in the corner.

Far be it from me to get political suddenly, but its hard not to see analogous situations everywhere in real life. Guess that's just the world these days.

[Argyle_Darkheart]

Exaggerating issues is a prerequisite for having SE listen to your feedback.

I can see where you're coming from, but I think the sheer volume of apt criticism concerning DRK is more than enough. The extended silence from the developers concerning DRK honestly has me a bit baffled; I get the sense that SE doesn't have a very good idea of what they want DRK to be.

I want to hear the reverse, how is old Shake it Off worse than Sole Survivor?

There has not been a single instance in end-game content where I have used old Shake it Off for anything but a laugh, whereas there are 2 fights in Savage where Sole Survivor sees use. Bottom line is, I would trade old Shake it Off for Sole Survivor, even with how admittedly weak Sole Survivor is. More DPS is more DPS, no matter how little; old Shake it Off achieved nothing in practice. Interestingly, old Shake it Off would have actually been useful in Rabanastre--funny that.

[Eyvhokan]

Interestingly, old Shake it Off would have actually been useful in Rabanastre--funny that.

Next raid tier, they'll probably add a boss that puts a dispellable debuff on the tank that does tankbuster damage after 2.5s of application if not dispelled, every minute or so.