Dark Knight and Incoming Live Letter 4.2 on 12/15/17

[Valdegarde]

You're right, Power Slash is unique in that regard, but remember that Warriors and Paladins will be shoring up their own enmity (or creeping up on a poor Dark Knight) through repeated Circle of Scorns, Shield Swipes, Onslaughts, etc. Dark Knight relies on Power Slash, something they really don't want to use because its only effect is enmity. And it doesn't give back any resource like Butcher's Block either.

But I think you have a point, I feel like the way you're seeing the interaction between Dark Arts and the rest of Dark Knight's kit is how the development team might be considering it and intending it, too. This does not make for a coherent overall class, though.

[Aana]

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Don't misunderstand. I'm not defending drks current lowered state, just describing what I 'think' the developers envisioned when they designed stormblood Drk.

War/Pld have regular tools to shore up enmity over time. Of course. But if drk 'wanted' to and just spam DA power slash they would easily outstrip both tanks enmity. Just like if they spam it for 30% magic resist they can out magic mitigate. Etc. But leaning that hard in a direction hurts you somewhere else. The design philosophy (as I see it) is Drk is the flexible class. But just like every other game the base efficiency of the real time flexible class/card/item is that it is weaker than a static unchanging equivalent and, just like those other games, buffing that type of flexibility can quickly get out of hand and explains (my guesstimate) as to why SE is so reluctant to buff drk.

But as it stands, that flexibility isn't a valuable trait so you just have a slightly weaker class.

But I think you have a point, I feel like the way you're seeing the interaction between Dark Arts and the rest of Dark Knight's kit is how the development team might be considering it and intending it, too. This does not make for a coherent overall class, though.

Basically that. I'm not saying drk is fine. I'm saying the 'cool' concept the devs came up with is falling flat in practice. Drks higher potential enmity falling apart in practice is just a clear example of that for me. But its the same story for every facet of drk. DA and TBN being highly flexible 1 size fits all tools is also the reason drk cant keep up. They have to pick 1 thing to lean into making it a game of scarcity instead of gameplay focused on directing your flow in real time as it was (probably) intended.

[Chrono_Rising]

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Yes, this is the risk reward issue at the heart of dark knight. You decide in real time what to spend your resources on, and its limited. I agree 100% and you are spot on the issue, the reward is too low. We cannot be break even in all areas because if we need to invest in one direction to break even with all other tanks, then we will be short in all areas once we invest towards anything else. This is 100% the issue. This is my issue with TBN, our mitigation, and our DPS everything dark knight. I'm just really happy for this moment.