One hope i have for DRK's in 4.2

[Mahrze]

the problem is PLD is designed for having the best defense and WAR is designed to have the best dps. and it seems square will go back to this course in 4.2.

DRK should had have the best utility from the very beginning.

but now the best defense tank also has the best utility and the best dps tank has the second best utility. PLD and WAR excell at defense, selfheal and utility over DRK, dps will be adjusted in 4.2 - but there simply is no niche left for DRK except you take something away from PLD and / or WAR. this will not happen. so all we can hope for is make the classes at least equal. Shake it Off was a mistake!

But the reason PLD has been the best defensive has been cemented by the utility in HW (because it already had all the defensive cooldowns in the book). And we can go back and forth on what is and isn't a mistake. But in your second paragraph you put it rather succinctly: PLD is the best defense and utility and WAR is the "best DPS" (considering the upcoming tweaks and how much they do) with the second best utility (SiO)


If DRK doesn't have AoE utility as it stands, and since everything about DRK from 60 to 70 is for self-benefit they should reap in the benefits of that self-benefit and put in that direction rather than carbon copying a party-effect utility that likely would still put them in third. Change Delirium to an offensive party-effect buff or really make them self sufficient in offensive capabilities or something. But we know at this point that if the party-effect utility to defend the team is gonna be less than PLD or SiO, DRK will still be in the same spot.

[SoulSkyheart]

I’d like to see Soul Survivor change to either be a raid wide wildfire which absorbs everyone’s damage dealt within probably 10s and inflict a portion of the damage absorbed to the boss and heal the DRK for the same or less depending on the scaling.

If it seems too much though, why not just give DRK only that privellage, obviously scaling higher since it’s solo damage than raid wide.

I can imagine it healing for the same as Equilibrium/Clemency. If it can crit too... that would be something but most likely not due to it being overpowered if it is.

[Awful]

I hope Drk gets some much needed love I resubbed for 4.2 to see what these changes are and of course the new raid tier, gonna try my hand at Drk instead of my War alt for raiding. I honestly miss raiding as a Drk but a lot needs to be done, Chrono has made many threads and things that should be advocated for change (i'd add others names but I forgot their names i'll creep some more!), i'm glad the Drk community is still vocal about changes and hope SE looks into the weaknesses of the class.

[Jandor]

I hope sole survivor is changed, although I personally don't want to see it become a DV/SiO copy.

One idea I had for it was:
Sole survivor - Marks target with 'another victim' status, when the status ends a portion of damage dealt over this period is restored as HP & MP.
15s duration 90s recast.

Still feels a tad lacklustre though, so maybe make it work party wide. Everyone who attacks the target gets some HP and MP restored after 15s.

Basically becomes a party wide heal and MP restore that gets better the more DPS you put out.

Edit: also imho 'shake it off' changes were overkill, if they'd altered it to just place regen on WAR for 10s or something people would have been happy.

[Phileas]

I always forget about sole survivor because its on such a stupid long CD and also kinda useless for bosses that dont have adds....

I always find that the sacrifices DRK makes (blood or MP) often doesnt have much pay off....Dark Passenger is a prime example of that... >.>;;

But yeah I think the devs wanted to make DRK more tough by forcing more choices with MP but instead it feels incomplete and constrained. There is nothing that feels like the DRK has been "unleashed" so to speak. Everything is expensive because Dark Arts has to be spammed with it and it just doesnt feel like there is any pay off...for the MP and blood you sacrifice for it.

People still wonder if TBN should be used for DPS or defence...and so it end up kinda meh.

For me DRK feels great in single boss encounters but I find it lacking when doing trash as everything costs so much MP and blood price is just so laughably weak and really annoying if you have a WHM that just holy spams

I have loved my DRK since 3.0 (best story in the game!) and want to continue to use it...but if 4.2 disappoints...I may take up the sword again like in 2.0 ;;

[Sylvain]

Sol survivor would be a good opportunity to give DRK some utility since the skill is utter trash. Even in solo content the CD is simply too long to make it remotely useful, and a side note, this tool should have been given at lv 30 when you actually need the extra regain and mana, not at 60 when you were done leveling

[Kreyd]

the problem is PLD is designed for having the best defense and WAR is designed to have the best dps. and it seems square will go back to this course in 4.2.

It actually looks like PLD, WAR and DRK are planned to do all the same dps, have the same defense and compareable raid utility.

From 4.0 to now it was PLD-best dps, WAR-2. best dps, DRK-worst dps. And nearly all stormblood patches were PLD-small dps nerf, WAR and DRK small dps buffs.

Making one the best dps and another the best defense would lead to the same situation we had in 3.x and we have right now. The both best dps are choosen, the other is left behind (if he does not bring amazing stuff) I doubt SE is trying to do this again, cause they already could have done this, by giving a big dps nerf to PLD and big dps Buff to WAR->Done!

I'm pretty sure DRK will get a 3.Combo Finisher, a raid wide utility skill (for more dps), better defense and QoL buffs sooner or later and there is a chance that 4.2 will be a DRK fixing patch, like 4.1 was a WAR fixing patch.

[Mahrze]

I'm pretty sure DRK will get a 3.Combo Finisher, a raid wide utility skill (for more dps), better defense and QoL buffs sooner or later and there is a chance that 4.2 will be a DRK fixing patch, like 4.1 was a WAR fixing patch.

Seems 4.2 is still fixing WAR while there's another tank still in the DRK about its own fixes.

[Aniya_Estlihn]

while there's another tank still in the DRK about its own fixes.

Love the wordplay there, however I just want to point something out...

Before 4.0 were we told that they would "increase the usability of Paladin". Now they are using that exact same phrase for Dark Knight and all three of the healers in regards to 4.2 and they also used it for Astrologian when they made it busted beyond all reason in 3.X. So I feel that in most cases it is safe to assume that usability to them often equates to "buff the life out of it until people want to use it again," as that is what that choice of wording has led to in the past. It's not optimism, as God knows I have very little in regards to any changes given to Dark Knight, but if they follow past trends we can probably guess what it is they're going to do to some extent... which is make Dark Knight stronger than it needs to be to get people to play it again.

[Mahrze]

....

I agree, that should be by all means the expectation. However like you, I have a horrible habit of taking things with a cargo ship stocked with salt.