It makes zero sense for the PLD class to have three different skills for AoE

[Kalise]

Yo dawg I heard you liked AoE so we gave you AoE with your AoE so you can AoE while you AoE!

(Still has worse AoE than DRK...)

But yeah, Flash being incorporated into Total Eclipse makes sense especially in ShB after TP is gone so there's not even the fringe case of them using 2 different resources to justify their existence.

Circle of Scorn is different though, because it's an oGCD so it gets used even against single targets because it has no cost associated with it. Though, I could totally see it getting Flash's blind and just replacing Flash with Total Eclipse completely (Including the level at which it is learned so that PLD has a damaging AoE at the same level as WAR and DRK)

That said, technically, DRK has 5 AoE skills (Unleash, Dark Passenger, Abyssal Drain, Salted Earth and Quietus). It's just that most of these are oGCD's or have alternate effects/CD's to make them more justifiable.

PLD's issue is Flash and Total Eclipse fill the same role, which is spammable AoE just arbitrarily one has the enmity boost on and the other has the damage. (Though, it's similar thing for DRK with Unleash/Abyssal Drain where both have enmity boost just one does more damage and can also be used to gain life. While being TAoE instead of PBAoE...)

On a completely unrelated note... I kind of wish WAR had an AoE that could generate Beast Gauge so as to be able to build up for Steel Cyclone/Decimate while AoEing rather than having to decide between Overpower spam for AoE damage/enmity or ST combo's for gauge to use these AoE spenders...

[Lyth]

I think a lot of this will depend on the aftermath of the removal of TP. Ideally, you'd have a situation where Total Eclipse was a free, but lower damage baseline enmity tool, with a new holy magic styled sword skill that was buffed with Requiescat. Just look at Agrias from FFT for inspiration.

On a completely unrelated note... I kind of wish WAR had an AoE that could generate Beast Gauge so as to be able to build up for Steel Cyclone/Decimate while AoEing rather than having to decide between Overpower spam for AoE damage/enmity or ST combo's for gauge to use these AoE spenders...

WAR has the best burst AoE out of any of the three tanks by a very large margin, in a game where burst is king. I don't think we need to make the most overpowered tank more overpowered, no pun intended. If the Vegas fanfest Q+A is any indication, it's high time to rein in WAR's damage output, and rightfully so.

[Kalise]

WAR has the best burst AoE out of any of the three tanks by a very large margin, in a game where burst is king. I don't think we need to make the most overpowered tank more overpowered, no pun intended. If the Vegas fanfest Q+A is any indication, it's high time to rein in WAR's damage output, and rightfully so.

*Sigh*

Can we not start this unmitigated anti-WAR bias crap again?

Especially not when we're talking about an aspect of tanking where DRK is literally the best of all 3 tanks, which is AoE damage output?

Yes, WAR has Inner Release which is nuts, but outside of that one specific CD every 90 seconds, DRK > both other tanks for AoE.

Also, when we're heading into a brand new expansion that will be changing all classes in a dramatic way, talking about how "Balanced" a class is or is not currently is moot.

[Shurrikhan]

PLD's issue is Flash and Total Eclipse fill the same role, which is spammable AoE just arbitrarily one has the enmity boost on and the other has the damage. (Though, it's similar thing for DRK with Unleash/Abyssal Drain where both have enmity boost just one does more damage and can also be used to gain life. While being TAoE instead of PBAoE...)

Not quite, though. Flash does at least offer mitigation in a way that is wasted if spammed, just as Anticipation would be wasted with, say, Raw Intuition.

I'd have to argue that now that AD's enmity modifier has been greatly increased relative to its initial state, it and Unleash are more redundant than Flash and Total Eclipse.

In any case, though, I do hope we can see them consolidated in a satisfying way, rather than just another trimming of mechanics and/or capacity.

Also, to be fair: Goring Blade has the best AoE animation in PLD's kit. A shame it, like most skills that cleave everything in front of you in their appearance, is single-target...