Why was Living Dead not removed?

[Danelo]

You're right, there aren't any. In my experience playing DRK (mostly outside of Savage) and raiding with a DRK in my group (PLD+DRK for all of Stormblood), I really do think the complaints about Living Dead are exaggerated and that it's balanced with Holmgang and Hallowed.

Wait, so are you a WAR main like the side bar says or a DRK main? Hmmmm.

As far as LD/WD in a static, yes, it can be done. But it is no where near on par with HG and Hg. The mechanic is a pain outside of an organized group. The mechanics require its usage predetermined and only one of the healers had reasonable way to cleanse WD (ironically the one that was rarely seen due to its own design flaws). The usage has to be laid out in advance because there are no onscreen tells for it that offer assistance to not clear the LD early or to tell you when WD starts or how much time is left. All of that adds a separate level of difficulty that doesn't exist on the other jobs. And before anyone says it, macros are rarely effective for this. Macros have gotten me killed by not allowing WD to activate due to heals then death. The death punishment is the biggest draw back. There are great tactics like War Hg -> TB -> shirk -> tank swap -> Healer regen to the war (unless Raid AOE incoming) that are disallowed by the mechanic of DRKs LD. If SE thinks its such a great ultimate then remove the death penalty lengthen the timer... At least that way DRKs might get one usage out of it per fight outside.

Either way, it's not balanced, that just disingenuous.

[Launched]

Wait, so are you a WAR main like the side bar says or a DRK main? Hmmmm.

Neither, I'm the PLD in a PLD+DRK group.

Holmgang is a pain outside of statics too. I would trust random healers to heal me through that as much as I'd trust them to heal Living Dead. I've died plenty of times in O12N because a healer has left me at half HP and then never healed me after Holmganging a tankbuster. Holmgang and Living Dead are both last resorts to me in random groups, Hallowed is the only one I'd actually want to use.

When it comes to the other differences (duration, cooldown etc.) I think LD and Holmgang both had their own advantages and disadvantages in HW/SB. LD's duration and ability to cast without being rooted/in melee let it work on mechanics that Holmgang couldn't, and Holmgang's cooldown let it work on mechanics that LD wasn't up for. I also think that the Stormblood skills made Holmgang less valuable (but still good). When it comes to regular tankbusters, why care about using Holmgang to drop to 1hp when you can just combine Sheltron/Intervention+TBN in a PLD+DRK group to safely survive a lot of them? That's going to be an even bigger thing in Shadowbringers with all tanks able to share their low cooldown skills like that.

If SE thinks its such a great ultimate then remove the death penalty lengthen the timer... At least that way DRKs might get one usage out of it per fight outside..

If you want Hallowed Ground you could always play PLD. It's the best tank anyway.