my first impressions of new DRK

[Greyhawk]

Personally, I think the DRK changes now are better than what they were in SB. Unleash is actually worth using just because of the potency level alone. It's a little weird with the second gauge now what is Dark Arts, but easily able to make game play changes. If you were used to just spamming Drain like a fool, it's going to feel clunky. The new threat abilities work just fine, and I have had a lot easier time keeping agro versus how it was before. Almost 71, and anxious to see the other abilities.

[Giubba]

Please someone help me understand the supposed new rotation because as far I can get (and I never hoped to be so fucking wrong about anything) all I can see is:

-spam edge/flood until mana dry up
-if delirium is up spam x times qiuetus/bloodspiller with blood weapon on so you gain mp back
-fill void with single target or aoe rotation

It cannot be right?

[DRKoftheAzure]

Please someone help me understand the supposed new rotation because as far I can get (and I never hoped to be so fucking wrong about anything) all I can see is:

-spam edge/flood until mana dry up
-if delirium is up spam x times qiuetus/bloodspiller with blood weapon on so you gain mp back
-fill void with single target or aoe rotation

It cannot be right?

If you are in party that requires 2 tanks then replace Edge of Shadow with The Blackest Night and hope it procs for free Edge of Shadow...

If doing big pulls in dungeons then replace Flood with The Blackest Night for free Flood of Shadow...

But other than those specific situations yes that is your rotation...

[IBLazORI]

My initial impressions is it feels very slow and squishy. I miss the old Abyssal drain, where I can sustain during mob pulls. Job feels very very slow now. I feel like I depend on Blackest night now and have to watch my MP to make sure I have enough to pop it alot during pulls.

[Valic]

i want them to remove Delirium entirely. It feels so forced in their rotation and skills, if they could replace it with scourge or ANYTHING, I'd be happy with how DRK plays at least until next expac.=

[garret_hawke]

Just as I felt before today its basicly war so Ninja it is for me

[Keagian]

DRK is gonna need a lot of improvements, It doesn't have any new skill from 72-76, Flood of Shadow is a wasted skill with only a measly 50 potency increase, and as good as Edge of Shadow is in damage, I would have preferred a different skill instead of an upgrade to an existing skill.

They need to up the amount of MP restored and give back haste from Blood Weapon and increase its duration. I don't know where Yoshi-P got the idea that people liked HW DRK due to having to manage MP. We liked HW DRK because it had high APM and played like a DPS that is a tank (which is what GNB is now.)

I really wish they take a long hard look at DRK and fix the job, as of right now we have the worst mitigation tools and rely heavily on TBN which saps our MP pool.

[Tila]

Not seeing where all the hate is coming from. Dark Arts was boring as hell and while its replacement may not be amazing, it still feels better than that old abomination while still being faster paced than WAR and PLD.

GNB I'm not understanding the love. You could get rid of the powder guage and nothing would change since you're just waiting on that 25 second cooldown anyway. Is that their big thing? That they have a second combo behind a timer, a combo thats just raw damage? Its the functional equivalent of fel cleave spam but with 1 2 3 instead of 1 1 1. If anything their lack of decent on demand defensive move kills it for me.

[Valic]

Not seeing where all the hate is coming from. Dark Arts was boring as hell and while its replacement may not be amazing, it still feels better than that old abomination while still being faster paced than WAR and PLD.

GNB I'm not understanding the love. You could get rid of the powder guage and nothing would change since you're just waiting on that 25 second cooldown anyway. Is that their big thing? That they have a second combo behind a timer, a combo that's just raw damage? Its the functional equivalent of fel cleave spam but with 1 2 3 instead of 1 1 1. If anything their lack of decent on demand defensive move kills it for me.

Dark Arts sucked but you had more relation to every skill and control over when you decided to deal damage or use your MP. Your only MP spenders are the same thing that give you gauge or a shield and that's it. Delirium forces you to be like WAR and put your burst into a set amount of time whenever it's off cd. There's nothing new, you're running the same timed burst as any other tank and popping skills off CD just because. There's no rhyme or reason, just do it because MUH DPS.... that's not what DRK was or should be.

GNB is unique because of their combinations feeling fast and how they spend their skills. They're no different than most tanks other than the ability combos and speed, which is ultimately what makes them unique to play considering PLD/WAr/DRK have 1 combo string. I agree their mitigation could be buffed a bit but the fact there's a skill that interacts with your combo providing you a shield and let's you share it, shows they put more investment in interactive skills on GNB than they did on DRK. It's not much but it's more interesting to play and unique to the job. It's identity is clear, and it's enjoyable because a good majority of its skills reflect on one another. Brutal Shell's shield sharing, the gauge providing your combo, a single burst skill you can expend on, a dot to keep up... It's still a rotation and a fairly simple one when you look at it I agree. But the fact it's not just plopped on potency oGCD's or GCD's "just cuz" says a lot compared to DRK.

DRK is gonna need a lot of improvements, It doesn't have any new skill from 72-76, Flood of Shadow is a wasted skill with only a measly 50 potency increase, and as good as Edge of Shadow is in damage, I would have preferred a different skill instead of an upgrade to an existing skill.

They need to up the amount of MP restored and give back haste from Blood Weapon and increase its duration. I don't know where Yoshi-P got the idea that people liked HW DRK due to having to manage MP. We liked HW DRK because it had high APM and played like a DPS that is a tank (which is what GNB is now.)

I really wish they take a long hard look at DRK and fix the job, as of right now we have the worst mitigation tools and rely heavily on TBN which saps our MP pool.

72 is our aoe extender. 74 is our upgrade, 76 is plunge stackable, so.. it isn't much but it's something. I agree though that blood weapon is just awful atm. I still say it again... and no one's bothered to tell me if it's bad or not but I think DRK should be an MP zerk. 50%+MP results in more defense/utility while being below 50% mp gives speed/attack bonuses/selfish dps things. Posted it somewhere on this forum but I laid out some examples even for the skills as a means of how DRK could be remade into this.

[Danelo]

Since playing today, although I'm not max level, these are things I see being an issue (besides general design disagreements) and I'd like looked into:

-Add extra blood generation to the 1-2(10 blood gauge)-3(20 blood gauge) combo and AoE 1(5 blood gauge)-2(20 blood gauge).
-Add extra MP regen to the 1-2-3 combo and AoE combo.
-Tweak the way AD works so it's more effective in single target.
-Buff Quietus - Add MP regen and damage (So far in the leveling it feels bad to use & seems a waste).
-DM reverted back to 30% magic damage reduction (since its magic only).
-Buff dark missionary to 10% all damage reduction (which would still be weaker than SiO bc raw is on a 25 second recast) or put it back to 15% magic damage reduction like it was for the media event (same with GNB).

I would like to see some timers go down (mainly BW but also delirium) but we'll see come lvl 80 how everything feels.

I would still like to see more synergy between different abilities in the kit.

I'm not sentimental over the huge nerf to salted earth so if SE removes it and bleeds the potency for that into other stuff I'm okay with it. As of right now it just feels like a useless button press.