Question for fellow DRK's who have played its new Shb iteration.

[Reynhart]

DRK... well I'd like to say that it embodies the classic DRK of other FF games but the WAR has more life steal and its more frequent.

The problem is that the core concept of classic DRK is to burn its HP to enhance its damage, so the complete opposite of what you want for a tank. Maybe that's the reason it has a hard time cementing its identity.

[MerlinCross]

The problem is that the core concept of classic DRK is to burn its HP to enhance its damage, so the complete opposite of what you want for a tank. Maybe that's the reason it has a hard time cementing its identity.

Problem is you really don't want something like that as ANY class in an MMO really. The healers would have issues not only having to heal everything as normal but then Dark Knight comes in and the healer things "Great I need to spare resources on this guy or he'll die just by doing his mechanics"

Of course this could be balanced(Ha) if the life steal is enough to offset the drain but if you do that there's kinda no challenge or threat anyway right? Just remove the HP burn.

[Reynhart]

Of course this could be balanced(Ha) if the life steal is enough to offset the drain but if you do that there's kinda no challenge or threat anyway right? Just remove the HP burn.

You'd also have skills that would be more powerful the less HP you have, like Minus Strike, so you'd want to burn your HP, do your big hit, then drain back to not die at the first unavoidable AoE. If would definitely be a very risky job, but if the reward is worth it, it could be interesting. In the end, it was one of DRK's mechanic in FFXI.

[Barachim]

You'd also have skills that would be more powerful the less HP you have, like Minus Strike, so you'd want to burn your HP, do your big hit, then drain back to not die at the first unavoidable AoE. If would definitely be a very risky job, but if the reward is worth it, it could be interesting. In the end, it was one of DRK's mechanic in FFXI.

Now imagine combining that with living Dead. For several seconds, as you are down at 1 HP, you'd be at your most devastating.

[Reynhart]

Now imagine combining that with living Dead. For several seconds, as you are down at 1 HP, you'd be at your most devastating.

Frankly, DRK having Minus Strike would be so satisfying

[ADVSS]

Problem is you really don't want something like that as ANY class in an MMO really. The healers would have issues not only having to heal everything as normal but then Dark Knight comes in and the healer things "Great I need to spare resources on this guy or he'll die just by doing his mechanics"

Of course this could be balanced(Ha) if the life steal is enough to offset the drain but if you do that there's kinda no challenge or threat anyway right? Just remove the HP burn.

BLM convert. Obviously the DRK gimmick wouldnt work much for a tank, not a fair tank in this game, so they gave it MP use to sacrifice instead of HP... sorta. I mean theres a half a dozen ways they couldve given that theme with offsets even for a tank, but then WAR would cry either about the dmg output, or the fact that DRK could literally solo anything, even if it took a while. So we got...this...whatever it is. One such example, would be the old blood for blood ability that drg had, mix that with bloodbath or convalesence, theres a drk cooldown right there. LifeSurge, another example of a route they could take with thematic types of abilities. They didnt go there, instead we got this....job...

You know theory crafting that wouldn't be too bad.

Swap Living Dead with Superbolide, and give us abilities like Paladin's Spirit Within.

I totally agree. Another example of how they could have done DRK

[Jandor]

The problem is that the core concept of classic DRK is to burn its HP to enhance its damage, so the complete opposite of what you want for a tank. Maybe that's the reason it has a hard time cementing its identity.

Could have implemented something like that by using a 2nd copy of your HP bar. Anything the DRK lifesteals goes onto their regular HP as normal, but also gets duplicated on to his or her 2nd HP bar for spending later.

Can either spend that bar for sustain by pumping your stolen hit points back into your real HP bar, or spend it on DPS by converting it into extra damage abilities or boosts.

Would naturally work well with tank play I think, a side effect of trying to pump your damage numbers would be that by doing so you're also trying to keep your own HP bar up.

[ADVSS]

Could have implemented something like that by using a 2nd copy of your HP bar. Anything the DRK lifesteals goes onto their regular HP as normal, but also gets duplicated on to his or her 2nd HP bar for spending later.

Can either spend that bar for sustain by pumping your stolen hit points back into your real HP bar, or spend it on DPS by converting it into extra damage abilities or boosts.

Would naturally work well with tank play I think, a side effect of trying to pump your damage numbers would be that by doing so you're also trying to keep your own HP bar up.

I think we have a legitimate reason for the "blood" gauge to exist now. I like it.

This could be a debuff you put on the target so that it takes back a portion of damage it does, regardless of who it hits. In Diablo II, it's called Iron Maiden

Which class used this ability? I love the concept though

[Reynhart]

Which class used this ability? I love the concept though

Necromancer. It came with several curses, and this one was the deadliest one since your character pretty much always did damage numbers far superior than your HP