Am I missing something, or are Dark Knights just terrible?

[purgatori]

Yeah, DRK is annoying at low levels, but I discovered by sheer luck that fending gear makes ALL the difference in survivability when I had two pieces of the aetherial reinforced steel set drop for me on a roulette. Yes, the body piece is a hideous tin can. yes, body and leg pieces occupy extra slots so you can't put anything on your head or feet. BUT it was a lifesaver for me as a noob tank who is a FFXIV noob and I've been able to tank flawlessly ever since I donned the set and glamoured the chest because it is causing me physical pain to see my horns somehow jammed into that metal abomination instead of clipping out as usual all the way until I finally hit the sweet 50 mark. And I intend to hold onto my fending pieces and exclusively upgrading to other fending pieces the rest of the way.

I guess I'll keep everyone posted as I progress DRK because I'm currently taking a break so I can finally get out of HW content.

It's great that you're hitting your stride as a tank, and that you have, as a new player, been adventurous enough to take on tanking in the first place. However, you don't really have a choice to don non-fending gear as a tank... so when it comes to gearing until you reach endgame, just keep an eye on that ilvl.