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

[Esphyxia]

Is DRK terrible? No, at least if you enjoy being a one trick pony with TBN and the rest of it's kit having been nerfed to oblivion. RIP AD and Quietus spam, and screw you delirium rework.

Is it a shadow of what it was and not worth the time to play anymore too? Yep

According to your quote you can thank the 96% of the player base failing at 98% of the content consistently enough to warrant homogenization amongst all tanks not named Gunbreaker.

[Mahoukenshi]

According to your quote you can thank the 96% of the player base failing at 98% of the content consistently enough to warrant homogenization amongst all tanks not named Gunbreaker.

Even though I didn't play at that time the nerfs were decided, you are welcome .

[kujoestars]

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.

[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.

[Malmstrom]

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.

Pre-50, if you don't know any better or are not getting any useful drops, there is plenty of Disciple of War gear that drops that is equippable that isn't really made for tanking. That would be my guess as to what may have happened based off his post.

[BloodRubyXII]

Well for me is like
Self healing rank
PLD> WAR> GNB> DRK

This would imply you are self healing with clemency, which is a huge DPS loss to do so.

[Falar]

2nd straight expansion we suck.

[Hierro]

2nd straight expansion we suck.

SB was better than HW. Sucks we lost the masterpiece SB drk was, but WAR's still fun, therefore ShB DRK's still fun.

Get over your nostalgia for HW DRK and live in the present.

[DRKoftheAzure]

SB was better than HW. Sucks we lost the masterpiece SB drk was, but WAR's still fun, therefore ShB DRK's still fun.

Get over your nostalgia for HW DRK and live in the present.

WAR sucks, and even I don't main WAR, but I read the tooltips like the nerd that I am and I just go "Uninformed fanboys are going to defend the downgrade of WAR" just like how I read the tooltips on DRK and actually got a feel for it's level 80 gameplay and I cannot defend the downgrade.

Stormblood DRK didn't get better until 4.3 which was pretty pointless going into 5.0, and if they more or less said "oh yeah we're basically downgrading DRK in the next expansion" before being too close to 5.0 launching, the numbers would have plummeted faster, which is why people are still subbed albeit until the next media tour info dump for the next expansion and people who caught on that the company isn't even listening will just vote with their wallets and leave. But all know that the useful idiots who don't know the difference between a good product to mediocre product are going to waste their money on the mogstation because they wanted a "pimped out character" even though they have no clue how to play the game.

Learn how the game works, know how to play the game, and THEN work on "pimping out" your character.

2nd straight expansion we suck.

DRK DOES SUCK this expansion, and so does WAR.

[einschwartz]

Been leveling DRK as my 1st tank job.
Lv50-60 felt a bit iffy for me so I unlock GNB at 60 just to compare.
While I much prefer DRK, I feel more secure tanking as GNB in SB dungeons.