to Future DRK Players

[bundythenoob]

Context matters.

if context is as important as you say, then lets look at all iterations of DRK from a couple of different contexts.

firstly, if DRK was a "bad job" like you said in the context of STB, then why did they not fix the problems with the job for the next expansion, an expansion in which the job was not only the poster boy, but in the same xpac where the devs showed they could make a new tank with a different playstyle from the existing ones (GNB),
keep an old tanks playstyle while evolving its rotation further (PLD),
and even fix the problems people had with the 5.0 version of a tank (WAR)?
was there really a need to make drastic changes to a job that was loved by the people that played it and enjoyed the challenge? you even pointed out some ways in which the STB DRK could have been made better while keeping its old kit AND having a UNIQUE playstyle.
what context justifies breaking a unique playstyle in an MMO which is inherently supposed to allow for multiple playstyles to suit the multiple people that play the game?

secondly, you say that HW DRK is superior to STB DRK given the context of the jobs' abilities at the time, but in what way is that context even relevant to the conversation of the erosion of the job's identity? they both fundamentally maintained the same playstyle, using Dark Arts to strengthen your core abilities while juggling resource generation. the only difference between HW DRK and STB DRK being that if HW DRK was not locked to MT it would lose out on some procs, whereas STB DRK would lose out on some abilities while it was not MT. both versions of the jobs had issues, there's no denying that. but neither of these versions have as much problems as the current SHB DRK kit.

looking at these changes from the context of HW to STB, the devs already stated why they removed dots from jobs, and they have also stated they removed those "revenge mechanics" because they didn't want jobs competing for MT slot. what we lost was more than made up for with a new resource system, strong abilities to play with that helped interlink the two resource systems, and a powerful shield that rewards the player for smart decision making
a shield that to this day remains a powerful staple of DRK gameplay while simultaneously being a rewarding tank ability that FEELS like a proper tanking cooldown due to the cost and reward feedback

finally, in the context of SHB to EW, why were absolutely no changes made to fix the myriad of valid criticisms of SHB DRK laid out by DRK players for the last 2 years?
the issue of our resource generation abilities lacking impact could be solved many ways, such as the removal of mana regen ticks which would allow power to return to said abilities.
the issue of delirium feeling like a cheap clone of another ability, rather than being a unique resource tool for the resource generation tank
the issue of the disjointed kit because of the lack of interplay between said resources
the issue of Living Dead being a poorly designed skill (something which people seem to be adamant is the PRIORITY to fix, and not something that should be fixed ALONGSIDE the above problems)


the ONLY context I can think of is that Square decided that pandering to people who are unwilling to put in the work required to become proficient at a job far outweighed the option to continue to make improvements to jobs that their core playerbase would enjoy; however, the big problem with this """context""" is that they showed that they can continue to make jobs evolve without destroying their unique playstyle, while simultaneously lowering the skill floor to both healing and tanking with the new aggro changes. or am I just looking into this all wrong? I mean they DID basically imply that players who wanted a return to complexity should instead expect the SHB versions of jobs to be """built up""", yet they also showed no additional buildup for multiple jobs, not just DRK. why was the posterboy for the expansion shown no love compared to others like WAR, NIN, or AST? why was DRK shown no love in the next expansion, where they could have drawn upon MULTIPLE sources of feedback?

at this point the meme quote should be "there wasnt much we could do with drk/sch/mch/brd/pld/drg/dnc" because there wasn't much """Build up""" aside from a few enders and more needless AOEs. then again, this is just the opinion of someone who was told to look elsewhere, despite years of nothing but love and support for the game which showed me there was an MMO worth investing time into.