Dark Knight Megathread

[WhyAmIHere]

Safest assumption is probably an "Improved Living Shadow" trait. And I don't think it's duplicated, the general order of abilities that shadow uses looks the same as it is now, they were just being stylish like they were in ShB trailer.

I've seen a couple of people assuming Flood 2.0 is tied to Living Shadow, and I really don't think that's the case because it would be incredibly bad, and I have at least a little faith in squeenix.
I will eat my greatsword if it is.

"Players felt that shadow was underwhelming."

[Lyth]

It's hard to say. If you Dark Wave has more potency than Edge/Flood but doesn't add time to Darkside, then you're rewarded for managing the timer well. If it's on a recast timer with charges, then it's just an issue of anticipating and reserving MP for it. If using it with your Shadow up gives you extra damage, then it makes your LS window more interactive. Either way, it's an interesting development.

[HyperiusUltima]

I'd agree that DRK and NIN do play similarly, minus mudras. But the "All it does is spam it's 1-2-3 combo" isn't necessarily the biggest issue, but I'd say it's adjacent to the bigger issue: What does DRK do that makes it special? What sets it apart from it's peers, how valuable is it, what impact does it bring?

This is what I'm trying to fix at a base point and also leave to criticism. Reverting Delirium to 2nd Combo and making it a gauge management tool(which all Tanks have, while DRK literally doesn't have one aside from Souleater and BW, which they then spend on the usual) would help differentiate it from WAR, along with bringing an improved Scourge back. The thought then came back to how do we actually make Blood Gauge interaction good to balance out DPS for the job so it doesn't fall farther down the ladder? That's what I'm trying to find the answer to because building on what we have towards Endwalker is all I can think of - the 13th can't come any sooner so we can figure out what's going on with kits either.

I miss my resource management. It's the tank that's most suited to that, with two individual gauges that used to be more interactive with each other. The skeleton for a unique identity and gameplay's there, but the amount of effort it'd take to develop and balance something as wide as that gameplay mentality is IMO something the dev team doesn't want to "waste developer time and resources on," so easy route it is, for an already small portion of the playerbase.

That's typically what I've been wanting to recreate. In fact, that was DRK's identity for the longest time as the 'resource management' tank compared to the other two before GNB became the DPS Tank. But as you said, it's easy to just let it be and build very little upon their current system. I almost guarantee people are just going to abandon DRK in the next expac when the other jobs have already better tools than it to do things.

[Shin96]

Let us discuss about our worries friends.

What are you worried about the most in 6.0 regarding DRK?

[Axxion]

Let us discuss about our worries friends.

What are you worried about the most in 6.0 regarding DRK?

my biggest thing is that it wont feel good/ rewarding to play.

[Shin96]

I think my worry is it won't feel particularly fun to play, I have no evidence to back that up, but I have a feeling it's not going to be good according to the job trailer.

I give to you my greatsword. Let that be a reminder of who we were and what our duty is as Dark Knights.

[Axxion]

I think my worry is it won't feel particularly fun to play, I have no evidence to back that up, but I have a feeling it's not going to be good according to the job trailer.

I give to you my greatsword. Let that be a reminder of who we were and what our duty is as Dark Knights.

this is how it going to feel for me.


https://tenor.com/wvBq.gif

[WhyAmIHere]

Let us discuss about our worries friends.

What are you worried about the most in 6.0 regarding DRK?

I'm worried that nothing will improve.
No new gameplay loop to spice things up.
No new actions to make the dulldrums of 1 2 3 spam any less entertaining.
That living dead won't get any TLC and it'll still be jank as always.
That Blood Weapon won't receive a charge system akin to Bunshin / Endwalker IR and Delirium.
That, once again, TBN will be held up as "but DRK has TBN, it doesn't need [insert quality of life stuff]."
That leveling experience is still woefully crap for new players, via no true AoE rotation until 72.
That once you get Delirium at what, 64? 66? that DRK's gameplay loop is basically done then and for the next [n] levels nothing meaningful will change like how PLD gets cast times removed, or like Continuation on GNB, or like WAR getting what looks like a finisher for their IR spam window.

But more, that all the things that could've been done for DRK are now sitting in RPR's kit.

[OdinelStarrei]

Hmm. So it's going to be like that huh? I see how it is. Guess we're fortunate the entire thread wasn't purged, like the last one.

Shin, before axing your entire account out of spite, consider altering your original post for this thread. There are obvious issues that no matter what version of DRK you're into, are not "subjective". The thread is too large now for any one person to comb through it trying to see what people mean. This isn't me playing moderator for the OF, this is just trying to get more eyes on a problem.

2.5 Spell GCD, Blood Weapon jank, 123 spam, reliance on MP ticks, TBN being the only thing supporting the job and the like, etc etc.

Similar to this thread. https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-healer-issues

No waxing poetics about how ShB took our dog behind the shed and shot it, and how absolutely torn up we are about it. I'm sick of that, and it's far too late for it anyway.

Simple, clean, and direct analysis. Doesn't need to be 30000 characters long either. Thread has enough views for it, everyone who cares enough can give it a like, and that'll be all that can be done. I'll even help you, I've been on both sides long enough to put aside my love for the job and try to draft up something without resorting to melodrama and theatrics.

[Bjinc]

I posted these in a thread on reddit, but the official forum are the best place to give feedback. These are some of my ideas on how they could make DRK more unique and interesting.

Make DRK actually have some sort of MP management instead of just "about to cap? use edge of shadow. save 3000 mp for tbn". Bring back the original delirium so we have more than just 1 2 3 combo and give it some other effect like it buffs ur next bloodspiller or something. Just anything that gives it a bit of flavour so its not as mindnumbingly boring as it currently is.

Give them spells that cost MP that Absorb attributes from targets to buff themselves (str/vit).

Give them a spell called Aspir works like how abyssal drain works now but is an ogcd that drains MP from the target.

Make Stalwart soul upgrade from unleash at 72 instead of being the 2nd part of the aoe combo, and make abyssal drain the 2nd part of the aoe combo instead of being an ogcd, keeping the healing effect on use.

Give blood weapon 5 charges so we dont get screwed when using it.

Remove potency off plunge.

As above, with delirium changed back to a combo weaponskill the cooldown of it would be removed.

Give DRK a new dps cooldown similar to blood weapon from FF11 that causes your next x amount of attacks to drain a small amount of health to increase potency.

Potentially give DRK a new cooldown called Last resort that massively lowers your defenses for increased attack potency.

Could change blood weapon to help with the above by making it drain health from enemies you hit.

Give DRK Drain as an OGCD instead of edge/flood of shadow that consumes health from the target to heal you.

Give it a second blood gauge spender that gives you "Dread Spikes" for x seconds, that cause hits against you to heal you.

Make TBN return MP if it doesnt pop.

Increase the heal potency from the souleater combo.

Remove Dark Mind.

Potentially give DRK a new cooldown that while active, damage taken increases your attack potency for x seconds.



Few of these ideas are spins on the Dark knight abilities from FF11. The idea is to make the skillcap of DRK to be maximizing your damage through your health while also staying alive as best you can.
It plays on the themes from previous FF games that a dark knight sacrifices their health for benefits. I think it would make them more unique from the other tanks while still having a place, in addition to raising the skillcap.