Dark Knight Megathread

[Danelo]

I never played 11 so this is actually very helpful insight. It's also worth pointing out that "Blood Weapons" throughout FF history is a weapon which drains life from enemies, so I understand the idea of locking healing behind this single skill, but even if that were to happen it would hardly make DRK a drain tank for the same reason that PLD healing doesn't, it's locked behind offensive abilities (turn MP into DPS) so it's not used as a response to damage. Helpful insights to the origin of this thought, though!

Ffxi is a major time sink but it has been streamlined over the years so it’s doable now. It’ll take all the way to the end but see the cool things you can do with drainIII and dread spikes. It gives you a window into what DRK could be.

It is frustrating that there are two different visions of DRK between the devs and player base - they haven’t matched up since HW and the gap has widened. So shouldn’t the players get what they want?

[Jit]

It is frustrating that there are two different visions of DRK between the devs and player base - they haven’t matched up since HW and the gap has widened. So shouldn’t the players get what they want?

Thats really where i feel all the "gripe" about drk stems and why people are so critical of it's minor nuisances. In HW it had a well defined identity, a playstyle that a lot of players chose over the two other tank options(myself included) for its unique and fast paced gameplay. It is common that someone debating with me that "drk is fine", didn't even play during HW and so never actually experienced the unique gameplay it had. Now it is a carbon knockoff of war with none of the dopamine hit war gives.

Reaper made me realize that a huge part of enjoying a class is a "rewarding" gameplay aspect. On reaper i constantly want to build up to that 50 enshroud so I can have that extremely fun "burst" phase with a fast gcd, several ogcds between, and a big numbers finisher. Drk hasn't had a uniquely rewarding gameplay aspect since HW, when you would pop blood weapon for haste and mp regen so you could Dark Arts "EVERYTHING" lol

For those that weren't around then Drks original playstyle was utilizing Dark Arts(an oGCD, no dmg, mana spender) to buff other actions. Half of drk's kit had additional effects when used under Dark Arts and that was the appeal to the class. Choosing when to buff skills with dark arts and when to pop them dry to use the mana on another resource like buffing your defensive skills or aoes vs single target skills was a very unique playstyle and attracted a strong fanbase. Unfortunately it was COMPLETELY stripped from drk and nothing resembling a unique playstyle has been seen since.

We have a war kit without the big rewarding exclamation marks(our weak version of inner release), without the self sustain on big pulls(we used to have it, they took it away), with a convoluted double resource system for dps(they added a beast gauge er blood gauge to a tank job that was "unique" for using mp), a bunch of oGCD that have little to no impact(just a bunch of buttons to spam to take the place of the Dart Arts mechanic we used to have), and a gameplay that can be summed up with "hit all the buttons when they light up"(no thought once so ever. Hit everything when available, save 3k mp for TBN) The drk playstyle is literally "Weak Warrior with more Buttons".

Going forward I would love to see the job get some love in the playstyle aspect. If I had to suggest something, we are a magic tank, not a War. Ditch the blood system and the inner release *cough* Delirium spam and lets use our mp!

Sorry Danelo, I got carried away with what was supposed to be an agreement that DRK was very unique and fun in HW and has steadily been stripped of its identity since with "we haven't seen any complaints on the forums" as an explanation from the devs.