Dark Knight Megathread

[RyuDragnier]

But why does that even matter? Why does DRK have to have this aspect of its game-play, arguably its most unique aspect, be just like the other tanks when it can be just as effective staying pretty much the same as it is?
I find it absolutely mind boggling how often I see players lambast and rant about homogenization and then turn around and ask for more of it.

With how scripted the fights are, it's easy to plan your resource usage so that you have a TBN in your pocket for a buster. It's also not that hard to keep from using MP spenders to the point of emptying your MP pool.
Again, I ask, if you don't like that kind of game-play, then why are you playing a job based more on resource management?

Bringing the cooldown in line with the other tank main cooldowns isn't a bad thing, and it isn't TBN's only unique aspect. Look at Bloodwhetting's mitigation with healing per hit, HoC's barrier with Excog, Holy Shelltron's block and HoT. None are the same as TBN.

The problem with TBN is simply that you WANT it to pop, something you want no other shield to do in the game. If it doesn't pop, it's wasted MP because it's attached to your damage output due to being the same cost as Edge/Flood, something no other tank deals with. You can plan your resources, but all it takes is damage being mitigated a little too much, and then the shield will not pop, meaning you wasted MP that could have gone into an attack.

This is something I probably wouldn't be so angry about if the other tanks had similar issues, such as if Bloodwhetting required 50 gauge, HoC required a cartridge, and there were offensive moves that used gauge on PLD. Because at least then all the tanks would be dealing with the same issue of having to keep resources ready to use their unique cooldowns.

So we get to the real crux of the argument. You simply want to diminish TBN, knowing that it will make DRK worse, just so that you can then in turn point to DRK and say "see DRK is bad, make these changes that I want because it will fix the problems". In the end all you are really doing is trying to get something to break, so that you can declare it broken in an attempt to have it be swapped out with what you want.
Also any supposed issues that would magically be exposed by limiting TBN are issues that were created by those very changes. Actual existing issues are already apparent, if they weren't there wouldn't be the vast number of threads and posts talking about them.
Blaming TBN like this is simply scapegoating. People want certain changes and are not getting them, and so want someone and something to blame to make it easier to rationalize, and TBN was an easy target with how prominent it is in DRKs' kit.

No, it's a case of that either all or none of the tanks need to be using their resources for both damage and defense. Right now only DRK does this, and it does not feel good for DRK (on top of our other issues like Dark Mind and a lack of kit synergy, WHICH WE HAD BACK IN HW).

I'm blaming TBN btw, only because every single person uses it as an excuse for why we can't get anything. Any time somebody asks for any kind of meaningful change people point to either our current DPS or TBN as a blasted excuse for why the job is fine when everybody here knows it is not.

Where is the objective proof that this is the case, that TBN is somehow stymieing all potential meaningful change for DRK?
I have only ever seen such sentiment from suppositional quips and arguments by players, much like the the one that you are making, and then people repeating such over and over until they believe it to be true.

Look at any thread where people state DRK feels bad to play or is a bad tank, almost all of them will point to TBN as to the reason why it's fine. Even the devs seem to think DRK is fine just because of TBN, else they'd have given us better mitigation than just Oblation.