Dark Knight Megathread

[Ryaduera]

As in keeping within the kit some effect that's thematically tied to the idea of Oblation (an offering) and would therefore fit its name.

As others have pointed out before, Oblation could as easily go and be replaced entirely; if we're already making significant revisions to the kit, there's no hard rule that there must be a skill named Oblation in what results.


So, I'm now a bit more confused. What is the triggering action for Dark Mind's consumption? I thought the idea was that when you hit Oblation, Dark Mind is consumed but Oblation stays. You're saying here that they're both consumed? Just Oblation? Or is it a totally separate action that then consumes Oblation?

How does one consume an effect but still have it?

I'd give my two cents on the result, but I'd prefer clarification on this first before I walk myself into a butcher's yard again over an ambiguity (or, my poor comprehension).

It would be a new skill entirely, it would not be Oblation. You could use one stack of Oblation, consume it with this hypothetical mitigation, then use your second stack if it was necessary. Let's call this hypothetical ability Occult Acumen (FFXI reference) for clarity sake. This would give DRK the most personal mitigations but (TBN aside) with all of them being pretty weak, I think it's a matter of trading out strength for duration and requiring stacking them since smaller percentages have smaller diminishing returns. So you'd be able to consume Dark Mind and Oblation, with more consumed abilities making the healing effect stronger, with no heal at all if nothing is consumed.

[Shurrikhan]

It would be a new skill entirely, it would not be Oblation. You could use one stack of Oblation, consume it with this hypothetical mitigation, then use your second stack if it was necessary. Let's call this hypothetical ability Occult Acumen (FFXI reference) for clarity sake. This would give DRK the most personal mitigations but (TBN aside) with all of them being pretty weak, I think it's a matter of trading out strength for duration and requiring stacking them since smaller percentages have smaller diminishing returns. So you'd be able to consume Dark Mind and Oblation, with more consumed abilities making the healing effect stronger, with no heal at all if nothing is consumed.

Understood. Thank you.

So, this new skill, Occult Accumen would have effectively no use outside of consuming other skills? Little to no cooldown, either?

Again, though, I'm still worried about how it'd treat duration. If this were to work like Shake it Off, for instance, we'd sacrifice only the final half-second of duration for an effectively free HoT, in which case players would be right to wonder "Why not just make OA like Aurora or its HoT a trait attached to DM/Oblation if the difference from such is already just an annoying but small skill-/weave-check?"

[Ryaduera]

Understood. Thank you.

So, this new skill, Occult Accumen would have effectively no use outside of consuming other skills? Little to no cooldown, either?

Again, though, I'm still worried about how it'd treat duration. If this were to work like Shake it Off, for instance, we'd sacrifice only the final half-second of duration for an effectively free HoT, in which case players would be right to wonder "Why not just make OA like Aurora or its HoT a trait attached to DM/Oblation if the difference from such is already just an annoying but small skill-/weave-check?"

I think something like this would have a relatively longer cooldown, no? Duration and cooldown are hard for us non-devs to actually balance. I know from my modding experiences, even if we think we can balance those, trial and error is the only way to truly know if it's "fair" but if I were modding this game, I'd start with a longer cooldown. Something around 90 seconds. It could have an additional "only available under the effects of x" to make it more understandable why it's a consuming ability and not just some trait. You can only turn Oblation/Dark Mind into a HoT every 90 seconds makes it more understandable why it's not just a trait so the heal isn't coming every 30s from Oblation (recharge ability cooldowns are recharge time divided by charge count, so 30s cooldown on Oblation in "perfect" rotation)

Again, just a morning coffee idea that's probably a waste of energy to actually think about lol.