Dark Knights are an absolute joke and I'm tired of pretending they're not

[OdinelStarrei]

I don't know, sometimes it feels like in these Dark Knight threads people are just holding onto a fierce grudge.
Like I get it on a certain level, but eventually so many years will go past that surely they have to start letting go.

How can I not hold a massive grudge after what I've been putting up with?

Not only do I have to continue to deal with long-term issues like Living Dead and obscene ability removals, I also get to deal with all of my recent grievances from Shadowbringers being actively ignored by the developers AND totally marginalized by an overwhelming amount of players who think DRK gets to be their personal punching bag because the skill floor is higher than the basement, based entirely on content that is objectively worthless from a balancing perspective. After an entire expansion with DRK plastered on the front of it, when everyone said it was "Fine, because TBN is OP and your complaints are unjustified, I bet you liked spamming Dark Arts, OMEGALUL." Now, I'm the one on copium for trying to point out facts in EW, despite many of us being the biggest DRK detractors since before Shadowbringers even released. Despite several other jobs getting the fixes that if 1:1 transplanted over to DRK, would make the experience playing it more enjoyable or at least tolerable. And we got silence from the developers, and pity or ridicule from everyone else.

"Just swap jobs lmao you can play anything in XIV"

I play everything in the game to some extent. I wish I didn't identify with DRK thematically, I wish DRK wasn't the gameplay style that I typically enjoy the most in RPGs (high burst, low sustain, spellsword), I wish DRK didn't use a greatsword, I wish the job quests and artifact/relic gear wasn't good, because then I wouldn't play the job. But those things are all true, so I keep returning to the job after several serious attempts to let go of it since SB. It sucks, okay? It sucks. I'm not happy about it either.

[Ayche]

How can I not hold a massive grudge after what I've been putting up with?

Because in the long run holding a grudge just makes you miserable. Increased stress levels, fixation on negative outlooks, etc.
Like life is full of disappointments, be it just having a FFXIV job you like being changed to something you don't like, getting your bicycle stolen, get injured by an accident, yeah sometimes things suck.
But it is better to move on from it than getting stuck on this loop that "if I am angry about it long enough, eventually things will change." That is not it shakes up majority of the time.
The big DRK thread had all these posts that "Next patch! Next patch will surely finally have major DRK changes!", people whipping themselves into a frenzy with NOTHING really to back up that energy. And when nothing happens, that just fuels more negativity.

[shao32]

Because in the long run holding a grudge just makes you miserable. Increased stress levels, fixation on negative outlooks, etc.
Like life is full of disappointments, be it just having a FFXIV job you like being changed to something you don't like, getting your bicycle stolen, get injured by an accident, yeah sometimes things suck.
But it is better to move on from it than getting stuck on this loop that "if I am angry about it long enough, eventually things will change." That is not it shakes up majority of the time.
The big DRK thread had all these posts that "Next patch! Next patch will surely finally have major DRK changes!", people whipping themselves into a frenzy with NOTHING really to back up that energy. And when nothing happens, that just fuels more negativity.

Many ppl including me get so atached to original DRK it's really hard to let it go specially when we can fight to bring it back/for make it better and success like many others did with they respective jobs.
Im holding with Reaper better that i hold with GNB in SHB but i still want DRK to come back, i want the devs listen us and make changes in concordance of what we are asking for, we basically ask for the same level of care and love the rest of the other jobs gets. It's not as simple as move on, some have invested so much on the game and ppl wanna get what they lost as long is possible to get it back unless is an irreversible situation.

[Kaixern]

"Just swap jobs lmao you can play anything in XIV"

I play everything in the game to some extent. I wish I didn't identify with DRK thematically, I wish DRK wasn't the gameplay style that I typically enjoy the most in RPGs (high burst, low sustain, spellsword), I wish DRK didn't use a greatsword, I wish the job quests and artifact/relic gear wasn't good, because then I wouldn't play the job. But those things are all true, so I keep returning to the job after several serious attempts to let go of it since SB. It sucks, okay? It sucks. I'm not happy about it either.

Same here.
Often took little breaks during expansions (as usual and like any MMo i played) but the first time with shadowbringers i took a break this long.
Play another MMo? bad period unfortunately (WoW going to s*** and GW2 with no expansions planned/icebrood saga for example) or the fact that every single one of your friends is going crazy at the simple mention of any other mmo being good.
Play solo/coop games, get other hobbys (irl or online) but even then at one point when you love one particular MMo or MMos in general you always come back to them, hoping it gets better.

In the end i don't want big damage, life leach, the best possible and OP mitigation possible or any other stuff like that.
I just want the class to have a cohesive kit that doesn't feel like random spells put together having for only link that binds them together the fact that they have red and purple light effects.
(At this point it may be more realistic to ask for half life 3 for 7.0)