Dark Knight Megathread

[Lyth]

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You could stick a maintenance combo on DRK, similar to PLD/WAR/MNK/DRG/NIN/SAM, but they're usually placed on the job in question to reign in its damage and resource-generation (our average self-sustain would be reduced as well, in DRK's case). I think that if you're going to add a new combo to the job, and at a high level, then it should be something that players enjoy using, rather than prefer to avoid using. That's why I think setting up an 'enhanced' combo is a better choice overall. I feel good when I can use a Soul Reaver combo, both in aesthetic and damage dealt. I do not feel good using Storm's Eye. Of course, if you can come up with a 'second combo' concept that doesn't fall into the categories that we've discussed, it would be worth discussing that now.

If you have specific improvements that you want to discuss, great. But people tend to latch on to catchphrases and stop thinking about what they really mean. Everyone becomes obsessed about 'when are we getting our rework' because they have come to associate the term with buffs and changes. But it doesn't always work out that way, as we've seen. I think now's the time to push the big red rework button from our minds and think in a more focused way about how DRK's gameplay can be improved from where we are now. All I'm asking is that people think critically for themselves, rather than repeating the 'rework' phrase because they've heard it's a popular thing to say.

The self-healing discussion is an odd one. I personally feel that tanks in general have way too much self-healing, this expansion. You can fight for more self-sustain on principle, but I don't think that it actually matters that DRK is at a disadvantage in this category. For example, if you gave me a choice between more self-sustain vs. replacing Dark Missionary with something on par with Shake, I'd pick the latter in a heartbeat. I also think it's better for DRK to not be the FoTM (as long as we're in striking distance of that spot), for a couple of reasons. First, it's more fun outskilling someone playing the 'best tank' by virtue of having better uptime. Second, I never enjoyed seeing what the WAR and PLD communities became like when they were FoTM (or perhaps the better term is flavor of the expansion). Third, look at BLM - they're perpetually second to third place, and they're happy there. I think if there's a tight enough balance, and they change up the relative strengths up frequently such that nobody stays on the top for too long, then it's fine. The people campaigning for the FoTM are the ones that mess up most jobs anyways.

Either way, I'm not opposed to more self-sustain, but there are probably other things that I would prioritize over this.

I actually like procs a fair bit (and enjoyed seeing them on DRK in Heavensward), but some people don't fare as well with them. The decision-making around them tends to be fairly simple, even on dps jobs that do have them still (i.e. RDM). I think that if what you're looking for is skill expression, what this game is really missing is skillshots. Oddly, the closest thing that we've ever had to this on DRK was the old Salted Earth. RPR's Ingress/Egress is pretty fantastic in this regard, because you're eyeballing a distance and trajectory based on the direction you're facing, while planning a return point after the mechanic resolves. But I think that opportunities for skill expression are also things that you can brainstorm when coming up with new abilities for next expansion.

As for the statement about verbiage, it is what it is. Your posts are at their best when just make your points clearly. I only remind you when I find myself getting tired trying to decipher your point.

I mentioned earlier they would have to change some numbers around to make it work, otherwise yeah I agree if they just dropped it in at level 30 when you first get Flood of Shadow without any other changes, it'd suck. I don't know what those adjustments would look like exactly (although separately I want Delirium to change to literally anything but an IR clone) but I imagine there's a sweet spot between having to do an MP combo after every Souleater combo and doing it every once in a blue moon. If the devs wanted to get really spicy, they could pop a Darkside cost on Blood abilities and make it less static.

I don't mind Delirium too much now, especially since we're only down to three stacks. I wish that it gave a GCD speedboost in honor of the old Blood Weapon. I wouldn't mind if it brought in some new animations. But I probably would find a way to upgrade Living Shadow first before doing anything with Delirium.