The new Dark Knight and Gunbreaker gap closers look AWFUL

[Ruvycontria]

Found one other thing I hadn't considered before with these new gap closers. Because the new gap closers don't deal damage, you don't gain emnity from using them, so they are basically worthless to start a fight with. Guess I'll just be using my ranged attack from now on and take this ability off my hotbar.

Former gap closer attacked an enemy directly and showed the enmity list of all enemies.
But now, because of the 0 damage, it would be uncomfortable to gather(and check) enmity at once in dungeon.
I mean, DRK and GNB might feel the delay when they use their new gap closers to enemies.

[Avorie]

Former gap closer attacked an enemy directly and showed the enmity list of all enemies.
But now, because of the 0 damage, it would be uncomfortable to gather(and check) enmity at once in dungeon.
I mean, DRK and GNB might feel the delay when they use their new gap closers to enemies.

I mean I'm never going to use Shadow stride, unless its a push mech I can't avoid. However, even then, I'll probably use arms length or adjust myself to not be pushed too far.
Plus, since I lost Plunge I tend use unmend to pull mobs, one time I even forgot Shadow stride was a thing until I remembered I couldn't plunge. And now my hotbar has two open spaces there since the loss of blood weapon being its own thing too.

Enhanced Unmend has no reason for really existing at the moment, at least with plunge it was tied to damage. If I'm in a dungeon run I plunge, so I can gain enmity on the first monster I hit, run and shoot behind myself with unmend so I could plunge the next enemy.

[CidHeiral]

Just did a couple GNB runs and I feel like I own an apology for thinking you were all being overdramatic about the gap closer animations.

It feels like a placeholder for the real animation.

I laugh every time I use it because it looks like your character turned on noclip and they're just flying across the ground in this static pose.

Regarding OP, I totally agree. I made my own thread on the topic in the DPS forum before I saw this one. I don't mind the gap closers not having damage tied to them but the new animations sucked all the unique flavor out of them.

Old GNB: A stylish sideways spinning front flip.
New GNB: Generic dash.

Old DRK: Using the weight of your massive sword to propel yourself forward.
New DRK: Generic dash.

Old DRG: Leaping a mile into the air to sail across the battlefield and land on your enemy.
New DRG: Generic dash.

They seem to be pretty unpopular overall so maybe they can bring back the old ones and remove the damage at some point.

[Kalaam]

Honestly there was ways to make each one have more identity. I'm thinking of one of Zero's animation in a MSQ mission for example.
Have DRK vault over their sword to move forward.
Gunbreaker propelling themselves with an explosion.
You know, stuff like that.

When seeing them at first I thought those skills would be directional dashes like Dancer's and that's why the animations changed, but no it's only gap closing. Which feels very weird.

[Morvenn]

I just want to add my part to this. The new gap closers are incredibly uninspired and lazy.

Half of the tanks getting damage on their gap closer and the other half not makes zero sense in the first place.

There is a lodestone post up today about them gaining enmity in 7.01, so one issue is addressed.

Living Shadow's Esteem still has the "plunge" attack slot tied to its lifespan, except now it just dashes into an enemy and does zero damage (it might gap close but hint: it's a melee job)

How exactly has removing plunge done anything to change the burst window? There's an entirely new GCD to press during 2min for you to weave oGCDs with. Now we also just have less mana generation overall due to less charges on blood weapon

[Darazelly]

Never felt the need to post to the forums before, but feel that I need to add my agreement to this. The new GNB closer just looks uninspired. It has no weight to it compared to all the other abilities, and is no fun to use.

And I don't really understand the reasoning behind removing damage from GNB and DRK's gapclosers, when PLD and WAR still have it on theirs? I'm not mad about the damage removal (aside from it currently making enmity a bit wonky, as they've noted in the upcoming adjustments), but I will admit to being a bit confused to the half of the tanks gets it removed, other half is left unchanged.

[Glitchima]

I'm not sure how to properly explain this, but the new DRK animation has this weird freeze moment, as if there's a sort of delay when stuck in the animation and then after its done playing???
That aside, although I understand the initial reasoning they removed it, the new animation is just not doing it for me - I am seriously struggling to adjust, plunge looked so raw and far more interesting. It's not enough to make me completely abandon the job because it's still my favorite, however this is genuinely feeling like a chunk of its identity has been lost. The plunge animation just made sense with the huge sword and it added a feeling of weight to it, which was such a favorite.

I would love for the staff to reconsider and maybe bring plunge back in some manner of fashion - if they are dead set on it not having damage (which is frustrating because now I'm jealous of paladin and warrior LOL), they could at least inflict some sort of stun or something that helps with the enmity issue.

im on my knees, Square! Please give me my plunge back

[Cheenchilla]

Please please SE, please just give us our plunge gap closer back. There was no reason to remove it, and its incredibly detrimental to playing drk now.

My biggest concern is that there is a strange pause, or lag after gap closing before you can really do anything. Along with the lack of enmity generated, I found in dungeons this just caused the mobs to run after the other players meaning i had to run back trying to re-aggro and gather before moving on. SO SO frustrating!! and messy! and makes it look like you haven't got a clue how to play the job :/

The new animation is also extremely boring and lacklustre, you are just slowly stripping any individuality from the job that added to the enjoyment of playing it and i'm not quite sure why?
Have people complained about plunge in order for this to be something to consider changing? doubtful.

Please do away with Shadowstride and return to us our plunge. no one was bored of it, it didn't need to be changed, it worked smoothly and efficiently, looked and felt badass to use as well.

I also am on my knees begging for you to listen and return plunge to us T____T

[Avorie]

are we starting a new hashtag? #PlungeBack. lmao

[Donze]

I agree here. As a Gunbreaker:

1) Trajectory animation looks awful, and is way worse than Rough Divide, which was a leap into combat with a smack. Trajectory is a "Frozen Freeze Frame Skater Boi Slide" and I hate it, but looks aside,
2) It does not pull aggro, and is even WORSE at proximity aggro than just running up. I am literally clipping into mobs for a full sec before they aggro, and often the group running up behind me (no atks, buffs, or heals) manages to body aggro pull the mobs, despite me standing partially into the model of those same mobs.
3) It does not show enmity list or pull things to you, pulling you at a GCD behind. Tank's initial pull that brings mobs into his first AOE is important enough that I didnt realize how much I miss it until it was taken away (at least Pally gap closer is still normal).

I dont care that Trajectory can zoom to party members. Thats cool, but its primary function is to gap close and announce "Im here, suckers!" to the enemy, and it fails at half of this. It doesnt need to do big damage, or any damage really, and I dont care if its threat is small, but it NEEDS to aggro, instead of acting like a teleport with stealth built in.
I also dont care about tanks that are losing early aggro because they expected a single AOE to hold everything, thats just bad tanking (once tank pulls, I expect DPS to go hard. Kill it before I get to the 2nd mob, try to pull aggro, just dont run along side me like your on a jaunt to buy some avocados from your local farmers market... there is killing to be done youngin).

Gimme a gap closer that aggros mobs and triggers the enmity list, and ill take it from there.