PLD and DRK start to feel very different about level 45 or so, and keep becoming more different. I played PLD up to 50 in ARR, went DRK for HW and I'm having a blast. DRK moves into much more of an enjoyable class when you get Soul eater and Delirium and start to add Dark Arts, meaning you now have to manage your MP as well as dots, enmity and dps. You also get a load more oGCD offensive abilities which you'll want to juggle and have as much uptime as possible, meaning a bit more of an interesting time staring at the bosses face whilst they wail on you.

The animations are good, perhaps a little too flashy, but they're certainly more interesting than PLD used to be (not tried post patch).