Changing DRK to DPS entirely?

[Anger]

The Dark Knight, as most have said, seems to be a jack of all trades. it doesn't have the DPS of the warrior or the mitigation of the paladin. it could be argued, if an individual had all three at 60 - with equivalent gear - there's be no real reason to take a Dark Knight in any situation.

If this is the case, would it be so hard to accept DRK being changed from a tank to a DPS entirely? What I mean is, reworking the class so it has no emnity skills and is simply a melee DPS like in FFXI.

Otherwise, I can't really see a niche for the DRK or a way to rework it, as many have suggested, to make it a viable choice.

[Hundred]

Did I step back into the warrior 2.0 threads?

[saber_alter]

Did I step back into the warrior 2.0 threads?

you and me both...

as soon as fell cleave no longer is able to crit for 10k op.

[Kiteless]

No, go away. I may not like the problems that my high execution tank has, but you'd be a fool to assume I don't love my high execution tank.

[Zyph]

Oh noooo...

[Anger]

So it begins. All the nublets who picked up DRK because it looked cool but had never tanked before suddenly realizing that DRK is actually expected to tank things.

I think it needs to be given some niche between the three tanks instead of it just being "fun and cool."

[SpookyGhost]

http://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/

[TouchandFeel]

No thank you, leave DRK as a tank and just fix it.
Making them viable tanks that bring utility and have a place in raid parties is not an impossible task and there have been many good (and many more not so good) suggestions on how to accomplish this. If you go back through the suggestion threads, all the stuff you bring up is mentioned as well as suggestions and ideas on how to address those issues.

No need to throw the baby out with the bathwater instead of just refilling the tub.

[Kiteless]

Okay, fair enough but how would you fix or change it? Do you feel like it's in a good place?

Remove Reprisal's stupid parry requirement so that it can function while OT, give Delirium a DA effect of reducing magic resistance by 10%, reduce the cooldown on Shadow Wall to 120 seconds, turn Dark Dance into a reliable mitigation skill, give it some reliable method of TP management, make Sole Survivor suck less and function similar to Equilibrium, make Dark Passenger not a trap skill, make Living Dead not awful, and give Blood Weapon some form of functionality, even if reduced, while in Grit.

Bam. DRK is usable and has value. Might still need to up the damage output a bit to make up for Double DA's loss and to put it in line with WAR, but everything would be functional and DRK could actually be considered for use alongside the other tanks.

[Anger]

Personally, instead of changing abilities around I think DRK needs to have its core functions changed and reworked. For example, I would like to see it as an evasion tank that built up stacks of evasion over time, perhaps call it Embrace the Dark. So, stacks of ED would increase and have a timer based on usage of a cool down that is aligned to that mechanic and/or being hit. This raises your chance to evade. It would be unique over the PLD and WAR. Instead of mitigating you're outright avoiding the damage.