My input on DRK changes

[DWolfwood]

Grit - Casting cost reduced to 15% of MP.

Shadow Wall - Recast shortened from 180 to 120 seconds.

Dark Dance - Parry rate increased from 30% to 50%.

Reprisal - Duration increased to 30 seconds. Recast shortened to 25 seconds. Potency lowered to 190.

Delirium - Combo bonus changed from "Reduces target's INT by 10%" to "Reduces magic vulnerability by 10%."

Carve and Spit - Increased potency from 100 to 300. MP absorption changed to 100% of damage dealt. Dark Arts Potency changed from 450 to 500. No change to MP absorption effect while under Dark Arts.

Blood Weapon - Changed to: Increases damage by 10% and converts physical damage into MP.

[DWolfwood]

The main purpose of these changes are to bring it closer in line with PLD for the purpose of main tanking and WAR for the purpose of off tanking, while still giving all tank jobs their own unique advantages. DRK's advantages currently are their DPS and Magic Damage Mitigation when in the MT role. However, given the current state of content, we're able to see it's shortcomings rather easily.

In the Main Tank role, PLD currently has an edge with it's supreme defensive and healing toolkit. This shouldn't be changed because it finally gives PLD the uniqueness that it deserves. DRK's current DPS in this role does not make up for the difference in mitigation, unless the fight is one where the enemy does not hit very hard for any extended durations. Reprisal is the biggest culprit to DRK's shortcomings and needs to be adjusted first. I don't believe the changes I've suggested will eliminate PLD's usefulness. PLD will still maintain an impressive array of defensive CDs as well as party utility via Clemency, Divine Veil, Cover, and Stoneskin. What DRK will bring to the table for sacrificing those advantages are: higher DPS as MT and powerful self-healing via draining attacks. WAR's contention is and will be their frequent use of Inner Beast for both DPS and mitigation, along with their strong defensive and self-healing toolkit.

In the Off-Tank role, WAR currently has an unprecedented advantage with Storm's Path and the highest DPS, supplemented by their increased stamina via Equilibrium. PLD's party support provides an alternative route for parties with Clemency, Divine Veil, etc., allowing for more variation in their approach to difficult content. DRK suffers from lower DPS than WAR and their only party utility currently is overwritten by MNK's Dragon Kick. The suggested changes will slightly boost their DPS, while also alleviating their TP issues, making their damage output slightly higher than WAR's. I believe this trade to be a fair one, given the strength that Storm's Path brings to a raid.

[Faytte]

Snip

If you want to be closer to paladin, then you might want to lose all that extra damage you have (what is it, over 2000 off GCD damage per minute? And effectively a permanent FoF?),AMAZING aoe and mobility. There are -reasons- paladins are so far ahead, cause they lack LOTS of the tools you have. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

[DWolfwood]

If you want to be closer to paladin, then you might want to lose all that extra damage you have (what is it, over 2000 off GCD damage per minute? And effectively a permanent FoF?),AMAZING aoe and mobility. There are -reasons- paladins are so far ahead, cause they lack LOTS of the tools you have. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

Extra damage is nice, and I agree that it's a fair balance to keep PLD more defensive while DRK keeps it's damage. The problem is, the mitigation achieved by PLD is "phenomenal" and the DPS gained by DRK is simply "nice." My changes, if you review them, don't encroach on PLD's claim to having best mitigation. It's actually only a very slight buff to DRK.

[Jahaudant]

ITT: OP needs attention. Please oblige.

[Humorless]

ITT: OP needs attention. Please oblige.

OP needs OP cooldowns

[SpookyGhost]

gl with TP

[DWolfwood]

gl with TP

Currently we have 2 endgame fights for DRK at lv.60, Ravana and Bismark EX. Neither of which present TP problems for DRK; Bismark because of the time spent as MT as well as downtime, and Ravana because there are so many breaks in the action that even as OT, there are no problems. If you're referring to old content, whether undersized parties or level sync'd, the changes made will not make them any different than PLD, which I think is fair. WAR's versatility as being DPS and Tank are unique to them, and should stay that way for now. The mentioned changes will buff DRK's DPS as both MT and OT.

[SpookyGhost]

Currently we have 2 endgame fights for DRK at lv.60,

Highlighted the key word here.

[DWolfwood]

Highlighted the key word here.

Having tanked and off-tanked as WAR throughout all of 2.x, I never had any TP issues that could not be solved with smarter playing. In fact, the only fight where I ever found myself close to bottoming out was T10, and that was because of literally one too many overpowers. DRK does not have this issue in that sort of situation because our bread and butter AoE control are several Magic based attacks, two of which are on GCD.

In the scenario where we do not use those AoE attacks, this will literally put us on the same playing field as WAR was in the 2.x series. Which is to say, completely solid.

Edit - Changed "three" Magic based attacks to "several" because I wasn't counting "Salted Earth," which should technically be counted, I suppose.