Getting refused to EX groups as a DRK

[Xenosan]

Q9. Compared to Hallowed Ground and Holmgang, there's more burden for healers when Living Dead is used. Do you have plans to adjust this effect?

A9. This is up for consideration, instead of adjusting this action alone, we’re looking into this as if we need to adjust the special characteristics for the dark knight job. We’ll check the overall performance from 3.05 and continue looking into this.

The other DRK Q&A.

"..we're looking into this as if we need to adjust the special characteristics for the dark knight job.."

^This is telling. They just gave a subtle hint that they're analyzing the whole DARKNESS tool-kit. I'm sure AST CARDS mechanic is being given the same Data Analysis through 3.05.

At least that's what the optimist in me wants to believe.

[Seku]

The other DRK Q&A.

"..we're looking into this as if we need to adjust the special characteristics for the dark knight job.."

^This is telling. They just gave a subtle hint that they're analyzing the whole DARKNESS tool-kit. I'm sure AST CARDS mechanic is being given the same Data Analysis through 3.05.

At least that's what the optimist in me wants to believe.

Bet it's going to be potency / percentage changes to some things, like what they did with bard. But I personally don't see DRK really changing -that- much. At least not until the next expansion where they add in new moves. Their basically the 2.0 dragoons in tank form, except their actually "hard" to play instead of one of the easiest classes to play. xD

[SirTaint]

Finished lvling DRK. It has some cool aspects but its stuck in Kmart world. (Kmart is stuck between Target and Walmark and suffers from being the middle road) PLD is still the turtle king and WARs DPS is crazy right now. DRK is complex which I like but its not complex in a good way. Its not like a master DRK will out mitigate a PLD or DPS a WAR which is how it should be.

[Adventica6]

3. Ease of healing (healer point of view) drk takes considerably more dmg than a pld and slightly more than a warrior (this matters in content that matters).
4. Damage application viability: A drk needs to choose what and when he can contribute some dps, at the cost of losing defensive skills (dA for dmg, or dA for mitigation) where as a warrior doesn't need to choose, he just swings.
5. Concept and lore: darks have never been tanks in any ff game, it breaks the lore, craps on the entire ff history, and shouldn't have been added as a tank.
6. Final thoughts, they are mediocre at best, check reddit, check forums, check yourself, they are mediocre with huge button bloat and terrible resources to manage.

[SirTaint]

5. Concept and lore: darks have never been tanks in any ff game, it breaks the lore, craps on the entire ff history, and shouldn't have been added as a tank.

DRK was an outstanding endgame tank in FFXI, but only the best LSs knew/used them. DRK Cecil was a tank in FFV as well.

Other then that I 100% agree.

[Kelg]

DRK was an outstanding endgame tank in FFXI, but only the best LSs knew/used them. DRK Cecil was a tank in FFV as well.

Other then that I 100% agree.

Cecil wasn't really a tank when he was a dark knight, he was just the beefiest member of the party. In the jp version he an ability called Darkness(Or Dark wave) which drained his HP to damage enemies. Now when he became a paladin, then he became a tank because he gained the "cover" passive ability.

[NovaLevossida]

5. Concept and lore: darks have never been tanks in any ff game, it breaks the lore, craps on the entire ff history, and shouldn't have been added as a tank.

I think it fits the lore the way they've set it up. The first quest after unlocking DRK establishes that they're less about protecting people and more about punishing the guilty (which protects people as a secondary effect). I get a Sailor Moon, "in the name of the moon, I shall punish you" vibe from it. The reason they're tanking the boss is because they want to be the first ones to dish out punishment.

Though I wish they were DPS instead of course.

[Giantbane]

Finished lvling DRK. It has some cool aspects but its stuck in Kmart world. (Kmart is stuck between Target and Walmark and suffers from being the middle road) PLD is still the turtle king and WARs DPS is crazy right now. DRK is complex which I like but its not complex in a good way. Its not like a master DRK will out mitigate a PLD or DPS a WAR which is how it should be.

You don't think DRK MT/WAR OT for A4 Savage will be worthwhile? If A4 Normal is any indication, there's going to be a big magical tank buster involved.

[Ditto]

You don't think DRK MT/WAR OT for A4 Savage will be worthwhile? If A4 Normal is any indication, there's going to be a big magical tank buster involved.

War MT and Pld OT sounds better. If not, Pld MT and War OT while the Pld just muscles through it, as it's been from the start.

Right now, War has better magic mitigation than Drk does. Shorter CD on Vengeance, and 3x the Inner Beast usage of our Dark Mind usage. And then also Inner Beast behind every one of their other CD's, and simply whenever they feel like dumping Wrath and know they can get it back, which if I'm thinking correctly, would be 3 to 4 times or more inbetween A4's tank buster. Not to mention Equilibrium healing between each hit, or even just as a self recovery from the buster, which in itself can crit heal for 7k+.

As for why Pally as OT, they don't do terrible damage at all in SoO. They bring Clemency for an emergency heal if needed, and Divine Veil just works wonders on that fight simply due to the amount of raid damage going out, and the self inflicted damage from intercepting orbs and lasers. The only thing a Drk brings to that fight is Delirium. Which if you have a Monk, you don't need anyway. And with Path 100% uptime, you'll likely be able to get by fine without it.

This is all under the assumption that mechanics will be as they are now, which they probably wont be. But even still, as Drk is right now, they don't fit into any composition as a valued job beyond preference or people who just don't care what tanks they have in their group, such as friendly statics.

They tank off of the generosity, or the lack of care in others.

[Giantbane]

War MT and Pld OT sounds better. If not, Pld MT and War OT while the Pld just muscles through it, as it's been from the start.

Right now, War has better magic mitigation than Drk does. Shorter CD on Vengeance, and 3x the Inner Beast usage of our Dark Mind usage. And then also Inner Beast behind every one of their other CD's, and simply whenever they feel like dumping Wrath and know they can get it back, which if I'm thinking correctly, would be 3 to 4 times or more inbetween A4's tank buster. Not to mention Equilibrium healing between each hit, or even just as a self recovery from the buster, which in itself can crit heal for 7k+.

As for why Pally as OT, they don't do terrible damage at all in SoO. They bring Clemency for an emergency heal if needed, and Divine Veil just works wonders on that fight simply due to the amount of raid damage going out, and the self inflicted damage from intercepting orbs and lasers. The only thing a Drk brings to that fight is Delirium. Which if you have a Monk, you don't need anyway. And with Path 100% uptime, you'll likely be able to get by fine without it.

This is all under the assumption that mechanics will be as they are now, which they probably wont be. But even still, as Drk is right now, they don't fit into any composition as a valued job beyond preference or people who just don't care what tanks they have in their group, such as friendly statics.

They tank off of the generosity, or the lack of care in others.

If the WAR can keep up path for the DRK tanking, then I think the DRK will have more raw magic mitigation than the WAR will. In normal, the DRK has dark mind for every single tank buster, so they can stack that with their normal cooldowns. WAR also has the issue where healing "abilities" aren't buffed by convalescence or defiance, so that's going to hinder healer recovery on the WAR after big hits.

I think having your PLD swap to DRK for this fight only might be the best option. Of course it depends on what actually ends up in the Savage version.