Ways to Improve the DRK

[Xenosan]

1) Has SE met its goal of DRK having an advantage for Magical Damage.
2) If SE has Met the first goal is this advantage large enough to make up for the reduced Utility they provide to teammates
3) If the Advantage is not large enough, then what other advantages do they bring. Is it personal damage, team defensive, team offense, team healing?
4) For their Skills/mechanics in general does everything have its purpose is anything particularly clunky/unwieldy. Obviously some skills are not meant to be used generally and are there for specific situations, are they good at these situations?
'As far as Magical damage goes I believe the DRK is pretty much where it needs to be.

Point 3:

Just look at the utility of MCH & AST as well. The utility of all 3 are lacking - or at least - not on par with the others in their roles (BRD/SCH/PLD/WAR). I'd sooner assume SE was playing it safe when rolling out these 3 Extra Jobs, and are using the community through 3.05 as QA testing to help decide where and how to strengthen their party enhancing capabilities - but doing so also considering how to not disrupt or phase out other jobs' utility.

They admitted in the Famitsu article (which was what - less 2 weeks before Early Access?) that they hadn't decided on what debuff to add to Delirium. That's a strong indication of the above. They're erred on the side of caution - not wanting other jobs to rage. They'll sprinkle in the utility once they've got Data analysis from the community. They've already promised adjustments to AST before (SAVAGE).

[Rhaja]

=They admitted in the Famitsu article (which was what - less 2 weeks before Early Access?) that they hadn't decided on what debuff to add to Delirium. That's a strong indication of the above. They're erred on the side of caution - not wanting other jobs to rage. They'll sprinkle in the utility once they've got Data analysis from the community. They've already promised adjustments to AST before (SAVAGE).

I'm just hoping they see that INT down was a bad idea and makes it Magic Damage down. Achieves the same thing, works wonders with Storms Path and Dragon Kick, and gives us something to add to the raid.

[Hundred]

Wouldn't say Int down is bad at all. This game is only going to add more jobs, it's to be expected that there will be some carry over for mix and matching compositions, as we see rather clearly for WAR and NIN. The difference here is that Both War and Nin have stronger combinations if someone else is applying the slashing debuff. Delirium is the strongest combination for a DRK and a Monk has to apply Dragon Kick since it has their blunt resistance.

Magi damage down is basically just another way of saying "Why not just let Delirium and Dragon Kick stack", which would end the whole argument towards Delirium. Simultaneously there's no harm in Drk being a "selfish" tank either, but then it has to be *good* at being Selfish.

[Sigmakan]

Solution for TP issues:

Buff Unmend. Increase potency to 200 and move the delerium added effect to unmend.

[Xyphon]

What's really odd is during the live letter they flat out said that drk = magic tank. If this was the core concept around the build, then I really gotta ask why they gave us dark dance? We all know how well reprisal is working, when its not on cooldown....(lets not even talk about the dark arts version with evasion).

The thing that really blows my mind is SE has already had a magic tank in the past. FFXI rune fencer ring a bell to anyone? Almost feels like SE mixed that + dark knight together into some odd hybrid that we see now.

The difference being rune fencer was pretty good for magic mitigation, and even had a skill for party wide magic mitigation.

But truly, I'd rather just have dark knight like the original concept we've seen in all of the FF games. I feel in terms of mitigation, and enmity drk is currently fine (though some tweaking would be nice). The main issue is how its set apart from other tanks. Paladin is centered around being the highest mitigation tank, and blocking. Warrior has the wrath/abandon mechanic. I think DRK needs a real focus to set it apart.

One thing I noticed is drk is centered around mp. The odd part is all tanks technically have a use for mp. The only difference being war has no way to regain it outside of regen over time.

So if drk's mechanic really is to be focused around mp; I think it should be done like this:

Since drk's goal is to always have up darkside in both MT and OT; it should be setup accordingly. Meaning while in grit, darkside should do a scaled down version of blood price. While not in grit, darkside should be like blood weapon.

Meaning while your are taking dmg you regain mp, and while you're OT you are regaining mp by attacking.

The reason I suggest it that way is because it would free up two skills. You could then replace one of them with a skill that restores tp/mp. Like those above, I can confirm that drk runs dry far faster than other tanks whlie OT.

I also think they should get rid of dark passenger, dark dance, and rework abyssal drain. Abyssal drain should have two separate uses. Non dark arts should be a single target hp drain (higher drain on single target). Dark arts version should be the same and drain a certain amount of hp from all targets.

I honestly I'm kind of disappointed with how very few skills you can apply dark arts on, and really wish they expanded them to include most of them. That would then allow more different play styles for different situations.

Perhaps they could add a skill that lets us either exchange mp for tp, or allow us to do all of our tp moves for mp cost. Oddly enough ffxi drk had a skill called "scarlet delirium", which "Channels damage taken into enhanced attack and magic attack." There was also a skill called "soul enslavement", which let you regain tp upon striking.

So what I'm saying by all of this is if drk is a magic tank; give us more magic tank like abilities than just 1. If drk is a parry tank, fix parry. If drk is all about mp then it seriously needs to be reworked. Instead of being jack of all trades master of none.

Its like we are all playing a 2.0 war, with tp issues that relies on an mp mechanic.

[Hypie]

I'm failing miserably to understand the complaints with DRK at level 60.

DPS: You have two 400+ potency attacks, 75 and 40 potency DoTs....

Pls tell about this rumored 75 potency dot....we only have a 40 potency dot from scourge. which is a secret nerf because at the start from heavensward the potency was at 45.

DRK's aggro management has

I expect DRK aggro modifiers will be adjusted nerfed in 3.05, as well as adding a buff of some sort to PS so that it will become a viable part of DRKs rotation. As is, avoid it like the plague.

If they do that we are instantly kicked out of any tanking spot. we eat way to much dmg and we deal to less dmg. they could make him a dps right away. nobody would use a drk as a tank anymore.

[Hundred]

The 75 potency Dot is salted earth. Its a ground targetted aoe that deals damage over time to all standing within it for 21 seconds...
Every 3 seconds they're hit, its 7 hits, 525 potency aoe.

Its like we are all playing a 2.0 war, with tp issues that relies on an mp mechanic.

This isn't even close to 2.0 war.

An adjustments I believe make sense for starters.
Waking dead does not need the 100% health requirement. Its cooldown is 2 minutes longer then Holmgang and its effect is weaker then Hallowed ground.

[Hypie]

The 75 potency Dot is salted earth. Its a ground targetted aoe that deals damage over time to all standing within it for 21 seconds...
Every 3 seconds they're hit, its 7 hits, 525 potency aoe.

Thats not a Dot its a stationary aoe....

[stoxastic]

Thats not a Dot its a stationary aoe....

Technically it's both. It's a stationary AOE that does damage over time (dot). Not sure why you're arguing over semantics.

At first glance on the DRK kit I thought it was pretty weak, but after leveling it a bit I can see it being pretty good when played properly, especially against numerous mobs (like Alex 2) and heavy magic damage bosses (like Alex 4). If Alex Savage is unclearable on DRK without overgearing, then it'll probably need some help. I think it's too early to jump to conclusions at this point.

[spelley]

Thats not a Dot its a stationary aoe....

That does Damage Over Time (DOT). Dark Flare or whatever is ALSO a stationary AOE that most people call a DOT.