Thread: Patch 3.05 up... NO DRK rework!

Originally Posted by Zari

That...just supports my point though? They are saying they will be looking at how it does now with 3.05 released before buffs.
They didnt say they are releasing buffs at 3.05

Never said that your post was incorrect, I was reinforcing it with a direct quote from the Live Letter with the part you were alluding to bolded.

Not every reply is a negative response attempting to say somebody is wrong

Originally Posted by dragoelete

you do realize that rogue doesn't have the perfect dodge skill anymore right? it was replaced with a different skill that acts similar to stone skin only it shields them for 20% of there hp and only lasts 20 seconds... and it has a 120 second CD... so stone skin would be better for paladin anyway.

I do, and its a more practical tank cooldown because its off GCD. Even still the entire statement was hyperbole and sarcastic.

The unmend criticism is exaggerated. Deal 0 damage while you wait, or deal 150 potency while you wait. If your a PLD what are you going to do when you hit 0 TP. No damage. Drk isn't in that predicament. Drk isn't in the same TP straights as PLD. As a Main tank PLD has Shield swipe if block is available. As an off-tank the TP expenditure between Drk and PLD is

25.33 PLD vs 26.32 DRK with the presumption that the Drk is using Blood weapon literally off cooldown. A difference of slightly less then 1 TP a second when they're both off-tanking. A difference which makes Drk spend 118.44 more TP in 2 minutes. Which is resolved in 3 GCD's when the DRK hits Unmend does 150 Potency and gets 50 TP back for his troubles. Then the PLD hits 0, and waits.
Again it is largely exaggerated because even with blood weapon on cooldown the actual TP per second of the two is less then 1 point apart and assumes no other duty but being a bootleg dps between the two of them, nor pays any mind to the damage or aggro differences between the two within the same timespan.

Even still in terms of "In house" things. Blood weapon even making your attacks cost 5 TP less would mean using blood weapon on cooldown costs 24.24 TP per second and it would be more efficient then PLD.

Warrior has the same 25.33 costs as PLD. Equilibrium just recovers 3.3 TP per second on cooldown, IB/FC/SC/Decimate regain ~48-50 TP per use depending on skill speed and obviously pacification being 5s means 100 TP since you aren't using any abilities.
If anything PLD is the worst OT for damage based on their TP expenditure. Marginally aided by Shield Swipe if a fight so permits it, if a fight does not permit blocking and if they're main tanking then they are the worst in terms of TP expenditure, given Drk only spends more TP as a result of Blood Weapon which isn't possible if Grit stays on and still maintains *some* damage via MP if they ran out anyways where PLD does not. This doesn't even count that Shield Lob and Shield Bash are tp expensive if they require to be used.

Lets condense the entire thing.
-Damage wise Drk doesn't actually get reduced to just autoattacking just because TP hits 0 but PLD does. Pld has 96% of Drk's tp expenditure while off tanking if Drk is using Blood weapon on cooldown.

-Vs magical attacks while main tanking their TP expenditure is the same but Drk again has unmend to still pump out *some* damage while TP is recovering. Shield Bash & Tomahawk are TP expensive.

- Against physical attacks, Shield Swipe does more damage while recovering TP. Unmend ultimately does less damage and recovers more TP.

The realities of 0 TP aren't the same for DRK as it is for the other two tanks. Now War's struggle to hit 0 TP while off-tanking
but DRK holds their own 'advantages' to PLD in this department.

Originally Posted by AcaciaTyrannia

Most of the 'Ultra' endgame groups are running with DRK main tank. If you feel DRK is underpowered, it's a matter of your personal skill and ability, not the job.

That's strange. All the statics on my two servers (Excal & Cactuar) have been demanding WAR/PLD only for the past two weeks.

A couple of top raiders experimenting with + finding temporary success in circumstances where the encounter is basically built to make the job have an advantage isn't really indicative of anything.

How are their 'high skill DRK maintanks' dealing with situations like A2S and A3S? Does every hardcore fight now deal heavy tank magic damage so DRKs can be comparable to PLDs? What will happen when the meta moves away from magic damage fights? What will happen when someone decides that they want HG cheese to skip gear requirements again?

Is a tank meta where the MT is a revolving door and the OT is only ever one job actually a healthy and balanced tank meta to people just because "well, every job gets a turn at the table!"?

People did week one clears of content with 2.0 Warrior, too. It didn't mean they kept those Warriors or that Warrior was a good, balanced job.

Originally Posted by Sir-Meliodas

Dark Knight is not meant to do as much damage as a Warrior or defend as well as a Paladin as it is a hybrid of Offensive tanking and Defensive tanking.

This is wrong - the the stated tanking styles of the three tanks in the Letter From The Producer is warriors as having more MT damage, Paladins as having superior physical defense, and Dark Knights as having superior magical defense. It's also implied that their OT DPS should be comparable to Warrior's if someone is providing a slash debuff. Of course, right now, that's all DRK does when offtanking, if a Monk is present.

The big takeaway here is that MTing has a decent, if deeply fragile and tenuous balance between all three tanks, and OTing is so hilariously dominated by Warrior (despite obvious attempts to diversify it with DRK joining the game and paladin's new toys that can be used while OTing) due to their irreplacable extra utility and ridiculously good DPS.