The Point of DRKness

[MagiusNecros]

If content is physically heavy I'd go PLD...if it's more magical then DRK.

Only thing that baffles me is why they call it Dark Knight instead of Blackguard. The class just feels like a Dark version of Paladin that just specializes in MP management and mitigating magical damage as it's main gimmick.

[Lan_Mantear]

The class just feels like a Dark version of Paladin that just specializes in MP management and mitigating magical damage as it's main gimmick.

You can thank Cecil Harvey for that.

[MagiusNecros]

You can thank Cecil Harvey for that.

Nah I can thank the dev team for that. At least Cecil when he ran as a Dark Knight he stayed true to the formula. I don't understand how they could fuck up with past entries with Dark Knight such as Cecil's limited foray in IV, XI and even the recent FF Explorers. Even X-2 did it justice. Baffling.

You know what Class actually sacrifices HP? Black Mage. With Convert. Pfffft.

[IskarJarak]

Only thing that baffles me is why they call it Dark Knight instead of Blackguard. The class just feels like a Dark version of Paladin that just specializes in MP management and mitigating magical damage as it's main gimmick.

In the Japanese version Paladin is Knight, so... Dark Knight actually makes sense if you follow your own logic. :P

[Syzygian]

This entire notion that is being perpetuated that DRK is bad anywhere outside of Alex Savage is complete garbage as is the notion that if they buff PLD's damage (PLD is getting adjustments but I highly doubt this means a DPS boost up to DRK/WAR levels... it doesn't make any sense from a design perspective) DRK will be obsolete.

I've offered to go PLD for certain fights for my raid group, and they've all chanted "NO" at the top of their lungs. The fact is DRK proved itself as a tank in the most difficult tier of raids the dev team has put out to date, and they've come right out and said it'll never be that hard again for the foreseeable future. People like to say "oh well its only because blah blah all the fights are magical..." bullshit. A2S was almost 100% physical, A3S for all intents and purposes was 100% physical as well with the sole exception of drainage tethers.

I hope PLD gets some nice buffs too but its a far cry from rendering DRK obsolete. Its an entirely different tank with different utilities. If anything I would hope the pally buffs can make the DRK/PLD comp feasible.

[AlexiIvaniskavich]

This entire notion that is being perpetuated that DRK is bad anywhere outside of Alex Savage is complete garbage as is the notion that if they buff PLD's damage (PLD is getting adjustments but I highly doubt this means a DPS boost up to DRK/WAR levels... it doesn't make any sense from a design perspective) DRK will be obsolete.

I've offered to go PLD for certain fights for my raid group, and they've all chanted "NO" at the top of their lungs. The fact is DRK proved itself as a tank in the most difficult tier of raids the dev team has put out to date, and they've come right out and said it'll never be that hard again for the foreseeable future. People like to say "oh well its only because blah blah all the fights are magical..." bullshit. A2S was almost 100% physical, A3S for all intents and purposes was 100% physical as well with the sole exception of drainage tethers.

When we were first working on ThorEx, I rolled both DRK and PLD. I asked the healers which class they liked better for dealing with the damage. The answer was a resounding "meh". There wasn't really any difference in their eyes. I ended up staying as PLD on that fight for 2 reasons 1) I was rolling as DRK on almost all other Raid content, and 2) We PUG ThorEx more often, and I like to roll in there on the weakest class (based on damage output) because I do bring the damage, and it is a nice reminder that PLD's can do reasonable damage.

[MiniPrinny]

Only thing that baffles me is why they call it Dark Knight instead of Blackguard.

If you paid attention to the post-50 Job quests, we're better knights than the knights of Ishgard. We're pretty much the enforcers of the law, we go where the law enforcers dare not to enforce the law upon the law enforcers.

[MagiusNecros]

If you paid attention to the post-50 Job quests, we're better knights than the knights of Ishgard. We're pretty much the enforcers of the law, we go where the law enforcers dare not to enforce the law upon the law enforcers.

Which honestly has little to do with the "Abyss" and was full "bodyguard duty" and discover "love and friendship" with "Moogles".

30-50 arc was amazing. And then they backpedaled massively 50-60.

[Galgarion]

Which honestly has little to do with the "Abyss" and was full "bodyguard duty" and discover "love and friendship" with "Moogles".

Heh, heh, right? 30-50: "The truly strong stand alone. The weak masses cry for succor, and whether or not we choose to assist them depends on how much we can tolerate their desperate clinging. We'll stay on the side of the angels for now, but there's no guarantees for tomorrow. Now lets go kill something to shut these idiots up."



50-60: "This Loli has taught me the power of friendship and love. Let's go play with some moogles! Awwwwww."

[MiniPrinny]

Which honestly has little to do with the "Abyss" and was full "bodyguard duty" and discover "love and friendship" with "Moogles".

30-50 arc was amazing. And then they backpedaled massively 50-60.

Heh, heh, right? 30-50: "The truly strong stand alone. The weak masses cry for succor, and whether or not we choose to assist them depends on how much we can tolerate their desperate clinging. We'll stay on the side of the angels for now, but there's no guarantees for tomorrow. Now lets go kill something to shut these idiots up."

50-60: "This Loli has taught me the power of friendship and love. Let's go play with some moogles! Awwwwww."

And yet, at the end, and actually throughout, the first half of the Dark Knight storyline, we are actively fighting that ideal. Fray gets frustrated with us because we refuse to give into that ideal, Fray takes action because Fray sees us as weak for choosing to, despite Fray's best intentions, selfless. In the end, we remain merciful, we remain strong, we remain collected and calm, even in our darkest moments.

Because, when it comes down to it, a Dark Knight is simply a knight, a Paladin, who has chosen to sully their hands to uphold what they believe in. The Warrior of Light as a Dark Knight isn't so different, and Dark Knights as a whole are defined as having a strong moral code as well as the willpower to uphold that code at any cost, even their standing in society.

As for Sidurgu and the Abyss, in Sidurgu's case, the story stops being about us. Sidurgu is the one who needs to learn the lesson that we learned in the 30-50 storyline, the lesson being that regardless of how we feel, regardless of what we think, society needs us to be strong. At the start of the 50-60 storyline, Sidurgu is driven by hatred and revenge, we spend that questline not learning things ourselves, but helping him accept what has happened and move on. That's why in the end he shows mercy, and then regret at the actions he was given permission to do. Sidurgu isn't proud of slaying that woman like he would have been when we first met him, he is devastated by it.

And the Abyss, the Abyss is simply where we draw our powers from. Sidurgu and Fray both explain that Dark Knights draw power from the Abyss and that our emotions are the conduit. What the moogles teach us is that it isn't just our negative emotions that can act as a conduit, but our positive ones as well, chief among them being love, be it for country, friends, family, or just a single, special person. And that, as the moogles explained, a Dark Knight who fights for love is unstoppable. The quest afterwards, you fight off a small garrison's worth of knights. I'm not sure if you kept count, but you fight over thirty knights in the level 60 quest. And if we consider Sidurgu as taking on at least half, that's at least fifteen knights for the both of you. Sidurgu proves his love for Rielle as an adoptive father in that moment, while you, as usual for the Warrior of Light, prove your love for the whole realm once again. And it's that same affection that drives you to become such an overwhelming force in that moment.