If You Were A Class/Job Designer...

[Fernosaur]

Februs I agree with all of your PLD changes. That sounds like it has much more identity by itself. I also like the ideas behind DRK, but dunno how it would work with the game's general meta. It would be awesome, though.

On that note, I've always thought Paladin should have a more military approach to its identity. It's supposed to be the only class that actually obeys a certain code of conduct and order, so I don't see why their skills can't reflect that. Specially with moves called, for example, Royal Authority. I think something with that name should at least give a boon to party auto-attacks or something. Something like a military battle cry from the front-lines.

In general, I think PLD should be the one that is all about party support, both offensive and defensive, while Warrior should be more about his own damage, which would make it perhaps a little bit more straight-forward, but still the strongest of the three tanks when it comes to offense.

Dark Knight could, in contrast be all about crippling the enemy and inflicting ailments and vulnerabilities.

[Link594]

Couldn't resist lol
I would overhaul all 3 of the tanking classes to make them have their niches and uniqueness.



Paladin: Holy Knight Fantasy

Main Resource: MP.
Make MP meaningful to PLD. Flash costs twice the mana, but puts a DoT on all enemies afflicted. Use MP on instant heals and hard hitting damaging moves. TP will still be there for Paladin, but it shouldn't ever run out of TP.

Primary & Passive Mitigation: Block.
Being able to block magic (holy shield) in addition to physical, block more often, block lots of stuff. Shield Oath shouldn't be reduced 20% damage, it should increase chance of block and block strength. Increased emphasis on blocking.

Secondary & Active Mitigation: Healing
Clemency would be instant cast and be used to recover health.

Utility: Additional Healing Toolkit & Raid Defense.
Esuna, Protect, Raise (in combat), Clemency on others if needed. Cover & Divine Veil. Rage of Halone reduces ALL enemy damage dealt by 5%.

Playstyle would basically be block as much as possible to build MP to be able to cast Clemency as soon as you have MP, on others or on yourself as needed. GCD would be significantly reduced (1.5 sec maybe), to give it that faster paced style as you're just swinging with a lighter 1 handed sword as opposed to a slow 2 hander. Flash would be usable in single target for the DoT, basically this is the MP management class.



Warrior: Berserker Fantasy

Main Resource: Wrath and Abandonment Stacks
It's perfect as it is, do combos to build up stacks to do your super moves. TP will still be there, and it should be the limiting factor for spamming Overpower or Fracture.

Primary & Passive Mitigation: Health & Increased Healing Received
Warriors should have the highest HP out of all the tanks. Increased Healing on them so their health bars aren't difficult to fill up. Basically they just soak damage like a sponge.

Secondary & Active Mitigation: Reduce Damage
Stuff like Inner Beast is perfect. Build stacks of wrath to do a super moves to reduce damage taken by a percentage. Basically the idea is they grit their teeth and just brace for impact and ignore the pain. No shield or magic, they are tough beans.

Utility: Raidwide Physical DPS & Raidwide Physical Damage Reduction
Basically throwing a warrior in your group is going to increase the damage of all your physical dps people. Should have shouts to increase the damage your melee dps do and to inspire them to keep fighting, letting teammates shrug off attacks too. Storm's Eye increases physical damage taken by enemy by 10%, and Storm's Path should decrease enemy physical damage dealt by 10%.

Playstyle would be how it is now. Build stacks to unleash super moves. It's a class thats in a well place and its already pretty unique. They wouldn't be so focused on life leech how they are now, but rather focused on flatly reducing damage taken and having a giant health cushion so things that would normally rekt others doesn't phase them.



Dark Knight: The Dark Soldier Fantasy

Main Resource: Health
They would sacrifice portions of their health to either hurt the enemy, or to give themselves absorption shields. MP can still play a factor as a resource, but its use would be secondary.

Primary & Passive Mitigation: Parry
Master of the sword, they can deflect swings, deflect magic. Might look weak (since parry is infamous for that), but their real power is in their secondary & active mitigation. It's a heavensward job and requires a lvl 50, so its not as easy as the other 2 tanks.

Secondary & Active Mitigation: Leech (Self-Heals) and Absorption Shields
Basically they will have massive self healing by taking the enemy's health and leeching off them. In addition to this, they have absorption shields to completely negate damage.

Utility: Raidwide Magic DPS & Raidwide Magic Damage Reduction
Basically they will make the enemy feel ill, decreasing resistance to magic damage. Magic attacks (including healer attacks), will hurt a bit more. They will also nullify enemy magic damage and reduce its effectiveness. Delirium reduces magic damage dealt by 10% and they should have something in their toolkit that increases enemy magic damage taken by 10%.

Playstyle would basically be sacrifice portions of their health to do hard hitting moves or to give themselves massive absorption shields. After sacrificing portions of their health, they should leech some off the enemy and self heal themselves.




All 3 tanks should have equal DPS and equal mitigation so they should obviously be balanced. None of them are weak in anything, some just have little bonuses that can help you here and there. Both tanks should have viable DPS options and the choice to use their main resource to go on the offense.

PLD can be taken to help tank survivability and healers HPS
WAR can be taken to help tank DPS and physical melee classes DPS.
DRK can be taken to help healer DPS and ranged magic classes DPS.

They all have different playstyles and different niches.
NOTE: These niches should be bonus, it shouldn't define the comp or the meta and you should bring whatever and play whatever you want to play.
None of this would happen of course, but I can dream lol.

[Anienai]

... and you could completely rework all 3 tanks, what would you make the main focus of each one?
And as a bonus, feel free to talk about how you would incorporate your changes into a skillset or just various ability ideas.

WAR-

I'd make it a lot like The X-Men comic villain Sebastian Shaw with some limitations on magic.
http://comicvine.gamespot.com/sebastian-shaw/4005-2175/

[Shurrikhan]

Can't really simplify it down to specialities, but themes, maybe:

Preliminary Changes:

The Tank Vitality/Strength Balance - Fending as an option (for everyone, but mostly tanks)

• The Vitality / Strength change went an alternate route... Vit gives .3 AP each, and Str gives .68, while Vitality additionally duplicates a small percentage of healing received over the next 9 seconds, faintly increases enmity done by all actions, increases the damage necessary to interrupt you, increases %HP regenerated per tick, and increases the effect of HoTs and shields on you. The gap has been closed, and Vitality now gives tanky-ness besides just a increase to max eHP, essentially tripling all the side-benefits of increased max eHP without further trivializing tank busters. Because of the reliance on AP of Parry and Block (see below), active mitigation again slightly favors Strength, but both contribute. (Vitality's effects tend to have similar value over time even to a lucky PLD, and are not reliant on RNG.) These changes are largely purposed towards increasing tank's survival time and overall survivability without increasing other roles' relative frailty against single or few attacks, while retaining choice between either Strength or Vitality for tanks.
• Fending Accessories now give 67% of their previous Vitality along with 45% of the wearer's main output stat (STR/DEX/INT/MND). Fending accessories are now situationally useful to multiple jobs. Everyone potentially has the choice of using either. They are used chiefly as an alternative to pentamelded accessories, the potential survivability value of which has decreased since the change to melding rules.

Hits and Misses - Accuracy system revision

• Hits and misses are no longer 100/0%. They are now analog percentiles. Accuracy now narrows the range of damage possible from X to 100% along a quadratic curve based on lacking accuracy. In effect, the soft cap for accuracy (especially for combo classes) has been reduced. Excess accuracy now acts as Critical Strike, but at a lesser contribution per stat point.
• Critical strikes no longer automatically bypass block, dodge, and parry chances.
• Cast interruption may now "push back" ones cast bars rather than cancelling the cast outright. The further along one is in a cast, the less their chance is to be cancelled. Push-back effectiveness is similarly relative to damage dealt compared to the caster's max HP.

Blocks, Dodges, and Parries - more reliable and manageable RNG mitigation. Parry replaced by three new defensive stats with more useful and interesting perks.

• Blocks, Parries, and Dodges have gained new undermechanics. Their mitigation patterns have changed and their proc chances are now variable. Blocks and parries now carry two components: Guard, which decreases damage by a flat amount based on your AP and weapon damage or block strength, averaged with a certain percentile, and Deflection, which reduces enemy accuracy based on the tank's AP, weapon damage or block strength, and accuracy, indirectly reducing enemy damage by a percentile. Dodges merely reduce enemy accuracy (Evasion). Blocks favor Guard, while Parries favor Deflection. All three types may potentially stack.
• Guard, Deflection, and Evasion are each sourced by unique resources by the same name. Damage mitigated through each decreases that resource, temporarily reducing the effectiveness of their eponymous components and Block (Guard), Parry (Deflection), and Dodge (Evasion) chances. These regenerate over time, and may be affected by abilities. However, these resources may also now be automatically consumed proportionate to the %HP of damage that would be taken to guarantee the type of mitigation that will most closely keep above critical (20%) health. These re-rolls are ignored when immune to death (Holmgang, Living Dead). This makes each far more bursty and reliable over given instances, but leaves their average effectiveness mostly unchanged. Certain jobs that can increase or otherwise guarantee dodge, parry, or block chances will now find themselves managing, bolstering, and manipulating these resources. This is also the only real cooldown for Gladiator's "Guard" ability (the 30s listed below is only there for the blissful sanity of those who did not read this part).
• Three new secondary stats have been added to the game--Guard, Deflection, Evasion--replacing Parry. These increase the maximum value of their respective resources (see above), allowing for a larger forced re-roll (guaranteed save) on Blocks, Parries, and Dodges respectively, and indirectly increasing regeneration speed (x% per second) and regeneration through %restore procs. However, Evasion also reduces non-enhanced enmity as to stay just below the leading tank enmity (eases swapping for tanks, enmity reduction for dps), while Deflection increases enmity transfer (see AI/enmity changes below) and counter-attack damage, and Guard increases the percent of mitigation (including types usually bypassed) to be counted by progressive-mitigation AoEs (see below) and resistance to interruption, knockback, and status effects. These *can* be useful to non-tanks as well.

Enmity and AI - Revised Idea of "Tanking" ("Why can't I hit anything else?" < "Twartin' my plans?")

• Enmity as a system has been changed completely. Enemies are now capable of splitting their attention, but do gradually forget about damage that was dealt to them; enmity is no longer permanent, and may be more effective at certain times. A gun-tank, for instance, may think to continue attacking the tank even while sniping away at healers, unless the tank forces them to focus the whole of their attention on him with further enmity (read: more than typical at certain phases, or slightly less than normal otherwise). Certain enemies may calculate enmity in different ways, and may more frequently reset a portion of their enmity (though almost always with telegraphs and a slight delay). Some enemies may calculate enmity by position (be it angular or ranged), damage type, weapon type, etc.
• Most damage that looks like it could remotely be an AoE or interceptable now is. Specifically, they are progressively mitigatable AoEs. Any mitigation done along the AoEs route or expansion will cause it to deal less damage to each enemy behind. However, certain AoEs may be immune to progressive deduction by all but certain sources of mitigation. Tanks generally have at least one tool that cannot be ignored in this fashion and are capable of expanding their hitbox as it would apply to or intercept PM-AoEs. The Guard stat (above) further increases their contribution in these situations.
• Simply put, mob behaviors have been increased in number, diversity, and intensity, across the board. "Mob" (aka "fills") now has a secondary meaning of those few mobs who still have vary few behaviors and are meant to be burned down quickly.
• Telegraphed but unmarked mob AoEs have been increased in number, frequency, and diversity.
• Mobs are now slower to track or adjust their angle for movement by their target, preferring often to average the movement until the target exits their area of potential attack. This greatly eases tank movement as it would effect positional attackers.
• It is now possible for mobs to "friendly fire" each other.

Animation-as-Result Realism and Group Tactics - Stagger

• All attacks that appear to in some way be AoEs or cleaves are now to some extent AoEs or cleaves.
• All attacks that appear to hit multiple times now hit multiple times, with actual differences consequent to Stagger (see below). This damage is written in smaller font, before being displayed as a total at the end of the action.
• All damage dealt, especially physical damage, in some way suppresses the enemy or enemies it hits, in a long or short term, via Stagger and Pain. Stagger very briefly reduces accuracy, evasion, and potency based on the relative damage dealt, shown as a bar beneath the target's health. Stagger faces logarithmic degeneration (the higher Stagger is, the more degenerates over time. Pain, a longer term form of suppression, decreases the decay rate of Stagger and saps attack power and/or spell power. It is shown on a smaller bar below Stagger. Maximum Stagger and Pain, and resistance to each, vary with enemy.
• Stagger and Pain modifiers vary with weapon type and ability. Vorpal Thust, Full Thrust, Skull Sunder, Storm's Eye, Butcher's Block, Power Slash, Rage of Halone, Shield Swipe, Empyreal Arrow, Slug Shot, Blunt, Stone I, Stone II, Stone III, and Aeolian Edge, Bootshine, Demolish, and Howling Fist, for instance, all have bonuses to Stagger. Inversely, most DoTs have heightened modifiers to Pain (Venomous Bite, Demolish, and Phlebotomize have the highest modifiers), along with certain weaponskills (e.g. Riot Blade, Storm's Path, and, indirectly, Disembowel). Axes, Greatswords, Shields, and Fists Weapons, in descending order, have the highest base (or, weapon-based) Stagger, while in practice Monk's higher base modifiers and Lancer's Full Thrust modifiers make them tight contenders for top suppressors. You may have noticed that many high-Stagger abilities are enmity-enhanced abilities. This is intentional, as to fit the role of a tank as thwarting enemies' offense rather than being a mere (although resilient) punching bag. These also make use of the differences singular and multiple strikes, as singular strikes better peak Stagger and multiple strikes better sustain it. Skull Sunder provides the highest peak Stagger in the game, followed by the second hit of Power Slash, but deals less Stagger in total than Butcher's Block..
• All abilities, spells, and weaponskills that apply Stun or Pacification are now high-Stagger abilities whose additional effects may vary with Stagger. Certain debuffs like Disease, Virus, and Slow may similarly vary with Pain. They have therefore become similarly more analog, but still stand as hard-points in offensive mitigation.
• Weapon-type vulnerabilities are no longer quite so plain, and may have as much of an effect on Suppression as on pure DPS. Dragon Kick also causes physical suppression to have a greatly increased effect on enemy casting (pushing back casts and reducing SP), while Delirium does the same for magical suppression (while also changing certain mob behaviors in respect to certain other DRK debuffs). Disembowel now also greatly decreases Stagger decay at lower levels. Riot Blade decreases evasion resource recovery, making it harder for them to return from Stagger and extending Stagger's slight dps benefits (since excess accuracy = additional crit chance/damage).
• Flare, Inner Beast, Aeolian Edge, The Forbidden Chakra, Aero III, and Full Thrust can now Launch staggered enemies, tossing them skyward for a type of pseudo-stun.
• Overall, attack order and spreads have become far more relevant, and DPS now play(s) a part in mitigation. Group responsibilities have increased, while role isolation has decreased. Negligence of wider matters is now more deadly.

Fixing Oversights - Healing Received Buffs and Skill Speed.

• Skill Speed and Spell Speed have been merged into Haste, which increases Attack Speed, periodic damage, and oGCD damage, and decreases animation times. They now reduce the GCD by a % of the remaining GCD, rather than a flat rate .01 GCD per x stat), giving the stat greater weight originally, but lesser weight beyond 12% Haste. (Stronger than original until 2.5 -> 2.2; weaker thereafter.) Rather than GCD reduction, its resultant value/weight is now linear.
• TP refreshes now tick for 50 per GCD, instead of 60 per 3s. Higher Speed classes now merely take a larger TP hit from using above-average TP-cost abilities, rather than draining TP faster in all ways. Over-time and aura effects that grant TP (i.e. Army's Paeon, Rook Promotion) now grant 20% less per tick, but also tick per GCD. Haste also proportionately increases the effectiveness of MP-regenerating resources, such as Mage's Ballad, Bishop's Promotion, Shroud of Saints, and Luminiferous Aether.
• Several abilities that would otherwise bottleneck rotations now scale with Haste, e.g.: Meditation, Defiance/Deliverance, Geirskogul, Painflare, Fester, Bane, Energy Drain, Transpose, Fists of Wind/Earth/Fire, Gauss Barrel, Wanderer's Minuet, and Cleric Stance.
• Defiance, Convalescence, and Mantra now increase healing received from all sources, not just from spells.

Loose notes, for below

• Shield Swipe is a weaponskill again, but lies on a separate GCD; its effect on the GCD (whether it is effectively oGCD or clips heavily) depends on shield type/size. TP varies in the same manner, but in all cases, Swipes are more TP efficient, especially for enmity, and hugely for stagger, than sword skills, especially when you include their quickened counter recasts.
• Gladiator now uses a physical AoE. Flash has been replaced by Brandish. This has some cross-class use by both DRK and WAR, but is generally sub-optimal unless using it to spread bleeds or status effects. Paladin sprinting pulls are instead done via the quickened TP regeneration and TP cost reductions of Fight or Flight in addition to its evasion and attack speed bonuses. FoF is now a more situational ability, which provides some burst, but mostly serves to normalize TP longevity for an otherwise quickly TP-draining job. When optomized, it hits very, very quick. GLD naturally regenerates TP via other procs as well.
• "Variable" or "dynamic" cooldowns have been added. These are cooldowns can be used early or late, but at reduced value/bonus. They can be used up to 33% early, or 100% late (leaving the CD to overcharge for an additional cooldown time) for 50% to 150% effect) at 2/3s to double the recast time. A VarCD used 1/3 early gives 1/2 less effect, 1/10th early gives 1/9th less effect, and so forth, while overcharging the cooldown by 33% will similarly give an extra 25% effect, etc. They are still best used on CD for maximum average effect, but are vastly more flexible, and can double as longer, more powerful CDs. Most DRK CDs are now variable, along with certain GLD/PLD CDs.
• Certain abilities, particularly those of Warrior, now deal a combination of two effects based on current %HP and %HP missing. Inner Beast, for instance, deals greater damage-to-healing based on missing %HP, while granting Defense and Magic Defense as a portion of damage based on current %HP. Equilibrium similarly creates periodic healing or TP cost reduction based on current %HP or %TP.
• Many flat mitigation abilities have been exchanged for things that are a bit more unique, and certain cooldowns that were either purely offensive or defensive can now be used in either way or for both simultaneously.

DRK: the bastard tank - builds various resources (Blood, Shadow, and Steel) through its actions and procs to fund and/or empower abilities. Consumes health or mana to further empower itself via Darkside. Grit and Dark Arts each change the effects of certain abilities, while Grit itself consumes Steel to apply an immediate shield, or stance change (consumed mana but no GCD). Each resource type and most abilities can in some way be used for damage, mitigation, or support. Damage dealt through any of these types also applies debuffs to their affected enemies that can later be consumed for damage or buffs. Rather theatrical in some ways, the Dark Knight is capable of infecting enemy minds through Delirium to open them up to a variety of additional effects, including positional swaps, blink-strikes, and confusion, can leave behind Shade images, use evasion in unique ways, and seemingly reap souls. The majority of DRK CDs are variable; they can be used early, for lesser effect, or late, for greater effect, but their optimal usage remains at their listed time. Almost all consume a percentage of current resource, be it Mana, Blood, Shadow, or Steel, and give proportionate effect. It is the closest thing to a free-form job insofar as macrorotation is concerned. Incredibly fluid and intuitive yet vastly complicated in a longer view. The Dark Knight sees itself as less a tank and more as the master of the battlefield, leading enemies to their optimal points of death. DRK's can be irritable and hard to please, assumptive but perfectionistic, controlling but expecting individual readiness. Their focus centers primarily on building resources for the key points of a fight, through prior resource expenditures as optimal leading up to those points, etc., while able also to push their dps or defense buffs at cost to their health in order to match incoming heals that might otherwise be excessive. The latter's usefulness is greatly diminished when not taking damage from enemies.

WAR: the holdout/surge tank - the Warrior is the rhythmic tank, and the one for whom healer coordination is probably the most important. It has two stances (+max HP & +healing taken / +Crit), both of which increase its attack speed in addition to parry or critical strike per stack of Wrath or Abandon, generated through combo actions, abilities, and certain other procs. The Warrior will maximizes raid output by catching shields and HoTs in Defiance before blasting away into enemies in Deliverance, attempting also to time these stances with its cooldown opportunities. Certain effects limited to either may actually give brief opportunities for increased damage or mitigation than the more obviously aligned stance, especially if another swap can be made after gaining the buff. (Raw Intuition, for instance, increases parry strength and chance based on the average damage or mitigation done over the roughly half its duration, such that leading with a Berserk Fell Cleave may help with an incoming attack, especially if followed up with a Infuriate-Unchained-Inner Beast.) Certain abilities vary in effect based on stance (Equilibrium - HP/TP) or %HP (Inner Beast - (m)Defense/Self-heal). The latter especially allows for flexible use of abilities and their timings.

[Overall, little about WAR has changed. They've simply become a bit more chaotic, have been giving a bit more reason to use Defiance even when horribly outgearing fights, a bit more reason to use Deliverance briefly even when horribly outmatched, a bit more reason to hold onto stacks for lossless rotations or procs, have been given some raid utility beyond their weaponskills (Thrill of Battle -> Warcry), and Defiance has been fixed to work on all healing received, not just from spells, Defiance's damage penalty has been reduced from 25% to 20%, Steel Cyclone and Inner Beast are no longer immune to Defiance's damage reduction but have 25% more potency, and Inner Beast grants a combination of Defense/Magic Defense (higher HP) for 6s and healing (lower HP) based on your current %HP, to make it more flexible and more useful for soloing, especially in combination with Steel Cyclone, which now either additionally deals knockback (low HP) and Slow or provides flat damage reduction (high HP) based on defense for 3s depending on %HP. Decimate now extends all status effects you've dealt on nearby enemies by 6s, with diminishing returns. (Inner Beast's overhealing also increases max HP.) Equilibrium's Defiance effect now gives a % as periodic healing depending on %HP and Deliverance effect now gives a TP cost reduction (with a slightly higher maximum TP restore) instead of immediate TP, depending on current %TP, making the latter slightly more useful for AoE TP sustain and less useful for ST TP sustain. Fracture's DoT potency has been increased from 20 to 25, but TP cost has been increased to 90. All stack-moves now cost 50 TP (Inner Beast) to 100 TP (Decimate), but Heavy Swing costs only 60, in line with the other tanks.]

And now for the last tank... but first:

Gladiator: the tenacious sword and board opportunist class, focused on maximizing attack rate through its defenses and enemy openings while managing status effects and active mitigation. The Gladiator lies half in the fray, knocking enemy attacks into each other, and half as its absolute barrier, letting nothing past. It specializes in speed, turning its target against itself, and pressing the advantage. Certain weaponskills when queued may go off early if the target's attacks are dodged, blocked, or parried. Fast Blade causes a reduced recast, and can stack combo boosts, changing animation and damage each consecutive use. Savage Blade deals additional damage based on active mitigation, and increases evasion during its animation if combo-ed. Shield weaponskills lie on a separate GCD. A new weaponskill, Guard, gives a forced block early on, though with an additional cooldown based on shield type (to a maximum of 30s, for tower shields), and resets the GCD of shield abilities upon block, allowing for a swift counter swipe. Shield skills deal damage or mitigation based on Block Strength rather than Weapon Damage and their recast times (on GCD or off) depend on shield class (bucklers have the least; their Shield Swipe effectively lies oGCD, while the Tower shield swipe clips significantly). Gladiator makes heavy use of status effects. Rather than granting mana, Riot Blade applies a stackable DoT (each application fades separately) and extends the duration of other status effects you applied. (Goring Blade consumes this DoT to increase its own potency over time.) Flash has been replaced by Brandish, a physical AoE which strikes nearby enemies somewhat randomly, with a chance to spread status effects on each target struck to nearby enemies (excluding stun). Several abilities have been moved around; the plainest and most obligatory abilities have been moved to later, changed for more interesting and/or dynamic abilities. Those core to Gladiator's tricky, counter-intensive, Sword-and-Board style have been moved up. For instance, Bulwark temporarily applies a secondary stance, wherein shield versions of most weaponskills can be used, using the GCD currently available (or would deal the highest combined damage or stagger), while your attacks build parry or block chance (Guard or Deflection; see prelim changes), effectively increasing attack rate (and Stagger) enormously. Furthermore, while Bulwark is active, enemies cannot pass through the Gladiator. (Though not listed on the tooltip itself, enemies that attack Bulwark gain a decreased hitbox size as considered by other mobs, while they increase the PLD's own as considered by mob movement, effectively grouping them more tightly in front of the PLD.) Fight or Flight now decreases TP costs (including that of Sprint) while increasing evasion, movement speed, attack power, and attack speed. Awareness, Tempered Will, and Rampart have all also been similarly revised for more unique effects. That said, these unique opportunities for quick attacks come at a cost; due to its speed, a GLD can burn through TP quickly, and must sometimes pace itself accordingly, or make further use of defense, rather than offense. It is not uncommon for a GLD to care more about the attack rate of its enemies than its own when not TP capped.

[Note that GLD is highly dependent on the Preliminary Changes for its identity, as it in actually manages not only its attack systems and target management to maximize its outputs but also will manage its Guard, Deflection, and Evasion. Furthermore, just as Guard has replaced Shelltron, Circle of Scorn has been moved into Shelltron's place, now as a PLD ability with effects that vary with Oath.]

Paladin: the spiked bulkhead - The Paladin has two stances, Sword Oath and Shield Oath, but neither is entirely offense or defense. Sword Oath itself carries several parry and counter-attack opportunities suitable for tanking, and Shield Oath's seemingly auxiliary ability to hold extra charges of block procs for bashing enemies apart, mass-pacifying, or mass-stunning carries valuable utility and burst damage opportunities. Either stance is fearsome, and neither permanent. A Paladin may swap instantly between stances through certain stance-locked abilities, or can Invoke its sword or shield to build attack speed or block value (and procs) over 1 to 5 seconds unleashable at the end of the charge-up. These effects quite nearly make up for the time lost in changing Oath, while allowing for certain burst opportunities. The Paladin's specialty is absolute protection. It carries the best cover utility, can intercept enemy attacks with a dash, can transfer damage taken from another party member to self, and can force enemies back. By use of its shield, the Paladin carries heavy average physical mitigation, but its average defenses against magic are not poor either; attacks against a Paladin gradually make the Paladin resistant to magic damage and effects that type, though this effect fades over time. The Inspire ability (replacing Divine Veil) allows the PLD to shroud or buff the party for either defensive or offensive support. The Paladin also gains a substantial buff to mind as a duplication of its VIT and STR stats while instead sourcing to spells via his weapon's physical damage rather than magical, making its heals decently powerful (just short of a BLM's before the Int/Mind split, proportionately). Its additional access to Stoneskin, Esuna, and its own nuke heal, Clemency gives it notable support capabilities, though these come at significant mana costs. The Paladin may regenerate mana via oGCD damage and bonus damage caused by sword augmentation while in Sword Oath and via blocks, bonus damage caused by shield augmentation, or magic resists in Shield Oath. Circle of Scorn now deals two different effects depending on Oath, dealing either DoT damage and a lesser paralysis or placing a ringed barrier through which enemies are slowed and heavied when crossing and periodically take heavy temporary enmity ("mini-taunts") while within with the PLD. While in Shield Oath, Guard is exchanged for Aegis Boon, which moves the ability entirely off GCD, allows you to heal for part of the damage blocked when used on self, or allows you to absorb damage for an ally within 25 yalms. Mana cost increased with range. Vow, replacing Cover, varies effect based on Oath. In Sword Oath it prevents certain effects on the target, such as reflected damage, per-action damage, slows, and heavies at cost to your MP, while reducing TP costs for the target and sharing damage-as-healing. In Shield Oath it does the same as it used to. In both cases, the highest mitigation among self or target is used on transferred damage, the link may be toggled, and chance/effectiveness varies with range, and each may move more quickly towards the other, and certain effects (Tempered Will, Awareness, Rampart) are shared between both the PLD and target.

[Duelle]

Well, I decided to spend some time tuning stuff I posted in another thread, then decided to just make a write up for the three tanks. Ground rules for this was to stay as close as possible to the gameplay paradigms the devs have set, renewable/permanent debuffs are gone (no STR debuff, INT debuff, nor all damage debuff) and all three tanks have some form of group mitigation.

It's nowhere near what the devs would do with these jobs, but this was basically me fantasizing about stuff.
---------------------------------
Paladin

Summary of Changes

- Flash trait now gives it a small amount of damage in addition to the Blind effect.
- Shield Bash nerfed from 110 potency to 100.
- Provoke's cooldown reduced to 35s.
- Rage of Halone now only has enmity effects and does nothing else.
- Shield Swipe is now strictly an interrupt.
- Awareness duration extended to 20s baseline. Trait grants a 25% chance to increase the damage of your next weaponskill.
- Obsess is a new cooldown to replace what we currently know as Bulwark. Bulwark itself has been redesigned and will still be part of the kit.
- Sword Oath increases all damage dealt by 10% but seals away any "Increased Enmity" effects on skills like Halone, Shield Lob and so on.
- Cover has been redesigned into a gap-closer that has built-in mitigation.
- Spirits Within has been redesigned. Its damage has been normalized to 210 potency but Sword Oath and Shield Oath grant a chance that its cooldown will be reset by melee swings or shield blocks, respectively.
- Hallowed Ground's cooldown reduced by 30s.
- Clemency healing potency nerfed to 900, but with an effect that will reduce the cast time by 50% if used after a block.

Class Abilities

01 Fast Blade - Delivers an attack with a potency of 150.
02 Rampart - Reduces damage taken by 10% for 20s. Cooldown: 90s.
04 Savage Blade - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo action: Fast Blade. Combo potency: 200. Combo bonus: Increased enmity.
06 Fight or Flight - Increases physical damage dealt by 30% for 20s. Cooldown: 90s.
08 Flash - Increases enmity in all nearby enemies.
10 Convalescence - Increases HP restored by spells or actions by 20%. Cooldown: 120s
12 Riot Blade - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo action: Fast Blade. Combo potency: x. Combo bonus: Restores MP.
15 Shield Lob - Delivers an attack with a potency of 120. Additional effect: Increased enmity.
18 Shield Bash - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Additional effect: Stun for 3s.
22 Provoke - Gesture threateningly, putting you at the top of the target's enmity list. Cooldown: 35s.
26 Rage of Halone - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo action: Savage Blade. Combo potency: 280. Combo bonus: Increased enmity.
30 Shield Swipe - Delivers an attack with a potency of 50. Additional effect: Silence and pacification for 2s. Cooldown: 30s.
34 Awareness - Nullifies the chance of suffering critical damage for 20s.
38 Sentinel - Reduces damage taken by 30% for 10s. Cooldown: 180s.
42 Tempered Will - Immediately cure Blind and Heave, while preventing knockback and draw-in effects for 10s.
46 Obsess - Reduces damage taken from your current target by 5%. Additional attacks from that same target increase the amount by 1%. Caps at 10%. Duration: 20s. Cooldown: 60.
50 Circle of Scorn - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100 to all nearby enemies. Deals damage over time with a potency of 30 for 15s. Additional effect: Increased Enmity. Cooldown: 25s.

Traits

08 Enhanced Vitality
14 Enhanced Rampart - Increases damage reduction granted by Rampart to 20%.
16 Enhanced Vitality II
20 Harmful Flash - Adds Blind effect to Flash for 12s and deals damage with a potency of 25 to all enemies affected.
24 Enhanced Vitality III
28 Enhanced Fight or Flight - Extends Fight or Flight duration to 30s.
32 Enhanced Convalescence - Improves the HP recovery increase granted by Convalescence to 30%.
36 Enhanced Shield Bash - Extends Stun duration inflicted by Shield Bash to 6s.
40 Armor Mastery - Increases defense and magic defense gained from individual body armor by 3%.
44 Combat Awareness - Physical damage received while Awareness is active has a 25% chance to increase the potency of the next weaponskill by 20%. Buff duration: 6s.
48 Enhanced Sentinel - Increases damage reduction granted by Sentinel to 40%.

Job Abilities

30 Sword Oath - Increases damage dealt by 10%. Removes "Increased Enmity" effects from all abilities. Effect ends upon reuse.
35 Cover - Run to target party member, absorbing the next two attacks aimed at them. Duration: 8s. Cooldown: 90s.
40 Shield Oath - Reduces damage taken by 20%. Reduces damage dealt by 15%. Increases enmity. Effect ends upon reuse.
45 Spirits Within - Delivers an attack with a potency of 210. Cooldown: 45s.
-----Shield Oath: Shield blocks have a 15% chance to reset the cooldown of Spirits Within.
-----Sword Oath: Auto attacks have a 10% chance to reset the cooldown of Spirits Within.
50 Hallowed Ground - Renders you impervious to most attacks for 10s. Cooldown: 390s.
52 Bulwark - Increases shield block rate by 100% for 5s. Cooldown: 30s. Additional effect: The first block made while Bulwark is active will restore MP.
54 Goring Blade - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo action: Riot Blade. Combo potency: 240. Combo bonus: Damage over time with a potency of 50 for 24s.
56 Divine Veil - Creates a protective barrier around all party members within 15y that absorbs damage up to 10% of your max HP. Duration 30s. Cooldown: 150s.
58 Clemency - Restores target's HP. Cure Potency: 900. Additional effect: Restores to self 50% of HP restored to target if target is a party member. Cast time 2s. If used immediately after blocking an attack, the cast time is reduced by 50%.
60 Royal Authority - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo action: Savage Blade. Combo potency: 350.

Notes

- PLD's design is pretty solid when it comes to ability spread, so this is more like a list of tweaks rather than a massive redesign/overhaul.
- The thing with Flash is not final. Some people complain about PLD AoE, which is why I threw that in, but can easily remove it if needed. Granted, Ultra-Flash from A6 sort of sold me on the possibility of Flash doing damage.
- Shield Swipe being turned into a true-blue interrupt deals with a main issue I have with PLD's design, in that interrupts are tied to strong abilities (old Spirits Within), except that doesn't work on a tank because the tank's damage = aggro generation, and having to hold out on abilities with strong damage for the sake of being able to silence is a losing proposition.
- The new Awareness trait gives it a use in situations that are not Shiva EX, and the potency boost is balanced by the proc rate and the fact that you can't save it, as the proc will get spent on the next weapon skill. Which means that yes, it can proc and you can accidentally use it on Shield Bash or Circle of Scorn.
- Obsess is sort of like a defensive version of Awareness, with incremental gains as you continue to get hit by your target. I haven't fleshed out the design, but an idea I had for it was that the damage reduction would reset back to 5% if you switch targets. Problem is that as someone whose game constantly drops/loses targets, I'd probably get screwed by this cooldown pretty hard. Ideally you'd hit the cap at around the time there's 5 seconds left in the duration.
- Sword Oath is basically a DPS stance now. Increased damage and synergy with Spirits Within at the cost of enmity bonuses on weapon skills. This would deal with an issue during ARR where a PLD off-tank would ride the main tank's threat without meaning to.
- Cover being a gap-closer makes sense (insert "look out, Mr. President!" jokes). It'd still have its uses when covering another tank, just not for as long as in the current game.
- Spirits Within would become both filler and a proc to watch out for, regardless of your stance. I'm thinking of buffing the proc chance while in Shield Oath, but 15% seems fair to me for the moment.
- Bulwark is basically an improved version of what we currently know as Sheltron. Only the first block that procs while under the effect will restore MP.

---------------------------------
Warrior

Summary: WAR redesigned to be more like a tank that ignores pain and constantly switches stances to fight optimally.

Class Abilities

Note: Numbers in () denote potencies while under the effect of Destroyer

01 Heavy Swing - Delivers an attack with a potency of 150.
02 Combat Rush - Recover 20% of your base max HP over 12s. Cooldown: 120s.
04 Skull Sunder - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo action: Heavy Swing. Combo Potency: 180 (210).
06 Fracture - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Additional effect: Damage over time with a potency of 20 for 18s. Defender: Reduces damage you receive from target's attacks by 10%.
08 Brutal Swing - Delivers an attack with a potency of 80. Additional Effect: Stun for 3 sec.
10 Overpower - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100 (130) to all enemies in a cone in front of you.
12 Tomahawk - Delivers a ranged attack with a potency of 110 (140).
15 Defender - Enhances certain abilities. Increases enmity. Cannot be used with other stances. Effect ends upon reuse. Cooldown: 15s.
18 Maim - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo action: Heavy Swing. Combo potency: 170 (200). Combo bonus: Increases damage dealt by 10% for 24s (20% when under the effect of Destroyer).
22 Berserk - Increases attack power by 25% (50% when under the effect of Destroyer) for 15s. Prevents the use of weaponskills for 15s. Cooldown: 90s.
----This replaces the above if under the effect of Defender: Ignore damage up to an amount equal to 10% of your max HP. Effect duration: 10s.
26 Mercy Stroke - Delivers an attack with a potency of 200. Can only be executed when target's HP is below 20%. If delivered as the killing blow, up to 20% of your maximum HP will be restored. Cooldown: 90s.
30 Butcher's Block - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo action: Skull Sunder. Combo potency: 260 (290).
34 Vengeance - Reduces damage taken by 20% for 10s. Upon reuse or expiration of the effect, delivers an attack with a potency of 250 (potency increases based on the amount of damage taken while the effect was active; caps at 400 potency). Can only be used while under the effect of Defender. Cooldown: 90s.
38 Storm's Eye - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo Action: Skull Sunder. Combo Potency: 250 (280).
----Defender - Combo Bonus: Increases enmity generated by your attacks for 20s.
----Destroyer - Combo Bonus: Reduces target's healing received by 20% for 20s.
42 Charge - Rush at target, placing you at the top of target's enmity list and delivering an attack with a potency of 50. Cooldown: 35s. Shares a cooldown with other taunt abilities.
46 Holmgang - Draws target to the caster, binding both for 6s. Cooldown: 150s.
50 Steel Cyclone - Delivers an attack with a potency of 200 (230) to all nearby enemies. Can only be used while under the effect of Defender or Destroyer. Cooldown: 45s.

Traits

08 Enhanced Vitality
14 Raw Intuition - Strength now increases parry rate.
16 Enhanced Vitality II
20 Enhanced Combat Rush - Increase the recovered HP to 30% of base max HP.
24 Enhanced Vitality III
28 Enhanced Brutal Swing - Extends Brutal Swing duration to 5s.
32 Enhanced Fracture - Extends the duration of Fracture to 30s.
36 Enhanced Mercy Stroke - Shortens the recast of Mercy Stroke to 40s.
40 Enhanced Berserk - Increases the amount of damage ignored to 20% when in Defender, and increases the duration of the attack power increase when in Destroyer to 20s.
44 Raw Intuition II - Strength now also increases parry threshold.
48 Focused Vengeance - Increases the damage reduction to 30% and raises the potency cap to 450.

Job Abilities

*Warrior Job Stone effect: Certain abilities used while under Defender and Destroyer will grant stacks of Wrath.*

30 Destroyer - Enhances certain abilities. Cannot be used with other stances. Effect ends upon reuse. Cooldown: 15s.
35 Inner Beast - Delivers an attack with a potency of 300. Reduces incoming damage by 20% for 6s. Ignore damage up to an amount equal to 10% of your max HP for 6s. Can only be used while Infuriated and under the effect of Defender. All Wrath is lost when used.
40 Intimidate - Reduces target's damage dealt to you by 25% for 6s. Cooldown: 180s.
45 Infuriate - Instantly grants five units of Wrath, changing status to Infuriated. Cooldown: 60s.
50 Final Stand - Increases your HP by 100% and restores the amount increased for 6s. Cooldown: 240s.
52 Decimate - Delivers an attack with a potency of 200 and switches you into the opposite stance. Can only be used while Infuriated and under the effect of Defender or Destroyer. All Wrath is lost when used.
-----Defender: If target is under the effect of Fracture, consumes Fracture, deals damage equal to Fracture's remaining damage over time and refunds 1 Wrath.
-----Destroyer: If target is under the effect of Fracture, consumes Fracture, causes you to ignore damage up to an amount equal to 15% of your max HP for 6s and refunds 1 Wrath.
54 Fel Cleave - Delivers an attack with a potency of 400. Can only be used while Infuriated and under the effect of Destroyer. All Wrath is lost when used.
56 Warcry - Increase maximum HP of self and party members within 15y by 15% and restores the amount increased for 10s. Cooldown: 120s.
58 Equilibrium - Restores own HP when in Defender. Cure Potency: 1200. Restores 200 TP when in Destroyer. Cooldown: 60s.
60 Obliterate - Delivers an attack with a potency of 600. Prevents TP regeneration for 12s. Cooldown: 90s.

About stances

One way to integrate stance dancing without leading to the drama we had from 3.1-on is to remove notable bonuses from stances and instead focus on how they affect a class mechanically. In the case of WAR, separate utility, buffs and overall performance between both stances to encourage the player to learn to stance dance without making it seem like something that only exists for the sake of numbers.

As such, Deliverance and Defiance are gone and replaced by their JP counterparts, Defender and Destroyer. You also get your stances sooner since Defender is gained through the lv15 MRD quest (concept of knowing that you and your axe are what stand between the enemy and your squishy allies), while Destroyer is gained when you unlock WAR at lv30 (concept of harnessing your rage/fury while keeping a leash on that inner beast). This way by the time you're tanking Brayflox's Longstop you're already introduced to having two stances and hopefully figure out how to switch between them to maximize your performance.

Of course, this also means having an ability to use in emergencies where you NEED to switch either to stay alive or because things went south. That's where Decimate comes in.

About Vengeance

The way this ability works is that you click on the ability and you get two buffs. One is Vengeance, which reduces your damage taken by the set amount. The second buff is called Ire, which determines the potency of the attack that will be released when the buff expires. The buff expires after 10 seconds or if you click Vengeance a second time. Once that happens, the cooldown of Vengeance starts.

Now, damage taken while you have Ire active will increase the damage of the attack released. It'll go from the base potency of 250 to the cap of 400 (450 with the trait). While not mentioned in this writeup, parried attacks grant more towards that potency cap than hits taken to the face, meaning a string of lucky parries can help you hit the damage cap faster, thus allowing you to release the attack earlier should you so choose. The attack releases automatically on your target when Ire expires.

Needless to say, you can still use other attacks while Ire is active, and the attack's effect is independent of your own animation delays (maybe instead of a black and red axe coming from the ground like with Mercy Stroke, it'd be a blue and purple axe or something).

Notes

- Wrath is the unified WAR resource and you can only gain stacks of Wrath while the WAR job crystal is equipped.
- Weaponskills are your only sources of Wrath. This means Heavy Swing, Skull Sunder, Butcher's Block, Maim, Storm's Eye, Steel Cyclone, Vengeance, and (possibly) Obliteration.
- Defender adds the additional effect "Increased Enmity" to the following skills: Skull Sunder, Overpower, Tomahawk, Steel Cyclone, Butcher's Block, Inner Beast.
- Destroyer adds 30 potency to the combo potencies for the following abilities: Skull Sunder, Butcher's Block, Maim, Storm's Eye.
- Destroyer adds 30 potency to the potencies of the following abilities: Overpower, Tomahawk, Steel Cyclone.
- The "base HP" in Combat Rush's description means the your HP value before VIT from gear and stat points. This number might need to be buffed.
- Berserk's pacification effect only comes into play if you use it while under Destroyer. Defender turns it into a mini stoneskin for 20% of your HP.
- The enmity buff gained from using Storm's Eye while in Defender is there to facilitate tanking after a swap into Destroyer.
- Warcry is meant to be used for raid mitigation.
- Obliteration feels like it could use more, but the idea of dealing a really strong attack but being at a disadvantage afterwards sort of makes sense to me. I originally was going to make the ability stun/incapacitate the WAR upon use (because after a massive swing you're going to try to recover for a bit). I was also thinking of giving it a cast time of 2.5s again to simulate gathering strength for a massive swing.
- Raw Intuition is there for the sake of scaling. The bonuses from STR wouldn't be huge but enough to create a notable difference between parries for WAR compared to the other tanks. I can't think of any issues with this, specially now that tanks are going to be focusing on stacking VIT. I didn't use Parry scaling because tank gear has a lot of it and it'd be safer to use a stat that is separate from Parry and is also one that tanks get in controlled amounts.
- Still haven't decided on whether or not Defender should grant extra HP and healing like Defiance does. Perhaps something like increasing defense gained from armor?
- Charge is my attempt at giving WAR their own version of provoke. This is more for utility since they'd still be able to cross class Provoke from GLA and both share the same cooldown.
- Going further into stance swaps, one thing I thought of that didn't make it in was allowing the WAR to consume Wrath stacks to bypass the 15 second cooldown shared by Defender/Destroyer (one stack consumed per switch).
- I'm not sure if the Destroyer version of Storm's Eye needs a different effect. I was thinking of making it a self heal instead of a HP recovery debuff but WAR would already have Combat Rush and Second Wind.
- As far as having room to grow, the 61-70 abilities could include a third stance that can only be temporarily used (either because it increases TP costs, or increases overall damage taken).

---------------------------------
Dark Knight

Summary: DRK redesigned to focus on some mitigation, some HP drains and converting damage taken into HP.

Abilities

01 Hard Slash - Delivers an attack with a potency of 150.
02 Blood Weapon - Converts 15% of physical damage into HP. Duration: 20s. Cooldown: 90s. Grit: Increase damage conversion to 30%.
04 Spinning Slash - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: Increased enmity Combo Action: Hard Slash, Combo Potency: 220
06 Scourge - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: Damage over time with a Potency of 40 for 18s.
08 Unleash - Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 100 to all nearby enemies. Additional Effect: Increased enmity.
10 Low Blow - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: Stun Duration: 5s (PvP 3s). Cooldown: 25s.
12 Syphon Strike - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo Action: Hard Slash. Combo Potency: 250 Combo Bonus: Restores MP.
15 Unmend - Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 150. Additional Effect: Increased enmity.
18 Aetherleech - Increases attack speed by 10% and converts physical damage dealt into MP. Duration: 15s. Shares a cooldown with Blood Weapon. Cooldown: 40s. Cannot be used while under the effect of Grit.
22 Reprisal - Delivers an attack with a potency of 210. Can only be used immediately after parrying an attack. Cooldown: 30s.
26 Power Slash - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: Increased enmity Combo Action: Spinning Slash. Combo Potency: 300. Dark Arts Combo Effect: Increased enmity. Dark Arts fades upon execution.
30 Grit - Reduces damage dealt and damage received by 20%. Effect ends upon reuse. Cooldown: 10s.
34 Dark Dance - Increases parry rate by 30%. Duration: 20s. Dark Arts Effect: Allows parries to occur from any direction. Cooldown: 60s.
38 Umbral Shield - You recover some HP every time you take damage. Duration: 15s. Cure Potency: 300. Cooldown: 90s.
42 Dread Spike - Convert damage taken from the next attack into HP. The healed amount cannot be greater than 20% of your max HP. Duration: 10s. Cooldown: 30s.
46 Shadow Wall - Reduces damage taken by 30%. Duration: 10s. Cooldown: 180s.
50 Resolution - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo Action: Syphon Strike. Combo Potency: 280. Combo Bonus: Restores MP over time for 18s.

Traits

08 Enhanced Vitality
14 Enhanced Blood Weapon - Increases the duration of Blood Weapon to 30s.
16 Enhanced Vitality II
20 Shadowskin - Healing effects grant you a stack of Hardened Shadow for 10s. At 10 stacks, you gain a damage shield equal to 10% of your max HP. Duration: 10s.
24 Enhanced Vitality III
28 Enhanced Scourge - Extends Scourge duration to 30s.
32 Runic Reprisal - Reprisal now also restores MP equal to damage dealt.
36 Low Blows - Allows Low Blow to be used a second time while on cooldown. The second use has its own 25s cooldown.
40 Enhanced Unmend - Grants a 30% chance that after casting Unmend your next Unleash will require no MP. Duration: 15s
44 Enhanced Dark Dance - Improves Dark Dance parry rate increase to 40%.
48 Soul Devourer - Souleater now also absorbs 100% of damage inflicted as HP.

Job Abilities

30 Dark Arts - Sacrifice 5% of your max HP to attune with the darkness within you, enhancing certain actions and allowing the use of others. Duration: 30s. Stacks to 3. Cooldown: 5s. Envelops you in Darkness for 30s.
-----Darkness - Continuously drain MP to increase damage dealt by 15%. Duration can be refreshed and extended through certain actions. Effect ends if you run out of MP. Duration cap: 60s.
35 Blood Price - Restores partial MP when damage is taken. Can only be used while under the effect of Dark Arts. Duration: 15s. Cooldown: 40s
40 Souleater - Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo Action: Syphon Strike. Combo Potency: 250 Combo effect: Creates a damage shield equal to 100% of damage dealt. Can only be used while under the effect of Dark Arts.
45 Dark Passenger - Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 150 to all enemies in a straight line before you. Additional effect: Blind for 15s. Can only be used while under the effect of Dark Arts. Cooldown: 45s.
50 Shadow Guardian - Negates most damage dealt to you, and instead inflicts it on your guardian for 10s. Upon expiring, deals the accumulated damage to you over 9s. Accumulated amount will not exceed your max HP. Cooldown: 240s.
52 Plunge - Delivers a jumping attack with a potency of 200. Cannot be executed while bound. Cooldown: 90s.
54 Salted Earth - Creates a patch of salted earth at your feet, dealing unaspected damage with a potency of 75 to any enemies who enter. Can only be used while under the effect of Dark Arts. Duration: 21s. Cooldown: 45s.
56 Abyssal Drain - Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 120 to target and enemies near it. Additional effect: Absorbs 100% of damage dealt as HP. Can only be used while under the effect of Dark Arts.
58 Sole Survivor - Marks the target with the status Another Victim. If that target should be KO'd in battle, 20% of your maximum HP and MP will be restored. Duration: 15s Cooldown: 120s.
60 Martyr - Redirect 40% damage taken by all party members to you for 6s. Total damage transferred will not exceed 80% of your max HP. Cooldown: 120s.

About Darkness

First and foremost, let's talk about Darkness. Rather than being a toggle, this version is a buff you get when you use Dark Arts. The buff can be refreshed to 30s if you use Dark Arts while Darkness is active on you. The buff duration can be extended if you use any abilities that consume stacks of Dark Arts. The challenge is not so much in keeping the buff active via ability use, but in keeping the buff active via your MP pool. Which means MP upkeep is just as, if not more, important. This being said, because of the nature of this buff, abilities that currently require Darkside active to be useable can now be used even when Darkness is not active, but consume Dark Arts stacks.

About Dark Arts

I'm of the opinion SE missed an opportunity with Dark Arts by having it be this extra button you're pushing instead of treating it as a resource. I was originally looking to make it work like FFXI SCH strategems (which you get back over time after they are consumed), but I figured letting the DRK weave in Dark Arts to generate stacks amidst a rotation would be more fitting for this job and go into that whole "engaging gameplay" thing some people prattle on about.

5% of max HP isn't much, specially given the number of drains in the DRK's arsenal combined with regen effects from healers. Not sure if this version of Dark Arts should ignore damage shields (Souleater, Adlo, Stoneskin). If three stacks is not enough, I could extend the max to 5.

Abilities that consume stacks of Dark Arts: Power Slash, Dark Dance, Blood Price, Soul Eater, Dark Passenger, Salted Earth, Abyssal Drain.

About mitigation

DRK's mitigation comes mainly from minor defensive cooldowns, some parry stuff and drains. Unlike WAR drains in 2.0 that made it a non-viable tank on enemies that hit really hard, this version of DRK has more than just "hit mob to drain HP" mechanics. This is why some of the mitigation sources are passive (Shadowskin) or reactive (Umbral Shield, Dread Spike).

Notes

- Just to prevent confusion, Umbral Shield will still process damage dealt to you. Dread Spike will not. As an example, you're a DRK main tanking T13 and Bahamut does a 4-hit Akh Morn on you. With Umbral Shield up you'll take damage from every hit but also receive a 300 potency heal per hit. If you have Dread Spike up, you'll instead negate the first hit while recovering up to 20% of your max HP and then take the other three hits like normal.
- Martyr is a bit weird but it's the only thing I could think of to give DRK a raid mitigation ability like what I gave WAR (Warcry) and PLD (Divine Veil). The 80% HP cap is there to prevent the DRK from being killed by the ability.
- Damage transferred to you via Martyr can be mitigated by things like cooldowns and damage shields, but the cap is still damage equal to 80% of your max HP before mitigation cooldowns and damage shields apply.
- Resolution is sort of a replacement for Carve & Spit, which I personally never liked. I was running out of space so I ended up making it a lv50 weaponskill.
- Shadowskin is not final, but I thought it'd create interesting synergy with healers. The effect can also be triggered by your own self heals; realistically speaking, you could pop Blood Weapon and start getting stacks as you attack the mob.
- Low Blow with the trait basically has two charges. Each charge has its own cooldown.
- Bottom line with the gameplay is to press Dark Arts to generate stacks (Dark Arts in this build is off-GCD and does not interrupt combos), use your enmity rotation to hold hate, weave in mitigation cooldowns as needed and spend Dark Arts stacks to extend the duration of Darkness by using relevant abilities.

[Souleater13]

I'm curious to know what ideas SE had for DRK when HP consuming abilities were still a potential mechanic.
Well here are my ideas i started to put together if I were to develop dark knight.
"Same" means either I haven't thought of something different or can just remain the same.

Hard Slash - Standard attack, uses tp.
Shadowskin - Similar defensive cooldown.
Spinning Slash - Combo off Hard Slash, gives some enmity, uses tp.
Scourge - same
Unleash - same
Low Blow - same
Syphon Strike - Combo off Spinning Slash. gain mp. uses tp.
Unmend - same
Blood Weapon - Same but absorb HP instead of MP.
Reprisal - Grant increased parry. if a certain amount of attacks are parried gain a buff (not sure what yet)
Power Slash - Combo off Syphon Strike, high enmity, uses tp.
Darkside Slash - Combo off Syphon Strike, dmg is absorbed as hp.
Grit - same
Dark Dance- for a duration all physical dmg received goes into a "pool" and is dealt to player overtime instead of immediately, CD.
Blood Price- sacrifice some hp gain some mp.
Dark Passenger - similar aoe.
Souleater - toggled stance: Attacks(non-mp skills) do increased damage but cost hp as well as tp.
Dark Mind - decrease dmg taken from magic attacks. A percent of any dmg taken is subtracted from mp.
Dark Arts- costing mp grant a stack of dark arts...can have 3 stacks max.
Consume Darkness - Consume stack of dark arts for the next attack to deal even more dmg at the cost of more hp.
Shadow wall- a reduce dmg cooldown. gets stronger based on percentage of HP left.
Delirium - Combo of Syphon Strike, -int debuff and puts magic resist debuff on target(only for drk?). attacks made with dark arts effect gain benefit of magic resist debuff.
Living Dead - for a short duration dmg received is converted to hp. all heals besides DRKs are ineffective.
Salted Earth - same aoe, allies that stand in it gain hp per hit.
Plunge - same
Abyssal Drain - same aoe but natively drains hp. costs mp
Sole Survivor - same
Carve and Spit - high dmg attack on cooldown, 3hits, souleater affects each hit... if used with dark arts, souleater hits consume mp instead of hp.
*other skills could have a secondary dark arts effect.

[eagledorf]

I've been avoiding this thread, but I'll bite. To be realistic I've kept the changes minimal instead of overhauling the jobs (in other words, I actually wish SE would make these changes):

PLD:

1. Change Halone to all damage types
2. Add a Surecast effect to Tempered Will and reduce the cooldown
3. Reduce TP cost of Rage of Halone and Royal Authority to 50
4. Increase SwO potency to 100
5. Increase Rage of Halone potency to 320
6. Slashing debuff added to Goring Blade
7. Reduce cooldown on Bulwark to 90s

Ideally Spinning Slash should come back at a cost of 150 TP and a MP-based DoT added for TP management instead of just reducing TP costs and making TP even more meaningless, but new animations are not realistic. Of course if SE wanted to show that they do care despite letting the tanks and healers rot for 8 months it might be the thing to do and would only require recycling animations.

DRK:

1. Normalize OT DPS (I.E. increase it, either by adjusting Blood Price or juggling potencies)

   The easiest is probably just to make Blood Price a MP refresh when Grit is turned off and leaving it unchanged in Grit. There's an extra advantage in that DRK OT DPS can be tuned more precisely this way.

2. Switch the debuff effects for Delirium and Reprisal (so that Delirium works on all damage types)
3. Slashing Debuff added to Scourge
4. Shadow Wall duration extended to 15s

Not sure how, but I would probably make some adjustment to Power Slash as well.

Both DRK and PLD should get the slashing debuff in my opinion because in PUG or DF contents they're unable to buff their own DPS. I know some people argue that neither can a Bard, but the fact that WAR can is like if MCH could apply a piercing debuff and BRD couldn't. It just doesn't make sense that one job in a certain role is self-reliant and the others are not.

WAR:

1. Increase Storm's Path potency by 20
2. Reduce Raw Intuition efficacy to 60%, adjust penalty to critical damage from rear only
3. Remove the TP recovery from Equilibrium entirely

   Equilibrium's TP is not sufficient to make Overpower sustainable forever (it gives you 2 OP with Echo?), but it does mean WAR literally can gain more TP than they spend over time on a single target even keeping Fracture up. In other words, it accomplishes nothing positive, breaks the TP system entirely, makes no sense whatsoever and should just go away.

4. Reduce Fell Cleave potency by 50

   To counterpoint the buff to Storm's Path, not specifically to nerf WAR DPS. It would also reduce the gap between Inner Beast and Fell Cleave slightly, which I think would be a good thing.

Incidentally, if I were a class designer, I would make changes to Nocturnal Astrologian, WHM, and Monk as well (Monk would simply be adding a hate dump to Purify), but I suppose SE's job designers must have a pl...no actually, never mind.

[Violette]

Much lazier and would do a full write up but working, so let's be lazy:

Paladin:
Rage of Halone: Reduces physical damage by 10%. Paladin gains 15s of 5% increase crit chance.
#yolodeeps

Warrior:
Storm's Eye: Debuff reduced to 10 seconds.

Can no longer keep it up 100% of the time unless spamming it continuously.

Dark Knight:
Blood Price: When grit is turned off, drk's instead consume 1/2 the dark arts cost as hp to activate it when blood price is turned on.

PLD/DRK:
Grit/ShO/SwO: Now have a 1.5s recast.

Dizcuz

@J'ioh: If pld and drk get slash debuff, Monk is basically locked out of content in favor of drg/nin because nin's big dps loss (dancing edge applications), is mitigated.

[Shurrikhan]

@J'ioh: If pld and drk get slash debuff, Monk is basically locked out of content in favor of drg/nin because nin's big dps loss (dancing edge applications), is mitigated.

Been thinking lately about what might happen if PLD got an evasion-down debuff in the form of Rage of Halone (much like Rain of Death). I usually think of PLD/WHM/BRD/DRG-or-MNK as being the iconic PLD 4-man, and it would take away from Bard's Rain of Death in the same way that DRK takes away from Monk's Dragon Kick, but at least it would mean more Bloodletter uses, similar to how WAR and NIN work together. Now if DRK could just give Blunt resistance down as well... Then we could have PLD/DRK;Healer/Healer;MNK/NIN/DRG/MCH or PLD/DRK;Healer/Healer;NIN/DRG/BRD/BLM-SMN. The WAR wouldn't necessarily be as much of a raid dps increase as its alternatives. If Storm's Path were then reduced to 8%, or Delirium and RoH increased to 12% or 22s duration, we'd really be considering its spot in a raid instead of always going with WAR+1.

This partly ties into the "Preliminary changes" from my post above, where Vitality doesn't necessarily replace Strength, but is far more lucrative than it was for survival over time. At that point the PLD might contribute as much to raid dps going heavy Vit as a Warrior would going heavy Str, because the extra healer dps leniency could be paired with guaranteed healer hits. Just bringing a PLD along who can keep up RoH could also keep the raid from needing full accuracy. (Strength, due to its higher AP contribution than Vitality (.67 instead of .33), and blocks/parries being dependent in part on AP, retains some defensive value as well, but as Vitality benefits gain more from healer overgearing and aren't RNG dependent, it may be the preferred stat even after cap.)

[RecklessLion]

Hmmm interesting

War: Instead of making their self heals based off damage have it base off maximum health% this should help the mitigation for wars it also helps motivate the importance of tank stance.

PLD: Since their dps is the lowest make them the complete tank package for those who really love high defense. Which means allowing them to block magic. RA should debuff INT by 10% just like RoH debuff str. With shelton they should receive 50 tp as well as mp.

DRK: tricky but increase their damage. Blood sword does a 10% damage increase added Why, because DRK seems to shine by taking damage. I would change up the carve attack to 700 potency based on certain amount of damage received total. This way they can go tit for tat.