[DRK]; Living Dead; Suggestion/Discussion

[JackFross]

I was also thinking, in some future point, of one possible new ability for Dark Knights come the next expansion that could also help out. Perhaps an ability to "eat" one debuff which can possibly even restore MP and/or HP, but one great point of this would be its ability to also get rid of the walking dead debuff.

Walking Dead is a buff, though. It's clearly got the little arrow pointing up.

It also doesn't need other ways to be removed. Taking Walking Dead off while at half health is gonna likely get you killed again, since your healers are asleep at the wheel. Removing it at 1 HP isn't even helpful. I don't understand why people are touting these as good suggestions...


That said, this whole thread is looking in the exact wrong direction.

There's nothing wrong with Living Dead, when it's used properly. When I play healer, it's incredibly obvious when the skill has been cast already (It's a striking bright red debuff among the sea of purple and yellow that Dark Knight has access to) and, being the not-shit player I am, I then watch for the death transition to Walking Dead and heal up afterwards. Because, gonna be honest - if you've dropped to 1 hp left (no matter the situation) and do not get healed back at least your maximum health within the next 10 seconds, it's the healers that are to blame, not the skill.

Even if Benediction is on cooldown, you have 3 Lustrates per 60s, 1 Tetragrammaton per 60s, 1 Essential Dignity per 40s (which scales with how little health the target has left!) -- coupled with a fairy and/or Regen that should be healing the tank. There's really, honestly, no excuse for letting your Dark Knight die to Walking Dead unless both healers are eating dirt.

Sure, it's extra taxing on your mana, I suppose, but those heals are all gonna go out after a Holmgang, anyway, even if not immediately. It is literally exactly the same.

Also important to note is that Benediction and Living Dead have the exact same cooldown, so in a raid setting, if you have WHM+DRK, they can just coordinate together and never run into issues.

[ruskie]

I'd rework it to either need to be healed up by the amount that the attack that triggered it did(though no more than current max health) or 50% hp.

I do like the OPs idea of having something on your own to cleanse it though.

[BroodingFicus]

Does seem strange this move is so much more punishing than Paladin or Warriors. Most DRK's I've had use macros but I've still had a death and many close calls. Lots of accidental triggers that stressed everyone out or times when I used Benediction to save a tank only for their living dead to pop on a second after that. *drags hands down face*.

I like the idea of a countdown over their head or some other very visual queue aside from a small icon that frankly can be easy to miss since unless you know what you are looking for. It could be a freakin' buff at a glance if you aren't too familiar with DRK's as I wasn't the first few times I had one. lol. I'd almost like it to trigger a tether between the DRK and a healer as long as they are within healing range that either buffs the effectiveness of healing on the DRK or buffs the healers heals for the duration or the DRK only. I'm not a coder so goodness knows if that's possible but *shrug*. Heck or even instead of it only counting on the DRK, if it counted all heals that healer dealt out during the duration even if they aren't directed at the DRK. One of the things I like least about that ability is if the tank is nearly dead, sometimes that means the party is struggling too and I then get to make the call of letting other people die because now the DRK is in peril and needs my full attention. Again, possible? Not a clue. XD

[ruskie]

Another problem with DRKs is that they pop the macro upon triggering LD - and some healers will start overhealing them like crazy thus it never triggers WD. Would be better to do a WD triggered heal me up please macro.

[MagiusNecros]

Another problem with DRKs is that they pop the macro upon triggering LD - and some healers will start overhealing them like crazy thus it never triggers WD. Would be better to do a WD triggered heal me up please macro.

Problem with the skill though is there is always the chance we won't proc WD to begin with and there is no way to macro that with pinpoint accuracy. I might have to use an additional button on my setup to mark myself with an Icon and an obnoxious message saying STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING I NEED HEALING NOW.

Right now most macro's are going to be a message telling you if you see the grey hourglass icon I better hope the healer sees it.

Holmgang and Hallowed Ground both just work unlike LD which relies completely on the healer and does not synergize well with the class it comes from.

[jssanderson747]

If you hit an enemy with a combo'd Souleater while Walking Dead is active and Dark Arts is not active, Walking Dead is removed.

I definitely enjoy the idea of having something like this, but oftentimes when using LD, my tank is almost assuredly using souleater whether he has the mp for dark arts or not. This would just add an unnecessary layer of complexity to the ability's usage in my opinion. Half the time LD is being used, it's ideal to have the walking dead effect active as long as possible.

[Sousoulsu]

I definitely enjoy the idea of having something like this, but oftentimes when using LD, my tank is almost assuredly using souleater whether he has the mp for dark arts or not. This would just add an unnecessary layer of complexity to the ability's usage in my opinion. Half the time LD is being used, it's ideal to have the walking dead effect active as long as possible.

It requires the user of the cooldown to plan accordingly for it. If they do not, they are punished for it.

I think this is a fair trade; and aside from this, it would function as an alternative to the current method of cleansing WD; which is for healers to invest more of their resources into healing 100% of the DRK's max HP.

Aside from that, Walking Dead has a duration of 10s. That's enough time to finish current combo, and begin a new one; and you can also delay your usage of Souleater as late as possible; later than a healer can accurately aim for.

Holmgang and Hallowed Ground both just work unlike LD which relies completely on the healer and does not synergize well with the class it comes from.

This is the core of my issues with the skill. It requires more from the healers than either Holmgang or Hallowed Ground; and is not functionally superior to either of them in any meaningful way. +thumb

I'd rework it to either need to be healed up by the amount that the attack that triggered it did(though no more than current max health) or 50% hp.

I do like the OPs idea of having something on your own to cleanse it though.

Aside from the OP suggestion of DRKs cleansing it themselves, I thought that in 3.2 they would make DRKs receive more healing when Walking Dead is active. it would make WD functionally superior in some way to Holmgang; which would definetly make it more deserving of its longer cooldown. +thumb

[Nekotee]

Essential dignity is 40sec cooldown
And if it crit it work like a semi benediction

[JackFross]

Essential dignity is 40sec cooldown
And if it crit it work like a semi benediction

I thought it was shorter than 60, but I didn't wanna load up my game and xivdb told me 60, so I just ran with that, figuring it was more likely to be right than a random guess from me.