Blood Weapon / other DRK suggestions:

[Nektulos-Tuor]

Definition of Defensive: "Made or carried on for the purpose of resisting attack: "

Please. Don't make the "Offense is the Best Defense" argument with regard to stats in games. While on some level I agree that high damage can push phases/etc, on a basic level parry reduces more damage than crit, because it actually reduces damage. It reduces damage, thus it is a defensive stat. Saying otherwise negates the basic definition of defensive.

While I disagree with your entire post on Dark Knights, especially since Dark Arts is the mechanic I'd want to see expanded instead of made useless, this just goes too far. Crit is an offensive stat, and Parry is a defensive one (albeit one that isn't particular effective). Saying otherwise is inane.

If a fight lasts 10 minutes, and a fight lasts 1 minute, what really reduced more damage?

I know that is a very crappy example. However Parry is just not a useful stat, its worthless pretty much in the long run; only really good for procing things on Dark Knight. Seriously though? I don't mind if the Dark Arts abilities were buffed to be as good as other classes and Dark Arts made them even more so, but it seems like some abilities are gutted so that Dark Arts makes them actually good, not a cool bonus. The other fact is you can't Dark Arts everything. So you end up with abilities that are just tattered versions of other classes.

Also, having high offense IS a defensive mechanic. Just ask the Tiger Tank Vs the Sherman and see interviews of Sherman Tankers.

Also, according to the Japanese Forums; I think they are going to redesign it to be much better.

[cold52]

personally id like drk to get three things in the future.

1. an on demand self heal
Pld has clemency and wars designed around self heals so that's a given but drk self healing is either something you cant use when you need or is too weak to heal you enough to waste mp for, yes abyssal drain is good but only when you've got multiple adds on you as such id like there to be something i the case you need hp (like living dead for example).
best thing i can think of is either a new skill for it or modify unmend to be DA'able to drain and get back a more significant amount of health.

2. Utility
at the moment drk really lacks anything impactfull to the raid (reprisal being useless unless you take dmg or delirium which is useless if you have a monk)
as for what to do for it, thats tough though ive thought id be pretty fun if drk could boost
dot damage for the raid and from there alter delirium to either stack with dragon kick or even allow drk to keep up dragon kicks full effect once it has been applied by the monk and finally allow reprisal to be dark artsable to activate, possibly at an mp cost unless it procs.

3. another dark arts skill
i think one problem ive had with dark arts is i always feel its more useful to use for offensive purposes (not saying not to use it for defensive skills but its something at times if you wanna keep dps up, might just be the way ive been with the job)
one way i was thinking was to add a second one which can only be used every 20 seconds at half the cost, could even add a future skill that requires two dark arts stacks to activate making the skill.

of course theres alot of ways square could go with it, most of all id just like to see all the tanks be able to ot or mt in the future.

[Kabooa]

If a fight lasts 10 minutes, and a fight lasts 1 minute, what really reduced more damage?

False equivalence. The Dark Knight stacking Crit vs stacking Parry isn't going to cut a fight by 90%.

The question is really more "If a fight lasts 10 minutes with parry, and 9 minutes and 52 seconds with crit, what really reduced more damage?"

Parry.

That however isn't the issue. The issue is that parry simply isn't worth taking. It's -better to take more damage- because parry isn't factored into Boss damage. Parry is a bonus when it happens, and that's a terrible way to approach defense stats.

That's why, in most MMOs, straight up hardline health, via the "Health" stat and "Armor" stats are the most important factors.

[Cabalabob]

personally id like drk to get three things in the future.

1. an on demand self heal
Pld has clemency and wars designed around self heals so that's a given but drk self healing is either something you cant use when you need or is too weak to heal you enough to waste mp for, yes abyssal drain is good but only when you've got multiple adds on you as such id like there to be something i the case you need hp (like living dead for example).
best thing i can think of is either a new skill for it or modify unmend to be DA'able to drain and get back a more significant amount of health.

2. Utility
at the moment drk really lacks anything impactfull to the raid (reprisal being useless unless you take dmg or delirium which is useless if you have a monk)
as for what to do for it, thats tough though ive thought id be pretty fun if drk could boost
dot damage for the raid and from there alter delirium to either stack with dragon kick or even allow drk to keep up dragon kicks full effect once it has been applied by the monk and finally allow reprisal to be dark artsable to activate, possibly at an mp cost unless it procs.

3. another dark arts skill
i think one problem ive had with dark arts is i always feel its more useful to use for offensive purposes (not saying not to use it for defensive skills but its something at times if you wanna keep dps up, might just be the way ive been with the job)
one way i was thinking was to add a second one which can only be used every 20 seconds at half the cost, could even add a future skill that requires two dark arts stacks to activate making the skill.

of course theres alot of ways square could go with it, most of all id just like to see all the tanks be able to ot or mt in the future.

Rather than more utility I'd kind of like DRK to just have the highest OT dps to make up for the fact it has no utility. Maybe increase darkside to 20% damage to match WARs maim and change dark arts effects on some of DRKs cooldowns when not in grit to add more damage potential, e.g. Dark arts dark dance in grit will be the same as it is now, but without grit, instead of increasing evasion, dark arts dark dance will add a 20 potency additional hit to all skills. Dark arts dark mind in grit same as now, dark arts dark mind out of grit adds 10% crit rate. Etc.

As for a self heal, I personally think souleater should drain 25%(50% with trait) of damage dealt as hp even without grit, then with grit it becomes 50%(100% with trait) and the same should apply to abyssal drain.

Because I'm not too bothered about DRK not having a self heal and more bothered about the fact it only has any self healing in tank stance which is something neither WAR or PLD has to deal with. Yes WAR only gets IB and equilibrium heal in defiance but it still has storm's eye, thrill of battle and access to second wind even in deliverance, while PLD always has access to clemency. DRK outside of grit only has abyssal drain and as you say this is only effective if you have a ton of mobs hitting you, at which point you'll probably be in grit anyway.

[Tanathya]

Rather than more utility I'd kind of like DRK to just have the highest OT dps to make up for the fact it has no utility.

This.
/10char

[MagiusNecros]

Put grit effect on CnS. Absorb 100% damage dealt as HP. Wow a self heal.

Easy to implement too.

[Eloah]

i didnt read everything, cause well damn. but the thing that i noticed was about each tanks heals. each tanks have a heal at their disposal. Pallies have Clemency, a spamable heal, providing MP isnt an issue, it can also be used on anyone. warriors have storms eye, path, eye, the green one, as a cd ability and equalibrium and that other skill i cannot name for ogcd heals. and DRK have souleater, dark arts soul eater, barring mp again, and abyssal drain for heals, and all three have access to bloodbath and that cleave skill i cant remember so all have a decent amount of self heals.

[cold52]

Rather than more utility I'd kind of like DRK to just have the highest OT dps to make up for the fact it has no utility. Maybe increase darkside to 20% damage to match WARs maim and change dark arts effects on some of DRKs cooldowns when not in grit to add more damage potential, e.g. Dark arts dark dance in grit will be the same as it is now, but without grit, instead of increasing evasion, dark arts dark dance will add a 20 potency additional hit to all skills. Dark arts dark mind in grit same as now, dark arts dark mind out of gr
As for a self heal, I personally think souleater should drain 25%(50% with trait) of damage dealt as hp even without grit, then with grit it becomes 50%(100% with trait) and the same should apply to abyssal drain.

Because I'm not too bothered about DRK not having a self heal and more bothered about the fact it only has any self healing in tank stance which is something neither WAR or PLD has to deal with. Yes WAR only gets IB and equilibrium heal in defiance but it still has storm's eye, thrill of battle and access to second wind even in deliverance, while PLD always has access to clemency. DRK outside of grit only has abyssal drain and as you say this is only effective if you have a ton of mobs hitting you, at which point you'll probably be in grit anyway.

i dont see drk just having the most dps as a tank as the solution as war right now has too much going for it making it hard to replace and until drk and pld cn tank together i dont see this issue as solved and the only way that works is they both together need to be able to make up for what the group ends up lacking without a warrior which having the highest dps would solve one thing but would that make up for not having storms eye/path? would it make up for not having war burst dps from fell cleave? perhaps the fact that a sch can put a large shield on war and give that big shield to the raid when a high damage aoe goes out (assuming you have a sch, but most groups do so...yea)

all im saying is dark knight having something to help out the party whens its needed would be nice.

Put grit effect on CnS. Absorb 100% damage dealt as HP. Wow a self heal.

Easy to implement too.

do you mean add it to Cns in grit only or effective regardless which stance your in? would you be replacing what it does currently or adding it in addtion to what it does?

i ask because i cant imagine it would work to well if your always just gonna use it to do the most damage you can anyways.

[MagiusNecros]

Grit effect just means you get the heal in Grit. Just like Souleater.

[cold52]

Grit effect just means you get the heal in Grit. Just like Souleater.

the problem with that is the heal would be too small as a result of the damage output on it being reduced thanks to grit and also that being unable to use it outside of grit, and while yes war needs defiance to use the heal on equilibrium it also doesn't have an issue switching stances on the fly like drk does, and more importantly why would i choose to save this cooldown for a small heal when i can burn it for the damage if i start saving it it means im not adding 450 potency to the damage i do which over the course of a fight would add up.

so no i dont think its as simple as adding it to Cns at least not the way you described.