Why is DRK so squishy and how do I stop it?

[Februs]

so in this scenario... what you're saying is OP didn't use all of his cooldowns, when in fact he stated that he did... or there's a cooldown a pld would've used that he didn't have access to?

I don't understand this PLD use cooldown better sentiment.... how is the ability to utilize your resource something you generalize by class?

Um, no. That wasn't what I was saying at all.

I never said anything about Pld CD's being somehow "better." I also never made any comments about whether or not the Op used all their CD's. All I said was that there's a bigger difference between the two jobs than simply one has a shield. It's common for new Drk players to make the false assumption that they play identically to Pld's, and then they wonder why they feel squishier. Again, I'm not saying that's what the OP did. Based on their story, it sounds as though they were doing just fine and that their healer was pants on head stupid. I'm only pointing out that generalizing the two tanks in such a manner is inaccurate and misleading, especially at higher levels when Dark Arts becomes available.

[Parasoth]

Um, no. That wasn't what I was saying at all.

I never said anything about Pld CD's being somehow "better." I also never made any comments about whether or not the Op used all their CD's. All I said was that there's a bigger difference between the two jobs than simply one has a shield. It's common for new Drk players to make the false assumption that they play identically to Pld's, and then they wonder why they feel squishier. Again, I'm not saying that's what the OP did. Based on their story, it sounds as though they were doing just fine and that their healer was pants on head stupid. I'm only pointing out that generalizing the two tanks in such a manner is inaccurate and misleading, especially at higher levels when Dark Arts becomes available.

But that wasn't the point he was trying to make, he was saying when it comes down to taking damage there is almost no difference between the two except PLD has a shield block sometimes.

He wasn't saying "LOL DRK IS THE EXACT SAME JOB AS PLD."

[KrenianKandos]

Even six levels difference between the Green and the regular type armor is a difference. And as Alistaire stated: Tanks are by far one of the most gear demanding classes to be able to reduce the damage. You want to always keep yourself updated with the right gear, otherwise you are going to be smaller.

Try doing less big pulls. A lot of times, fledgling tanks try to mimic the other tanks who have done the run and do more pulls when their gear doesn't allow it. Remember that when we go in, we normally get the best gear possible, as if it was blue. That's a sizable difference in health and armor to mitigate damage.

[Sarcatica]

You sure the healers weren't trash tier? Or just maybe that you were overthinking? Healers do need to top you up sooner or later. Those gears are good enough to last for quite long. IIRC, i didn't experience such difficulty to survive at all when levelling.

[ashwich]

the group of 4 does hit harder than a regular pack, especially if you don't separate the ghost blob. This is a case of healer under-estimating incoming damage and stayed in clerics too long it sounds like. nothing to worry about.

[Quor]

Did perhaps a piece of gear break? That will drastically lower your tanking power.

But, if it the healer was in CS as you said, that's likely the issue. Spammed heals from a healer in CS won't keep anyone up beyond a 2-mob pull at that level.

[Fynlar]

Brayflox gear was just fine for me all the way up to 45 (AF level) on all three roles.

Chances are either you're overpulling (alas, this sort of thing just tends not to work out as well until the level 50/60 dungeons, which allow you to gear way past the dungeon's intended level) or... your healers were just junk (rather common thing)

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

DRK are the most fragile of tanks in nearly all situations except against magic. Most DRKs I've seen are wearing armor made of papier mache. It's not your fault, DRK is just that weak.

[Crizhalid]

DRK are the most fragile of tanks in nearly all situations except against magic. Most DRKs I've seen are wearing armor made of papier mache. It's not your fault, DRK is just that weak.

You should follow up with an example instead of "I say it's this, that's all."

With that said, all tanks are fine and no one should be stating that "This tank is bad" for asinine reasons or that they are "weaker" when, in most situations, it's negligible at best.

[Awful]

DRK are the most fragile of tanks in nearly all situations except against magic. Most DRKs I've seen are wearing armor made of papier mache. It's not your fault, DRK is just that weak.

You've probably seen Drks that don't pop CDs and literally sit there getting gang beat by everything in plain sight i've been helping my friend lvl a bit who's new to the game they don't play that much but I did almost all their dungeons with them if not all I found that:

-When I tanked Brayflox - Qarn it was so easy to keep up/chain pulling. Ran it as Drk the first time, War 2nd time no difference, same pace. Did it as a pld was awful (don't get shield oath till 40...why SE WHY!) so dmg coming in was more noticable

-Stone Vigil- Dzmeal. I found SV hit harder than DD the difference was astonishing and the mobs in SV can drain a bad tank who's not popping CDs. Found it easier as a Pld surprisingly. DD was faster/easier than Pld though on War and Drk due to more DPS/AoE, however Pld was bulkier due to getting Sentinel and Bulwark etc.

- Cutters Cry. Easy on all the tanks nothing hurts at all,I also had shield oath due to paladin being 40+, nothing really stood out to be honest.

- Aurum Vale. Ah yes ol AV did it once as a Pld and the 2nd time as a Drk, 3rd time as War, chain pulled/CDs the whole shebang didn't take hardly any dmg with my Sch friend. Found it easier on Drk and able to drop Grit in more situations then using Sword Oath on pld and more threat on Drk and drk has more AoE dmg compared to Pld which made it faster. War was easy Vengeance + Bloodbath + Steel Cyclone = GG.

Like I said I am ilvl sync'd but it really shouldn't matter unless a tank has a REALLY bad weapon/armor/accessories you'll only notice a squishy tank and add it with a tank with no CDs you're in for a terrible terrible time. I also found Paladin suffered the most out of all the tanks as it felt I dunno sluggish? That's my general feeling about Paladin I just prefer to run as either a Drk or War it's a lot more enjoyable and out of all those dungeons Pld took less dmg in SV and that's about it the other tanks out preformed it.

Edit: Forgot to add in Cutter's Cry d'oh.