DRK balance

[AronVillar]

I know the devs are trying to make the tanks all balanced, as PLD having a lot defensive CD and Party defence, WAR being selfish in dps and good self healing, DRK being DRK? I don't know I see a little difference this Job (DRK) offers, but I like it though, it could probably have a difference by supporting the party, restore their MP (Healers) or maybe absorb party MP for Party support? But I reckon this is being planned for a future Tank job, don't know, maybe?

[shao32]

DRK have the best MT dps and the best anti-magic skill, if the boss have magic tank buster DRK becomes imposible to run out def CD.

if drk absorb party mp healers and casters they hate you forever, DRK need some OT ticks but nothing like that.

[Warlyx]

the only drk needs is being able to put -10% dmg debuff when not tanking....and lower the CD so it can be up 100% of the time

[Gimorian401]

I love DRK and WAR. DRK is great with magic damage and in general has better damage mitigation than WAR but higher DPS than PLD. I think its meant to be the in between of the tanks the more generalized tank. I like having the INT debuff being the second class that can do it. I don't see a need to change the abilities though I would like to see an Equilibrium type ability for MP gain for when they are in Grit

[MagiusNecros]

Problems with DRK are numerous. Living Dead needs tank/healer coordination, DRK has basically no utility as OT and always wants to MT, only 7 out of 22 skills use Dark Arts.

Only Souleater has a Grit effect.

And then you have Parry. Which only matters in MT role. And can still suck.

DRK is okay but definitely could have been done better. Especially when it's just a mish mash of concepts pulled from PLD and WAR making the DRK at times have a lack of identity.

[Xlantaa]

I consider DRK a perfect balance between mitigation and damage. But it have some advantages like more MT dps and more magical mitigation if the boss is magical type. It also have a very high OT DPS, more focused on sustain DPS than burst DPS. I main DRK since 3.0 launch. I was before a PLD/WAR, I won't be again PLD/WAR as main (Samurai tank can chage my mind...)

There are only 3 things that must be adjusted for me.

1. Living Dead need the healer know what is it and how deal with it. That's not possible always, it need chage is invulnerability effect to something easier to handle.

2. Grit should be out of global coldown like the warrior Defiance, it makes hard chage stances quick.

3. Dark Arts should have less cost. The MP drain with this is too high and you can run out of MP accidentally a lot of times.

[Voltyblast]

I agree with Magius here, plus I find the MP drain gimmick very annoying. It's not hard or even interesting at all, it feels more like they wanted to make them different by giving them a silly gimmick. I would've preferred if they made DRK consume mana instead of TP for their skills: now THAT would have been a nice gimmick to have. Or at least less annoying to have.

Plus, they were supposed to be anti-magic tanks but they have "A" magic resistance skill (and only lasts 10 seconds) and basically have nothing that makes them different than a PLD. Except their long sword and a lot more of OGCD skills I guess.

I really hope they're going to work on them because as of now I really don't think I'll move away from my warrior or paladin: If I want damage I go the former, and if I want tankiness I got the latter.

[Belhi]

A healer who knows their business should know how to handle Living Dead.

Being able to stance swap outside the GCD is one of WAR's thing and probably a feature of it being the Damage dealing tank. PLDs stance swap requires a GCD too.

If Dark Arts cost less they would have to nerf its effects. Its balanced around not being able to spam it easily. One of the core mechanics of the class is supposed to be MP management.

The main issue I see with DRK is the overarching issue with Parry. Hopefully when they revisit the stat they will find a way to make it more workable.

All tanks have things they are better at. DRK sits around the middle between WAR and PLD with more in the way of defensive CDs and higher dps than paladins while having solid self healing abilities and stronger magical mitigation than either due to their CDs. They are certainly in no way the 'weak' tank Job.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

A healer who knows their business should know how to handle Living Dead.

Being able to stance swap outside the GCD is one of WAR's thing and probably a feature of it being the Damage dealing tank. PLDs stance swap requires a GCD too.

If Dark Arts cost less they would have to nerf its effects. Its balanced around not being able to spam it easily. One of the core mechanics of the class is supposed to be MP management.

The main issue I see with DRK is the overarching issue with Parry. Hopefully when they revisit the stat they will find a way to make it more workable.

All tanks have things they are better at. DRK sits around the middle between WAR and PLD with more in the way of defensive CDs and higher dps than paladins while having solid self healing abilities and stronger magical mitigation than either due to their CDs. They are certainly in no way the 'weak' tank Job.

Living Dead and Soul Survivor have no effect, so in an actually fight without voice communication you will not be able to tell your party easily what to do. Actually I would argue Warriors having stronger magical mitigation due to being able to -20% every time a big hit comes as well as their other temps, warriors also have much better on demand lifetaps.

[MagiusNecros]

If the healer is dead what use does LD have other then prolonging that wipe?