DRK needs re-tuning/buffing.

[Derio]

Shadow wall needs to be buffed or have the cool down time reduced

[DWolfwood]

Shadow wall needs to be buffed or have the cool down time reduced

Man, I didn't expect to see this kind of talk in the forums.

We've already seen the majority of what we'll get in Omega Savage this time around, albeit stronger versions. DRK is going into Omega in a very good place. Dark Mind is going to be extremely strong when coupled with Blackest Night. While there are still some janky abilities that could use work on DRK, the only real problem is their lack of DPS currently.

[Crater]

DRK is going into Omega in a very good place. Dark Mind is going to be extremely strong when coupled with Blackest Night. While there are still some janky abilities that could use work on DRK, the only real problem is their lack of DPS currently.

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that it's in "a very good place". Rather, I would say that Deltascape v1, v2, and v4 all seem to have taken specific efforts to cater to DRK from a defensive standpoint, and as a result DRK can be said to either be equal to, or have a slight advantage over, Paladin, in terms of personal main-tank mitigation - while providing lower DPS, offering far worse raid-wide/party mitigation, and existing in a tenuous position where any fight that doesn't specifically cater to Dark Mind (for example: Deltascape v3) pretty much puts DRK in the ground compared to PLD.

The above paragraph is almost word-for-word how you could describe PLD's position relative to DRK in Heavensward from 3.2 through 3.4. In almost every case in HW, even when PLD had a clear and obvious advantage in terms of personal mitigation, DRK was the better choice due to higher DPS and more valuable party utility. Except that in Stormblood, DRK's advantage over PLD against magic tankbusters is far lower than PLD's advantage over physical tankbusters was in Heavensward, and Reprisal's HW advantage over Divine Veil was much less pronounced than PLD's DV/Passage of Arms/Cover/Intervention kit's advantage over Blackest Night. And on the contrary, PLD's advantage over DRK in physical-based fights is actually more pronounced in SB than it was in HW, since DRK no longer has Reprisal, Dark Dance, and Foresight.

They need to eliminate DRK's lopsided magical vs physical defenses, just as they removed PLD's in Stormblood - and they absolutely should not be waiting two goddamn years for the next expansion to do it - and they need to actually give DRK a niche where it clearly and obviously outshines the other tanks, just as PLD outshines the others at keeping the party safe, and WAR outshines the others at being able to stack cooldowns or keep them rolling for sustained mitigation. The former can't happen until DRK has something as good as Dark Mind for physical mitigation, and we're even farther away from the latter, because Dark Mind simply isn't strong enough (even when paired with Blackest Night) to offer that kind of clear advantage over the kit that PLD and/or WAR can now bring to a magic mitigation fight.

Edit: And of course, this is before even getting into any issues with DPS.

[DWolfwood]

They need to eliminate DRK's lopsided magical vs physical defenses, just as they removed PLD's in Stormblood...

I definitely agree that in a vacuum, DRK (and WAR considering Raw Intuition) needs to be brought back up to PLD's level defensively. I don't see it happening outright until there's a need however. Obviously PLD had a need to be brought up to a reasonable defensive level. I do favor the approach of balancing DRK in this way, simply because I would like to see a bit more variety in endgame other than only magic tank busters.

That said, having all three tanks, they're all pretty balanced right now in terms of self-mitigation, and I'd actually go as far as to say that DRK has the edge on it. PLD's CDs are extremely long, and it's pretty much left with Sheltron and having to use Passage of Arms as self-mitigation. WAR is solid with tons of CDs on short timers to rotate, but losing Raw Intuition when things become magic damage hurts.