How bad are the issues with DRK?

[Palumi]

Howdy

I just started playing with the release of stormblood and when I got around to unlocking DRK I fell in love with the theme and aesthetic of the class. However now that I've read around on the forums a bit I realize that there is quite a big balance issue between the tanks at the moment and while I understand and sympathize with a lot of it(DA spam is getting on my nerves) I still feel I want to stick with DRK.

So my question(s) is: As a casual player who will at most do end game content on the easier settings, are the current blance issues enough for me to switch from the class I want to play to the I "should" play?

Is DRK at such a bad spot that I will actively make this content significantly less enjoyable for other players?

I appreciate any insight.

Thanks in advance.

[Kitfox]

Class balance generally only affects speed running meta compositions at hardest difficulty.

[AdamZ]

So my question(s) is: As a casual player who will at most do end game content on the easier settings, are the current blance issues enough for me to switch from the class I want to play to the I "should" play?

Is DRK at such a bad spot that I will actively make this content significantly less enjoyable for other players?

No and no, play what you enjoy.

Most of the balance/job improvement issues are actually more around improving the experience of the game play, then with overall balance. (while DRK does need a little bit of love here, that balancing will only be felt at the highest of levels)

[ManuelBravo]

Honestly people are being picky. At higher levels it makes you think more about your skills and managing MP. I love it and the only thing I can really find as a downer is some of the Cool Downs for certain actions. As I enjoy it more than WAR, always have, and PLD as a secondary tank. However everyone has their own style and taste. It's for you to judge and remember if it isn't fun, it's not worth it.

[Shinkyo]

All tanks are viable in their current form.
DRK is still a well design class but doesn't perform as well as PLD who excels are everything.
The only problem with DRK is that it's pretty bad until you get your lvl68 and lvl70 skills.
The class is very fun and is pretty engaging.
The Blackest Night (TBN) that you get at lvl 70 is really a game changer for the play style.

Really if you're mainly going to do casual content or even just Extreme Primal, it's not going to affect you.

[Age_of_Oblivion]

The tanks have it good in terms of relative balance, especially when compared to SCH or the DPS category as a whole. All of them honestly are perfectly fine, but they have some irritations that need work. If you do decide to go DRK, keep in mind that the abilities are completely shite in the order that you learn them - the class tends to get progressively worse until certain levels, when you get a key ability that makes life better. Starting out, your complaint will be damage until 45, when you get Dark Arts. This ability coats 1/4 of your mana, but adds massive amounts of damage to many of your attacks going forward. AoE enmity generation/tankiness is going to start off until 56, when you get Abyssal Drain.That one is going to become a prime gcd for aggro generation and sustain. They actually nerfed how it works in your kit - used to be that DRK would hit critical mass in huge pulls and be able to basically sustain himself without a healer using that ability. After that, you're going to start feeling squishier and squishier until 70, and wonder what the purpose of the blood gauge is until 68. At level cap your kit comes together and it feels great - most of the complaints about DRK have to do with how power is distributed in his kit, not the overall power level

[Crescia]

I am absolutely loving DRK right now, even changed it to my main. Everything about it just feels good. It is the most important thing to play a class that you like. Don't just play a class because it's good or 'meta'. If you want the best tank, yes, go PLD but you need to know how to play it to be good. I have personally destroyed PLDs in every aspect in some groups i've been in. Most of the people saying DRK is bad or needs work is generally just going on a nostalgic trip to HW. This is SB things are different now.

[Dizzy_Derp]

The tanks have it good in terms of relative balance, especially when compared to SCH or the DPS category as a whole. All of them honestly are perfectly fine

Your tripping tank balance is in almost the same spot as healer. You have ast and pld that are hour two must take classes. Other two for each are flex. Drk is the better option for tanks and whm sch are on equal footing. The class in the worst spot is warrior by a good margin it has low dps and zero raid utility. I'm a warrior main and I'm not even progging on war in going either pld or drk cause drk pld is the best comp for prog. Even after pld out dps's war and pld is putting out the same. And both pld and drk are way easier to play. If you are just doing casual stuff still go either pld or drk, the ear is really complex and takes a lot more work to get results that are similar to drk or pld.oh and a lot of pf's are just excluding war so there's that too.

[Nivarea]

DRK issues are here, but not to the point of making the job bad or unplayable by all means. The real problem (shared with WAR) is that PLD is flat out better at everything right now, making the two other tanks a bit underwhelming to play compared to it.
The second problem with SB DRK is that in 50 and 60 content it feels so gutted and lacking that it's not feeling good to play. Heck, it don't feels good to play until level 66-68, when you can really begin to play with the blood gage. That's why I'm avoiding playing under 66 content with my DRK right now, and that's a big issue I think. But for endgame, no prob.

Still, 70 DRK is fun to play, but a different kind of fun than the HW 60 one (which I still prefer). There still is the button mashy feeling of the job, but now it's centered more around mashing Dark Arts than multiple oGCD.

[ManuelBravo]

Your tripping tank balance is in almost the same spot as healer. .

The tanks have it good in terms of relative balance, especially when compared to SCH or the DPS category as a whole.

Say what now? Man everyone complains over the smallest of things. It's a new system give it a chance. Over all tanks are balanced in their own way. Healer wise AST seems to be top pick...for now and can change. I've encountered some very talented healers of all 3 classes that have proven themselves understand their job in tough situations, raids, and large pulls in newer areas. I've been in tank groups were some complain that it's not their fault the job was nerfed and is an invalid statement. Met reliable and amazing PLD / WAR/ DRK. People just have to relearn some aspects on the jobs. So putting them down because people are afraid of change isn't a valid argument. It's called practice and patience.