DRK Consolidated Feedback Thread

[DWolfwood]

Dear Yoshida and Dev Team,

Some people have brought up legitimate issues that I think are valid, and so I want to update what I believe are the issues that I would like to see addressed in DRK's kit, in a new and updated format:


1. Living Dead is poorly tuned - Either reduce the recast to 180 seconds to be on par with Holmgang, or give us an entirely new ability.

I would prefer you allowed us to summon a Shadow clone that took all enmity from us for 6 seconds while auto-attacking and then gave all enmity and debuffs back to us. Make this recast 6 minutes and lower Hallowed Ground's recast to 6 minutes as well.

Another solution might be to just give us a debuff like Slow or Decreased Damage Dealt that would not be able to be removed instead of killing us. I think the penalty of death is too much when considering that a healer would have just wasted their MP if they had tried.

2. Shadow Wall is poorly tuned - Reduce the recast to 120 seconds.

3. Dark Mind is situational - Make this affect both magical & physical. Keep the Dark Arts effect, and increase the recast to 90 seconds to keep it balanced.

4. Poor passive mitigation - I think this would be a great opportunity to give the community something it has wanted for a very long time that would go a long way towards establishing DRK's identity; Dread Spikes. There are two ways to implement this that are equally appealing in my opinion:

Option 1: Make Dread Spikes a trait learned early on that "occasionally absorbs HP from an enemy." This could mitigate a similar amount to Shield blocks.

Option 2: Make Dread Spikes a new spell that DRK must cast to keep it active. This would give DRK a magic casting element that has been a strong component in previous DRK iterations in the FF franchise. Duration and recast times could be left to you and buffed or nerfed later as is fitting.

5. Poor self healing - We currently have nothing like Clemency or Equilibrium and are a bit helpless in this regard.

For large heals similar to Clemency and Equilibrium, a Drain spell would be most fitting I think. One that perhaps dealt something like 300 potency damage and healed for 600 potency with a significant recast like 1 to 2 minutes.

6. Over-reliance on The Blackest Night - Right now, this ability tries to do too many things at once, and the rest of our ability kit suffers as a result.

I suggest removing the 2400MP while at the same time removing the 50 Bloodgauge gained. I also suggest increasing the timer on this to 1 minute while also increasing the duration to 15 seconds. This should make the ability more practical. While this may not be the final solution, I think something in this direction is optimal as it allows for the implementation of true passive mitigation, such as Dread Spikes.

7. DPS is still a bit low - The gap in damage output between PLD and DRK is not fair to DRK given how much PLD brings to a party.

This issue could be remedied by implementing Dread Spikes and/or Drain along with addressing the issues listed below on Blood Price and Carve and Spit. That being said, please be aware it's still an issue nonetheless.

Secondary Issues

1. Blood Price is undertuned - The nerf to Blood Price has made the use of this ability almost negligible.

I think giving it a defensive aspect might be too much, especially in regards to my suggested mentions, but I have no real solutions for this. Reverting it to its old rate of MP generation may be too much as well. Increasing the amount of Bloodgauge it gives may be the easiest solution.

2. Dark Passenger costs too much MP - While this is a gain at some times, it's completely forgettable.

I don't think it's a good idea to make this a DPS increase on a single target, so with that in mind, I suggest removing the MP cost while also removing the damage on it. Move the blind effect on this to the normal effect, and when Dark Arts is used on it, give it a proper damage bonus. Something like 130 potency so that it's stronger than Abyssal Drain due to having a long recast, but not strong enough to be used in our single target rotation.

3. We still want a darkness effect on our character - Bloodgauge would be the perfect candidate for adding this to signal to us and the rest of the party when our gauge is ready. Warrior's got what we pretty much wanted without even asking in the form of Inner Release. The flames teased before 3.0 were a great idea and I don't think anyone minds that there would be issues with mounts. If you're working on something better, great!, but please update us on this. Both EN and JP players want this!

4. Bloodspiller feels underwhelming - A surprisingly large amount of people have this complaint on both EN and JP forums, and while it's not a major concern of mine, I think adding a meatier sound effect would go a long way here.

5. Carve and Spit without Dark Arts is poorly tuned. - Right now, using Carve and Spit without Dark Arts on a single target is objectively bad.

I would suggest it also giving at least 25 Bloodgauge to the player as well. Considering the name, I think this would be perfect since the name implies a duality, so MP + Bloodgauge plays into that.

6. Sole Survivor is poorly tuned. - This ability has minimal usage in 4.x, and the benefit is also very weak now on top of having an excessively long recast.

While the recast timer could be lowered, I would suggest changing what this gives the DRK. One easy fix would be to also give Bloodgauge, but you could be more creative and maybe give it an "Increased Critical Hits Taken" or "Decreased Critical Hits Dealt" effect or something similar.

Thanks again for reading and I hope you will take our issues to heart and give DRK the care and attention to not just balance it but also do it in a way that helps strengthen the unique image it has to offer.