DRK Consolidated Feedback Thread

[DRKoftheAzure]

In a way to me 4.0 Paladin feels like 3.x DRK. Even though I am not spamming a "buff other skill" button.

I KNOW RIGHT?! I'm not the only who thinks that! I feel slightly now... Still mad about the nerfs to DRK though... too many negatives that outweigh the positives...

Also I counted how many negative things in 4.xx for DRK rant (15 negatives), all of those negatives DO NOT make a positive...

[SyzzleSpark]

They really need to do something about Grit now.

With the recent patch, Defiance/Deliverance are back to being free, and because of PLD's new trait which was balanced around their gauge costs (which have now been removed), their stance swaps effectively saw a 50% MP cost reduction, and now Grit is unchanged? >.>

[Falar]

They really need to do something about Grit now.

With the recent patch, Defiance/Deliverance are back to being free, and because of PLD's new trait which was balanced around their gauge costs (which have now been removed), their stance swaps effectively saw a 50% MP cost reduction, and now Grit is unchanged? >.>

Agreed.

I feel that stance dancing is mandatory now too with BP being soooo bad, so much worse than BW now and Delirium really shinign with BW.

[SyzzleSpark]

Agreed.

I feel that stance dancing is mandatory now too with BP being soooo bad, so much worse than BW now and Delirium really shinign with BW.

Fun fact, Delirium with BP is still a DPS gain over Bloodspiller due to the MP and increased Blood generation. In fact the MP from Delirium alone outweighs the PPGCD increase from Bloodspiller. This is assuming you'll be in Grit up until Delirium's next recast of course.

But BP still feels awful to push and needs some additional effect though.

[MauvaisOeil]

Fun fact, Delirium with BP is still a DPS gain over Bloodspiller due to the MP and increased Blood generation. In fact the MP from Delirium alone outweighs the PPGCD increase from Bloodspiller. This is assuming you'll be in Grit up until Delirium's next recast of course.

But BP still feels awful to push and needs some additional effect though.

Thank god delirium IS a dps gain. For a 2min cooldown, a viable effect is what we are awaiting.

[SyzzleSpark]

Thank god delirium IS a dps gain. For a 2min cooldown, a viable effect is what we are awaiting.

Right, now if we could just get a few other choice abilities on a 2 minute cooldown...

Honestly, I think Delirium could use an even shorter recast. WARs seem to think Inner Release being on 120s is too long and I tend to agree, but Delirium being on 120s is also a little much. It should be cut down to at least 90s so that we can reliably burst in every phase without getting interrupted, because this is what Delirium is, its our burst cooldown. The amount of DA use it elicits equates to almost a 30-40% increase in potency on average for a 23s duration on BW, so given that the other tanks have 25-30% damage ups on 60s recast I don't think it'd be unreasonable to have ours at 90s.

[Fal_Kearst]

Was a bit of a strain to adapt to the new DRK but I eventually grew to like it. I thought I didn't like it at first but I haven't had to adjust my playstyle too much. Sure I miss some old abilities but I just learned the new style. Whatever changes that may come from this thread will change that style and I will have to adapt again but that is ok for me. I am just in love with drk so I keep playing it no matter what happens. On a side note it is a lot of fun in PVP ohhhhhhh man.

[Mekhana]

Personally I'd not like the TBN duration extended, I enjoy the clutch aspect.

However, you need to be more rewarded for a proc. A small heal for 5% (OT) 10%(Self) of the dmg blocked would be excellent.

Also, make the cast for TBN, Sole Survivor and Living Dead instant but keep the animation intact. Give Foresight Shadowskin animation and maybe, maybe make Dark Mind an AoE buff for half effectiveness for non self.

[SyzzleSpark]

However, you need to be more rewarded for a proc.

So much of DRK isn't rewarding. So long as you're actively pressure-valving your mana, your DPS barely fluctuates at all no matter how much of the nitty-gritty min-maxing aspects of it you get right. Over the course of a 9-12 minute encounter, the DPS of a DRK that proc'd TBN on cooldown will not be different from the DPS of one that doesn't even have the skill on their hotbar by any statistically significant degree, and this is just awful, because TBN management has become the most challenging mechanic of the job and yet you have no DPS incentive to do so, you just do it because its mitigation.

In a way this makes DRK's playstyle the most defensively minded of all the tanks, which is insanely ironic because our mitigation is arguably the worst. I don't mind an active playstyle in terms of mitigation, but they've designed this game for tanks, and all roles, to be focused on DPS, so for this extremely centralizing mechanic to basically be a net gain of zero in that department feels awful.

I think TBN has more design flaws than just what I've stated here, but I think a big first step is to make the skill a net gain if it pops, because right now, you're rewarded extremely poorly for optimizing it. A simple way to do this would be to have the skill cost half of its current mana cost, or to have it instantly grant 25 blood upon the cast, and the additional 25 if it breaks.

[Lyth]

I like the idea of TBN activating a Bloodspiller proc that increases its potency. One problem with these recent patch changes is that every time you boost the value of DRK's combo potency relative to Bloodspiller, you change it from a dps gain to a dps loss. So we've flip-flopped from a 19 potency loss, to a 4 potency gain, back to a 3 potency loss over three consecutive sub-patches.If TBN breaking applied, say, a built in DA effect to the next Bloodspiller, then it would be a consistent dps gain, regardless of how the devs tweaked the potencies. It would also make it feel more like a counterattack.

I think the single biggest issue with DRK at the moment are the stance penalties. BW is functionally similar to FoF or Berserk, but is only accessible outside of Grit and is terminated by switching stances. Delirium is strong, but also commits you to spending the next 23-30 seconds locked in whatever stance you started out in, and any stance swaps that occur during this period completely waste the effect (costing you over 200 potency). Blood Price looks like it's tuned for having multiple targets present, but you need to be hit about 3-4 times per second for it to be comparable to BW (in practice, this happens in situations where you have about 9+ mobs attacking you). The passive blood gain somewhat helps, but there at least needs to be a passive MP gain if it's going to be tuned so low. Overall, in order to make full use of these cooldowns, you need significantly more planning than you would for either FoF or Berserk, and mistakes are punished much more harshly. That's not even including the issue of the MP penalty associated with stance swaps.

I will say that I like what they did with Quietus. There's a neat interaction with TBN there that makes AoE tanking really fun. Unfortunately, this makes BP even less desirable, as there's little reason to use Delirium on it.