DRK Consolidated Feedback Thread

[WhyAmIHere]

What does that prove? What are you even asserting? That complaining on forums works? If that's the case why has drk been overlooked even though it has orders of magnitude more posts than anything else for much longer a time? That entirely confirms my point that more posts wont somehow bring awareness when months of it already hasn't. Something else? Could you be more specific because I don't follow what youre trying to say.

An open mouth gets fed, so yes.
Let's do a run-down of the changes, patch by patch, to tanks, shall we?

4.01 gave us:
-Increased enmity for all tanks. (This was so damn needed. 'Member back when SB first launched and everyone was complaining about losing aggro all the time? Yeah, I do.)
-WAR: heavy swing's TP Cost lowered by 10.
-DRK: Bloodspiller potency increased by 20.

next up is 4.05:
-PLD: Cost for swapping oaths removed; Holy Spirit 30pot nerf
-WAR: Cost for swapping stances removed; 20pot buff to Path; Unchained/IR lost it's gauge cost; Cyclone gained it's sustain effect
-DRK: SE got a 20pot buff; MP absorb added to Quietus

now onto 4.06a, and of note this only affected PvP (seeing as 4.06 did nothing for tanks):
-PLD: Shield bash's stun duration reduced 1s; Cover costs +5 more gauge; ShO %'s changed to 25% (damage dealt/taken)
-WAR: bonus 500 HP given; onslaught became a 2s stun; Defiance %'s changed to 25% (max HP, hp restored via heals, and damage dealt)
-DRK: power slash "Reduction to target's HP recovered by healing magic changed from 20% to 10%;" Grit's %'s changed to 25% (damage taken/dealt)

and now, the latest of patches to provide any adjustments, 4.1:
-WAR: SiO is now a raid-wide shield; Cyclones HP absorption increased; and another copy-paste from the patch notes w/ regards to Fell Cleave, Decimate, and Inner Release: "Inner Beast, Steel Cyclone, and Unchained will now be replaced by these actions when using Deliverance. As such, they can no longer be set to the hotbar."

In response to the bolded sections of your post i quoted:
Yes. Making posts about what to fix can and does work, when the developers can clearly address problem areas. So far, a consensus has been reached that Shadow Wall needs either a shorter recast, or a longer duration, and that Dark Passenger needs either a potency increase, or it's MP cost reduced, as best I have kept track of here. There is also mention of increasing the duration of TBN to 6 or 7 seconds, but even that isn't a 100% consensus. But, of note: WAR has received more attention overall compared to PLD and DRK with regards to buffs in the current cycle of patches, and yet this still is not enough.

Another issue is the methods of playing each of the classes, and how they're played. By how they're played, I mean with regards to a hardcore, midcore, and casual audience. PLD's a safe bet overall with how the class is built, so the risk/reward of mistakes are not too severe to it's overall performance.
WAR has it's power spikes, and mistakes for improper play can be bad, but on a casual level it still don't fully detract from how the class is now played after it's buffs, and how it's kit is designed.
Where I see an issue with DRK is the conflict between the audiences. The casual player won't see anything inherently wrong with it, and if they do complain it'll be parroted complaints from the more mid-to-high tier players, and that it just feels like it's kit is too simple. (I say this as a self-proclaimed casual/midcore player, so disclosure, this isn't fully my stance, but my interpretation of the casual mindset.) The midtier player will take note of how unrewarding it is to play effectively, and the differences in mitigation it provides compared to PLD/WAR; the hardcore players will mention it's overall lack in DPS and the cost/reward element of MP and blood, and how blood is currently used.

SE made DRK a hot mess by design. Trying to fix this mess will take time, as it's not a simple fix like SiO was to WAR. Constructive feedback provided by the community, in whatever capacity, is much better than nothing at all, and infinitely better than "[x] sucks plz nerf." I don't think anyone's expecting a change right this minute, but given the fact that SE 1) Addressed the changes to aggro generation before buffing it, 2) addressed the changes to the gauge costs being removed before implementing them, and 3) addressed the issues with SiO before changing them; I feel it's safe to say we want to know that 1) the problems are being looked at, and that 2) work is being done to improve the class as a whole. Even a simple "we hear you" from a community rep would suffice. Sure we'd get the usual "are we there yet?!" posts asking about when those changes are coming, but knowing that they are in fact coming at all is much better than wondering if they're going to come at all.