The DRK storyline

[Cilia]

I think the problem of the other Jobs not being personally engaging is that they're centered around the culture and history of other civilizations and do not have a precedent for something like Fray. PLD is about the Sultan[a]'s praetorian guard, SCH is about Nym, SMN is about its Allagan roots, DRG is centered entirely around its relationship to Ishgard, AST is about Sharlayan politics as much as it is about astromancy, etc. DRK just makes it personal and explores the concepts of "justice" and "sacrifice" in a context beyond Ishgard.

WAR is also a bit introspective and personal, though it requires deeper consideration and lacks a blatant "other self" like Fray and Myste to make it absolutely clear. I did the 30-50 line just for research on the subject. 50-60 also imply it, and I have yet to run the 60-70 line but from what I understand the trend continues.

(Also, any time someone brings attention to the breaking of gender roles, it ultimately undermines the concept of gender equality by implying that it is an exception and not the status quo. Please don't drag gender politics in here.)

[Heliantheae]

My main issue with the PLD arc was that its just dumb. If they left it alone as a tournament arc and did some world building and got some character development, it would've been fine. But they had to throw in this gambling subplot. GASP, gambling in Ul'dah!? The Lv68 quest was just padding. And the whole thing doesn't make since. We're the Warrior of Light, the odds couldn't have been that great. Like 1:4 at most, no way the pay off would've been worth that effort.

[SunAurel]

I am really ?? why the Paladin arc was not something about being the sworn shield of the Sultana this time. Let someone else try to kill her and we have to investigate/protect her. Just let us stand guard at a public event with our fellow Paladins and notice something was off, let us be a shield of the innocent and actually save some people, give us a cool cutscene where our character blocks a powerful attack or an arrow or just lets us show off for once

give us a Dilemma where our job of protecting the innocent clashes with the greater good aka some idealism vs utilitarism or something

[Theodric]

The 60-70 PLD quests were an improvement over the 50-60 PLD quests...though that isn't saying much when the bar was set so low. It's a real shame, too, since it would have been relatively easy to introduce a seasoned Ishgardian knight and have them teach the Warrior of Light a few tricks and advance Ishgardian lore in the process. Catching up with a few familiar faces during the 60-70 PLD quests wasn't the worst thing in the world but I think I'd have been much more interested in heading out into the world and trying to be the ideal knight in shining armour.

[DRKoftheAzure]

The 60-70 PLD quests were an improvement over the 50-60 PLD quests...though that isn't saying much when the bar was set so low. It's a real shame, too, since it would have been relatively easy to introduce a seasoned Ishgardian knight and have them teach the Warrior of Light a few tricks and advance Ishgardian lore in the process. Catching up with a few familiar faces during the 60-70 PLD quests wasn't the worst thing in the world but I think I'd have been much more interested in heading out into the world and trying to be the ideal knight in shining armour.

At least they didn't forget about GLA questline which is base class for PLD.

[Grayve]

I liked seeing the old GLA npc's return in the PLD quest. I missed them in HW.

[Kyran-Varlsen]

I liked seeing the old GLA npc's return in the PLD quest. I missed them in HW.

But that's the thing. The 60-70 Questline was better than the 50-60 Questline for PLD because it was not a Paladin Story but rather a Gladiator Story.

As a Free Paladin, we are not technically tied to the machinations of Ul'dah beyond our association with the Sultansworn. But there was so much wasted potential for a "Game of Thrones" style plot which calls on us to act as a sort of Kingsguard figure, or maybe even intervene as a neutral knight in the House Politics of Ishgard to mediate a dispute that goes bloody. This is what I mean, the plot writes itself but they wen't with this boring as hell Oathkeeper nonsense for the 50-60 quest-line.

I hear so many wonderful things about the DK story, but I feel tied down to the Paladin job at present which really does provide me what I need to supply the other classes I am trying to level.

[HyoMinPark]

the woman who wrote the DRK quests is also the same that wrote the Nadaam part, which is by far the strongest part of SB imo. They should let her write a lot more.

She also wrote the 1-50 ALC storyline, and I believe she also played a part in the Coil storyline as well.

DRK's story is absolutely amazing. I enjoy it because it gives life to our character's feelings and emotions, and focuses on our character rather than another NPC or some random, legendary item. 30-50 is my favorite quest chain out of all the job quest chains, and I've done the majority of them (all of them prior to SB's release). I can't wait to do the 60-70 quest chain for DRK because I hear how incredibly epic it is, and if people put it above the 30-50 chain, then I know I'm going to love it.

[Aniond]

Better then pld storyline.

[Belhi]

We see a lot of the Job storylines referencing early class NPCs. Hamon and co. turn up in the MNK quests, Sephie in the WHM and even the MRD guild reps in the WAR. WAR 60-70 had potential but kind of got silly cause they decided to go goofy with the romance subplot and for me that kind of killed it. WAR touches a little of DRK stuff because for WAR controlling the inner beast is all about your emotional state and desire. If your emotionally confused or unbalanced your inner beast will likewise be unreliable or difficult to control. That said, the big difference is the WoL never has issues with controlling their inner beast so its more about observing the qualities in others.

They basically have themes they work off. DRK is a very personal one because it focuses on the WoL's personal mental state. It however has comparatively little lore. Compare that to the BLM or MNK which have some pretty major details about the origins of the arts and/or major historical events. Further, BLM is about power, it's value and its risks while MNK is about using strength to build rather than just destroy and learning from the past. PLD doesn't seem to be about anything really which is a shame because I found the 30-50 actually had a solid start.

Here is a case in point. If we went with the whole 'shield of the innocent' thing then they could have set things up so winning the tournament was a big deal but have us chose to abandon the final to go off to save the kid. Doing the right thing and keeping to your oaths above all else, even in the face of ridicule and pressure. What it means to be a PLD. Instead they have this weird one above all thing going. I mean I liked the fights and the quests weren't bad and I loved the Nostalgia. Interesting to learn that exploding orbs of light ability is actually a Ishgardian knight technique rather than a primal ability. However there was nothing PLDy about it and frankly I found pretty much every other questline dealt with that one way or another.