Dark Knight feedback

[Daniel_Fury]

Yoshida has asked that we provide continued feedback of the job balance after the release of Savage content.

Dark Knight players have provided hundreds of posts since before Savage and continues to provide a large amount of feedback.

We are now asking for feedback from the delopment team.

Can we please get some feedback on the current state of Dark Knight?

Does the team acknowledge a balance issue?
Will there be near future adjustment?
Do you feel balance has been achieved?

Any acknowledgement of the countless threads/posts would be much appreciated by the DRK community.

[Lyth]

I think part of the problem is that a lot of the dev discussion regarding job balance happens only at live letters or interviews with Yoshi-P. Because everything is run centrally, the flow of information is slow. It's not like you're interacting directly with a job or even a role lead who is an expert in the area. The only exception that I've seen to this is in Lore, where Koji Fox directly interacts with the playerbase in an area of his expertise. But I think it's because he's aware of what western MMO players are expecting when it comes to feedback and dev interaction on the forums. Outside of that, the forums seem to be like the suggestion box in the hallway: you're not entirely sure if someone has looked in it recently.

This is a pretty complex game. We're competing for feedback against players looking for information on when there will be more housing, when bunny ears will be available for all players, and why you can't stack lalafells on top of each other. Running all of the communication through live letters is like getting all of your information from the Prime Minister. Sometimes, your cabinet ministers have to step up to the plate and explain what's going on. I would love to have some direct feedback from a DRK job lead or even a Tank role lead, just to understand their thought process and design philosophy. It also helps when the person in question actually plays your role, because then they understand your issues. Imagine a game designed entirely from the perspective of a dps player ("What do you mean, you want to do high damage as a tank? Aren't you just there to hold the boss in position for me?")

You really need to look at the big western MMO devs to see the format that players here are looking for. I think it's more important for your playerbase to understand why you're changing something, than it is for you to know what you're changing. Balance isn't just dependent on numbers; it's also dependent on how the playerbase perceives and reacts to those numbers. It's the product of both.

[SalamanderIX]

As somebody who is newer to this game, I find the lack of the intended direction really disconcerting. In most online games, the developers are clear what their intentions with each class/character/unit is.
In FFXIV, I get a few sentence about lore, some patch notes with nothing but numbers, but there is a lack of conveyance of what their goal is.
When I was trying to pick a tank to play, the best I could find is just a couple of posts and videos that amounted to "they're about the same, play which one you like". So nobody knows? That's a sad state of job definition.
Seriously, what is the Dark Knight supposed to be in this game, other than a TANK that has a visual theme and a playstyle - Do they even know? And without knowing what the Dark Knight is supposed to be (or whatever other job), how do we even suggest how to improve it?

[Jandor]

Seriously, what is the Dark Knight supposed to be in this game, other than a TANK that has a visual theme and a playstyle - Do they even know? And without knowing what the Dark Knight is supposed to be (or whatever other job), how do we even suggest how to improve it?

I think Dark Knight is supposed to be the "active" style tank with the Dark Arts based attacking and the Blackest Night based defending, only tank really where you can actively block hits by pressing an on-demand button. I mean, yeah, it's on 15s CD but in real terms it's normally ready when you want it.

[Chrono_Rising]

I think Dark Knight is supposed to be the "active" style tank with the Dark Arts based attacking and the Blackest Night based defending, only tank really where you can actively block hits by pressing an on-demand button. I mean, yeah, it's on 15s CD but in real terms it's normally ready when you want it.

Except that paladin has sheltron, they both have different uses but function really similarly. Since you can recharge your gauge every 22 seconds it also plays in a very active mitigating style. However they differ on how actively they buff themselves, which is what truly makes DRK active.

[Jandor]

Except that paladin has sheltron, they both have different uses but function really similarly.

Yeah I suppose, although Sheltron (in SwO) should take a tad longer to be ready than TBN.
Still, I think that active style was part of the intent behind SB DRK, it is just a guess though because as Salamander says they're not exactly clear on what the goal is over at SE.

[Chrono_Rising]

Yeah I suppose, although Sheltron (in SwO) should take a tad longer to be ready than TBN.
Still, I think that active style was part of the intent behind SB DRK, it is just a guess though because as Salamander says they're not exactly clear on what the goal is over at SE.

Agreed about SE's position on DRK.

Sheltron fills in SwO every 22 seconds from auto attacks, which is only 7 seconds longer than TBN recast so its fairly similar in high uptime fights.

[Daniel_Fury]

Snip

I totally agree. However, I do remember more communication from the transition from 1.0 to ARR and that communication has slowed a bit in the recent years.

I can't help but think we were shunned in the latest patch because they wanted to fix a skill for Warrior that had absolutely minimal use in Raid content and little use elsewhere. Although i feel DRK needs adjusting, they dont have a SB skill as bad as Shake It Off was for endgame content. This skill actually had taken SE awhile to resolve.

They mentioned this was the patch where they adjust job mechanics which I guess implies they have no desire to change the DRK mechanic.

This is all just speculation though because we have not had a single response to all this feedback. I'd be happy even to get a "The team thinks DRK is fine" message.
At least we know we are being heard.

[NellMoshroca]

they wanted to fix a skill for Warrior that had absolutely minimal use in Raid content and little use elsewhere. Although i feel DRK needs adjusting, they dont have a SB skill as bad as Shake It Off was for endgame content. This skill actually had taken SE awhile to resolve.

Dark Passenger? A skill so useless half of us don't even have it on our bar anymore?

[Ekimmak]

Dark Passenger? A skill so useless half of us don't even have it on our bar anymore?

What else do you use your MP on when you get synced down below 45?