Quote Originally Posted by Reynhart View Post
This could fix something from a balance standpoint, but would it be interesting gameplay wise ?
I think it would make Blood Gauge feel as bland as the Oath Gauge, since you have no real decision to make on how to spend it (or how you build it).
Yes, I think it would be interesting, because once MP (and Dark Arts) are removed from consideration when it comes to your DPS, there's room to build meaningful choices and make interesting gameplay out of DRK's full mitigation suite, and there's room to build a version of DRK that feels powerful compared to the other tanks without just becoming a better version of those tanks.

Similarly, if DRK's DPS became driven entirely by resources that are dedicated to damage, it would be possible to adjust the usage and power of that resource independently, to put DRK on par with the other tanks, without running into concerns that you'd be supercharging or hamstringing its defensive capabilities.


Thinking ambitiously, it's easy to imagine an overhauled version of DRK where TBN becomes essentially their only non-crossclass skill that directly handles mitigation, but with several 'sub-stances' like the 4.x versions of Mage's Ballad/Army's Paeon/Wanderer's Minuet that alter the behavior of the skill, and a Dark Arts modifier that increases the effectiveness. DRK becomes a purely active-mitigation tank that nevertheless has a full set of feature-complete defensive tools that are well-equipped to handle any sort of tanking situation, limited only by their MP pool/generation.