DRK changes from Prelim notes

[Izsha]

Good job SE. This is an excellent list of adjustments and I'm glad you didn't decide to wait for a rework at 5.0 or sit on this for even longer.

Bad job community. This is utterly astonishing. Litterally half of the posts in this thread are "meh these aren't that great heres my list of complaints you didn't touch".

*"WAAH shadow wall should be like vengeance 2min". Fixd
*"Dark passenger has no reason to be on my hotbar". Fixd
*"Spending MP on defense is stupid" (DM) Fixd
*"Drk has no enmity maintenance in ST rotation" Fixd (plunge)
*"Power slash costs to much vs other tanks" "Heres DA refund and 46% damage/enmity boost. Fixd.
*"Sole Survivor is trash" "Its proc power is now free and buff to the proc"

And the very 1st response is "UGH Dark arts is still a spammy thing".

This is a whos who list of the largest complaints about drk completely adjusted per community demand and all half this forum can see is "ugh I still spam DA" "War got more love" "Heres my list of additional demands".

Give credit where credit is due. This is a huge list of positive changes and every single one of these changes has had multiple threads begging for exactly what we just got.

Kudos to the people that showed some appreciation instead of just whining that the pony they just got isnt the color they wanted.

[Valdegarde]

Is that much different than the reaction to the Inner Release changes? This is normal, people discussing some of the design choices that may interfere with the way the job is currently being played. Truly though, the defensive adjustments are absolutely welcome, with no real downside. Dark Mind's change even reduces some of the Dark Arts spam-clipping to handle busters in a timely manner. To be sure, there are aspects of the playstyle that need to be addressed and from what it sounds like, they plan utilizing these stepping stone changes as a foundation for more comprehensive work done later, likely to Dark Arts itself. It's hopeful and nice, I'd like to see how this all plays out in the new content next week while looking forward to more attention in upcoming patches.

But Dark Knight players don't deserve to be vilified with stereotypes of being some whining mob that's any different than other classes, because they're not.

[Tanathya]

Snip

Point is, community is mad because they changed DRK massively from HW to SB for no apparent reason. Where Dark Arts used to be a fun, core mechanic, it now is a boring, spammy mechanic, shoved down our throats. Again, for no apparent reason.

[Chrono_Rising]

*"Dark passenger has no reason to be on my hotbar". Fixd
AND
*"Drk has no enmity maintenance in ST rotation" Fixd (plunge)

I'm going to go ahead and say double fixed since both dark passenger and plunge gained enmity modifiers, though dark passenger isn't something to spam on single targets we see a great aoe tool in this change and solidifies it as a gain whenever there are two or more targets. I think this is a great list of changes, and I'm really looking forward to trying them out next week!

I especially love the idea of trying to time my sole survivor with tbn, shield 20% of my HP and then restore 20% of my HP (and sometimes 30%), I can see this as being very engaging. Sole Survivor sounds like an awesome change!

[Izsha]

though dark passenger isn't something to spam on single targets we see a great aoe tool in this change and solidifies it as a gain whenever there are two or more targets.!

Maybe I'm missing something on dark passenger, but why not spam it on single target? Instead of using an OGCD on DA to add 140 potency to (insert skill) just use an OGCD of the same MP cost to add 140 potency+Enmity (Or double up and do 2 DA worth of MP for 2 DA worth of damage+Enmity). I don't see why this isn't a complete replacement for 1-2 DA every time its up (mp allowing) while tanking. Of course not at the expense of a C&S/Grit DA etc that are worth more than the standard 140.

Any time Passenger is up and you would use a DA for plain 140, why the heck wouldn't you use Passenger?

Side note: Cant wait to see what the enmity mods are for plunge and passenger. I will definitely be playing Drk for pretty much everything except my savage raid static now.

[Valdegarde]

Maybe I'm missing something on dark passenger, but why not spam it on single target?

That would be absolutely awesome if that was the case, I think that's what a lot of people want. But slashing debuff is a thing so it'll amount to a slight loss. Much less than before, so it's great for pulling probably and snap aggro, but not to be used on cooldown if you can help it.
Maybe it's just me, but I would love to have more ways to use MP like this other than dark arts and TBN. I liked having that priority system of using MP and dark arts in Heavensward, we don't get that anymore aside from Carve and Spit.

[Izsha]

That would be absolutely awesome if that was the case, I think that's what a lot of people want. But slashing debuff is a thing so it'll amount to a slight loss. Much less than before, so it's great for pulling probably and snap aggro, but not to be used on cooldown if you can help it.
Maybe it's just me, but I would love to have more ways to use MP like this other than dark arts and TBN. I liked having that priority system of using MP and dark arts in Heavensward, we don't get that anymore aside from Carve and Spit.

Derp. Completely brainfarted on slashing. Thanks!

[Valdegarde]

Derp. Completely brainfarted on slashing. Thanks!

No problem. To be honest, I'd be completely 100% happy with Dark Passenger if it was as you mentioned. So close! Maybe reduce the dark arts potency compared to the baseline so it's not "too strong" for AoE if that's an issue.

[Izsha]

No problem. To be honest, I'd be completely 100% happy with Dark Passenger if it was as you mentioned. So close! Maybe reduce the dark arts potency compared to the baseline so it's not "too strong" for AoE if that's an issue.

Yeah takes a little of the ZOMG-ness out of it. I have wanted passenger to be a DPS neutral ST skill with enmity mod for ages. Got excited about my dream coming true and forgot the details. Still good snap agro, mana dump.

This is just speculation, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it will have a LARGE enmity mod though and push it past DA plunge for enmity (Onslaught 10x level) making it VERY worth it as an enmity tool for the cost low cost of 16.8 potency for say, 1400 enmity. That's my hope anyway. Still a reasonable tool as is even with only a moderate enmity buff.

HNNNG so hyped to play new drk. I really missed having snap agro whenever I change from war to drk. Smoother CD rotation. Will definitely be playing a ton more Drk once this goes live.

[Tint]

Any time Passenger is up and you would use a DA for plain 140, why the heck wouldn't you use Passenger?

i wouldn't use it because...

- i want to save it for the enmity bonus when grabbing adds wich will spawn soon
- slashing debuff is running and i will miss extra damage when using dark passenger instead of dark arts
- i am simply so used to spamming dark arts now and ignoring dark passenger, that using dark passenger will break my muscle memory ^^