Trying to understand the complaints about DRK

[Insanecell]

This is my first forum post so I do apologize for any errors and the length. But to answer your question, and this is my own personal opinion, my issues with DRK are rather simple: It's not Heavensward.

In Heavensward I adored this class and with Stormblood came some of the most baffling set of design choices I've ever seen.

The first being the removal of Delirium as a weaponskill combo finisher without a replacement. This locks the class into one major rotation and its threat combo which most people do not use unless theres a reset or other circumstances. Aggro management has mostly become a party thing now due to the amount of threat management tools in the game. I still question as to why Scourge never took its place, and if homogenizing the tanks is a concern then its far too late for that, DRK got its own version of Fell Cleave and Decimate anyway.

Second being the removal of the mp drain and Darkside being able to fall off. This in my mind is the creator of the Dark Arts spam issue alot of people have now. Spamming Dark Arts was a death wish before unless you had blood weapon/price active, however now Darkside never falls off (even in death now due to a recent change). Now as long as you conserve mp for a TBN you can hit your DA keybind as much as you want now. I dont mind every ability having a DA effect, and recent changes have added alot to think about when using DA. The big thing though is that Syphon Strike should not have a DA effect, and the reason for that is back in Heavensward, HS into SS into Delirium had no DA effects whatsoever. This allowed you to bank a DA for an ogcd like DP or CnS if your internet sucked (like mine) or weren't good at double weaving (like me).

My only real numerical issue right now with the class is that DP is useless still on a ST. Why does it cost the same as a DA if it does not have the same potency as a DA. It may be 140 pot now but that does not account for Slashing Debuff due to it being magic damage. A relatively simple fix to this is to just reduce the mp cost rather than increase the potency again, especially now that its on a 1 min cd rather than a 30 second cd.

My last real issue is with the role action system. I dont understand the reason behind its existence and the "choices" it offers. Half of the actions such as Voke, Shirk, Rampart (Shadowskin) could have easily just been learned baseline at the level you get them in the role action system. Also Anticipation (originally Dark Dance), Low Blow, Reprisal all had reactive gameplay tied to them when you parried a attack, Low Blow's cd had a chance to reset and it had a potency, Reprisal triggered and it had a potency and had Storms Path's old effect. So to me, DRK lost alot of its identity there and was given knock offs in return, really nice looking knock offs, but knock offs nonetheless.

This last gripe is 100% personal. But I do not like TBN. I understand how powerful it is but I just do not like catch all abilities. I do not want to see DRK built around this one ability and would gladly trade it in for half of the stuff we had in Heavensward. Again, that one though is all me.

I apologize for the wall of text. TLDR is that its just not Heavensward DRK. I understand that classes change, but not all change is good and fun is subjective. Like I said, these are all just my personal issues with current state of the class.