Concise Tank Balance Changes

[Shurrikhan]

The irony here being that you want Dark Knight to have a fire-and-forget DoT (others had it first), bring back a Magic Damage reduction (others had it first), and a counter attack with a debuff (Monk had it first)

Scourge wasn't exactly a fire-and-forget DoT, though. You specifically wanted to be out of Grit for it, so it offered a sense of pacing and risk-reward.

Reprisal wasn't magic damage reduction. It reduced all damage. And no one quite had its application method (5-second window for counterattack after parry) prior (closest being Shield Bash after being made a CD). It functioned more closely to Disable or Dismantle than anything other tanks had, and it gave pacing to tank-swaps.

Delirium was basic, but it did at least mean you (1) had to commit to using DA on a weaponskill or avoiding use of DA, and (2) could far more easily apply Dark Arts to an oGCD without double-weaving. Its removal helped to double down on both frequency of DAs and the need for double-weaving, which were then addressed only through the further removal of a our most unique mechanic, defensive augmentative resource spending (Dark Dance, Dark Mind).

[Kabooa]

Scourge wasn't exactly a fire-and-forget DoT, though. You specifically wanted to be out of Grit for it, so it offered a sense of pacing and risk-reward.

Reprisal wasn't magic damage reduction. It reduced all damage. And no one quite had its application method (5-second window for counterattack after parry) prior (closest being Shield Bash after being made a CD). It functioned more closely to Disable or Dismantle than anything other tanks had, and it gave pacing to tank-swaps.

Delirium was basic, but it did at least mean you (1) had to commit to using DA on a weaponskill or avoiding use of DA, and (2) could far more easily apply Dark Arts to an oGCD without double-weaving. Its removal helped to double down on both frequency of DAs and the need for double-weaving, which were then addressed only through the further removal of a our most unique mechanic, defensive augmentative resource spending (Dark Dance, Dark Mind).

Scourge in our current climate would be fire and forget.

Retaliation was the counter attack with a debuff.

Delirium was the Magic Damage reduction (Int down)

[whiskeybravo]

Retaliation was the counter attack with a debuff.

There was also Haymaker

[Kabooa]

There was also Haymaker

That was the direct analogue I was referencing by "Monk had it first"

[Shurrikhan]

Scourge in our current climate would be fire and forget.

Retaliation was the counter attack with a debuff.

Symptom of larger issue: Overly costly Grit-swapping and reduced defensive spendability. The player climate will only streamline with time to avoiding tank stance. The more (ridiculously) costly the tank-stance, the less it can synergize with pacing elements.

Retaliation? I don't think that was a thing? In WoW, yes, but XIV? I don't think even 1.x had a skill by that name.
Pre-SB has historically had Reprisal, Shield Bash (mentioned above), and Haymaker, but the last was a weaponskill, not ability, and was only ever effectively used by Bard in the Thordan fight for the stronger-than-Heavy-Shot instant cast despite WM. Its only use by its native job was to, if the stars aligned just right on a rotation misaligned by exactly one GCD, to resync your stance cycle when both ToD and Fracture were already up, or to co-tank dungeons when no real-tank was present and the whole party was undergeared. Reprisal, on the other hand, stacked beautifully with SP and Virus, rivaling Divine Veil. Its debuff was NOT, outside of dungeon spam, an accidental byproduct. And it is the only one of the debuffs that affected bosses or even elites, i.e.... was a debuff.

I guess the greater question is, though... why prune them rather than doubling down on their benefits? Having only PS and SE consume DA, with PS being rarely used and SE always having the DA-less option of DL, made the rotation far smoother. The removal of Low Blow and Reprisal from the DRK repertoire homogenized its oGCD usage to the point that one of its most satisfying skills became a source of disgust. The removal of Reprisal largely excused the waste in DA-DD, and in later builds the removal of DD itself. With that then came the removal/transfer of DRK's core unique mechanic, defensive spending of a shared resource, now seen only --and arguably not as satisfyingly-- in PLD's Holy Spirit vs. Clemency.

Between Scourge, Reprisal, and Low Blow's reset mechanic, DRK excelled at focus-target damage in AoE fights. Its Scourge, baseline, hit for slightly more than a Fell Cleave, and it was one of only three melee DoTs (the only others being ToD, which had to be used in specific amounts not to desync rotation, and Mutilate, which was noticeably lower value) to require no pre-combos. That was a valid and enjoyable little niche. Now, we can only attempt to reach Warrior's shoulder in AoE and only when enter an AoE fight with full Blood and Mana with Blood Weapon and Delirium at the ready, without need of self-preservation, against 14+ targets for DA-Quietus spam. Now, I love that particular gimmick of BW-Quietus refunding itself. It feels mighty, even when hitting for a third of what WAR does, but... we didn't need to lose our cleave potential just to have middling mass AoE. In terms of relative strength, we were actually stronger even in mass AoE previously. We were gutted in one regard so we could be trimmed in another.

Black Blood, Bloodspiller, and Quietus were not mutually exclusive to any of that stuff. We didn't need the hotbar space reclaimed. Paladin certainly had no such reclamations. So... why were they removed? Integral, satisfying gameplay removed... for no dependent advantage.

[Kabooa]

Between Scourge, Reprisal, and Low Blow's reset mechanic, DRK excelled at focus-target damage in AoE fights. Its Scourge, baseline, hit for slightly more than a Fell Cleave, and it was one of only three melee DoTs (the only others being ToD, which had to be used in specific amounts not to desync rotation, and Mutilate, which was noticeably lower value) to require no pre-combos. That was a valid and enjoyable little niche.

Mutilate
Phelbotomize
Fracture
Touch of Death
Scourge

Paladin and - Oh, look, it was just paladin who was out there, for the Melee. I mean, none of the Ranged DPS jobs had a tacked on DoT that had no real bearing on the gameplay other than a maintenance dot-

Lead Shot.

I don't think "DoT that's stronger potency per GCD than a Combo Line" was the niche here. If anything, -not- having one of these was the bigger niche. That's just the standalone DoTs independent of a Job's mechanics, -and that's nearly half the Jobs- available at Heavensward. I didn't include Black Mage, Arcanist and the derivatives, or Bard because they all directly interact with their other mechanics.

And it seems unfair to include White Mage and Astro, as without them they have 1 other offensive spell. Hell, they might be the only two jobs who should have kept all the ranks of their DoTs, just so they have a bit more variety in what they press.

And again, when it comes to gameplay, this is opinion. This is why I said we'll disagree.

OGCD attacks are one of the biggest detriments in their implementation to job diversity. You know what the difference between Circle of Scorn and Elixir Field is? Animation and potency. They are otherwise identical in consideration and use. As often as possible, as many in buff windows as possible.

There is no weight to them compared to one another. Really, you could fold Contra Sixt and Fleche into each other and the Red Mage doesn't change at all.

This is the position I'm coming from. There is no difference between Elixir Field or Circle of Scorn to me in execution or consideration. There is no difference between Fleche or Gauss Round.

You know what sort of OGCDs -do- change things up?
Quick Reload. Do you hit it the moment it comes up, or do you wait to run your other ammo out so you can force another clean shot? The RNG nature of Machinist shots makes Quick Reload a minor but important decision in its use. Forcing another clean shot outweighs 25 potency, but only if done in a certain time frame.

Leylines. Commit, baby. 2000 IQ plays. See the future. Everything about getting a full Leylines off when you had no right to -feels fantastic-.

I hate Summoner, but respect where it's due. Trance feels fantastic, but that might be the Jelly Legs Black Mage speaking.

Any gap closer. Mobility feels good. Hitting things feels good. Hitting things while mobile feels -great-. Distance control is something I hope we see more of, and the Paladin not having an ally target variant will forever be a sore point for me.

And just for the counter intuitive one as well: Bard's fantastic because of one subtle aspect. It puts you into the beat, the songs it sings. How? Every time your poison procs you instinctively know the server tick timing. I can't tell you how badly I want that on Black Mage, but it's easy to lose, and who even watches DoTs, right? Bard's entirety is built around internal melody, and even though it's just a giant walking example of "Spam this !@#%ing OGCD", that one aspect alone is enough for it to get a pass. As stated: Respect where it's due. The OGCDs are directly related to that internal tune.

These are the types of abilities I want. Stuff that actively changes your approach, in that one moment.

Reprisal? "I either hit it now or within the action window"
Low Blow? "Oh it's up, I should hit it so I don't waste a proc"
Scourge? "There's less than 5 targets and this isn't on that guy".

These are the last on my list for what I'd want for Dark Knight. Good riddance to them.