Concise Tank Balance Changes

[Kabooa]

This is a point which has evolved from the post history. I'm going to make a conjecture that what you felt good about with shield swipe and the rare use of haymaker wasn't that it is a skill which you used rarely, I instead have a feeling your pleasure from using these skills actually comes from recognizing niche situations in which using these abilities was actually beneficial.

That conjecture isn't wrong. Conflicting priority on what action to use and how to maximize use is what makes the otherwise bland-at-a-glance Black Mage an actively engaging job.

Where I disagree is where you paint Reprisal as having similar considerations. Where we got a disconnect is where I mentioned parry rates. It's not that you -don't parry. It's that you can't guarantee your parries. Because you cannot guarantee your parries, this forces your hand regarding Reprisal. Because it has no relative cost (It's OGCD), because it's primarily an offensive tool (Substantial potency), and because the debuff is just so absurdly long, the window of error is minimal and its opportunity cost nonexistent.

It's not that Reprisal didn't have optimal use, it's that the difference between optimal use and just plain use was small. Practically indistinguishable due to variance in when it was available. (Cuz parry)

It would be an identical tool as a literal counter attack button. Push button, parry and strike back the next attack in 3 seconds. 30 second cooldown, 220 potency, the whole shebang. The exact same effect, but the window is smaller, and the control is all yours.

I'd literally have no problem with that. A little extra oomph for Dark Knights, a thematic defensive option comparable to both Shelltron (Defend) and Inner Beast (Ignore), and active use. I couldn't ask for more, and it's really just the simplest of changes, putting the control and onus of activation onto the player instead of the dice.

This feels like a slippery slope argument. I don't see reactives being removed from the game.

I 100% see shield swipe being changed again or being removed.

I see Seigan being removed as it is, because throwing the threat reduction on Merciful Eyes removed any potential want to use Seigan.

And...that's all the reactives as we've been defining them. The Samurai has more reactives than the Tanks combined.

We could potentially add Riddle of Earth, Eye for an Eye, and Arms Length to the list, but those really aren't in the same field. They have a reactive effect, but aren't "reactives".

[Shurrikhan]

That conjecture isn't wrong. Conflicting priority on what action to use and how to maximize use is what makes the otherwise bland-at-a-glance Black Mage an actively engaging job.

Where I disagree is where you paint Reprisal as having similar considerations. Where we got a disconnect is where I mentioned parry rates. It's not that you -don't parry. It's that you can't guarantee your parries. Because you cannot guarantee your parries, this forces your hand regarding Reprisal. Because it has no relative cost (It's OGCD), because it's primarily an offensive tool (Substantial potency), and because the debuff is just so absurdly long, the window of error is minimal and its opportunity cost nonexistent.

It's not that Reprisal didn't have optimal use, it's that the difference between optimal use and just plain use was small. Practically indistinguishable due to variance in when it was available. (Cuz parry)

I think this is why you'd find so many posts asking for a modified DA-DD back in Heavensward. The dodge mechanic was strong but counterproductive. Without Reprisal and Low Blow being modified to also use dodge chance, which would then synergize perhaps overly powerfully with DA-AD and DA-DP together, and Blood Price gaining from attacks attempted against you rather than solely attacks to hit you (still better than Monk's Riddle of Earth, which cripples Monk dps whenever a SCH shield causes you not to take damage, because that condition is all so sensible...), it could actively hurt survival. At a 30% parry buff that could be stacked with cross-classes Awareness, baseline Dark Dance was still decently strong and was ripe for improvements to offset the more extreme or emergency option of the anti-synergetic DA-DD, but, easier changes being easier changes, instead it was left flawed until just being removed outright.