Quote Originally Posted by Kabooa View Post
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.