i don't consider it subjetive, DRK, WHM and MCH are the worst desingned jobs this expansion, clunkynes, lack of sinergy betwen you own skills, clipping problems all around or just useles gauge mechanics.
DRK cliping isues bcs dark arts animation is pretty long is a comong thing betwen high ping players and in less degree with low ping players too.
soul eater heals me less that 6k with ilvl 391, with crit direct hit around 9k, while my WAR despite having byakko axe heals around 4k around deliverance and over 2-2.5k without unchained in defiance and inner beast around 7k with combained with stom path are almost constant 9k regulary and i din't count crit+direct hits amount, WAR selfhealing is far superior on deliverance and defiance since DRK can't heal himself gritless outside of sole survivor and the worst thing is sole survivor heal can't be use properly and most of the time is just ends being a overheal, and i din't mention equilibrium with used properly you can heal yourself a huge a mount of HP after every TB on defiance for free.
for compare WAR and PLD selfheals with DRK ones its have to be compared with and without tank stance since tank stance is the universal cont betwen all 3.
- outside of tank stance
-PLD have clemency, cost oGDC and MP, its pretty costly but can be used freely when
you need.
-WAR have thrill of battle (free) and storm path (free)
-DRK have sole survivor and can't be sync with uncoming damage or you healers, the
heal can heal you properly or being a overheal becoming a "waste" (since we use SS
for the MP mostly)
- in tank stance
-PLD have clemency, cost oGDC and MP its pretty costly but can be used freely when
you need.(just the same conts as in sword oath).
-WAR thrill of battle (free), stom path (free), equilibrium (free), inner beast (free).
-DRK sole survivor (just the same as before), soul eater (free).
TBN is the equivalent to inner beast and sheltron both short recast both being porweful mitigation tools, i grant your points about TBN except it takes no damage from raid-wide aoes and normally is meaningless bcs the aoe heals top you up with the rest of the party in a second with and without TBN and tend to mostly overcap you blood sometimes and you can't do anything against that making it a bigger dps lost sometimes as a cont, lets compared to the other 2.
-inner beast:
- mitigate a tank buster
- mitigate raid aoes
- mitigates 6 seconds of AA
- powerful self heal nullify with the mitigation and regen AA
- being used constantly
- cont, its behind defiance
-shelltron:
- around 30% mitigation block
- takes TB and aoes
- its just free as long as you have gaue, no extra managment around it.
- generate MP so its a dps gain and help to mitigate clemency flaws a bit.
- cont, can only be used against 1 hit but PLD have natural block.
of the 3 inner beast is the most powerfull but is locked behind defiance, deliverance answer is holmgang not complety comparable to TBN but you can't die and with convalescende its just to good for the recast it have, and roughly TBN and sheltron are the same with TBN ahead.
note im agree with your point against OP opinion about TBN but lets be clear TBN is not a special thing and every tank have something like that equally better more or less.
mitigation wise all 3 tanks do a good job and no tank require more heals that the others against TB.
technically is about performance too, DRK is the most healer dependent tank by a far margin not only for the lack of effective selfheals/pasive blocks outside of grit but being the worst tank to dealt with situations to carry the weight of you party at the cost of you dps to save the run since you can't archive the same self sustain on tank stance like the other 2 plus living dead its the most hated skill by the healers, the job is the least versatile and helpfull with the lack of any party support utility.
DRK is ok against the content and in ideal runs the job is equally to the other 2 a bit less that more but lets no ignore having a DRK means everything have to be ok bcs we can't make you life easier if something goes wrong like the other 2 and for progresion we are the worst choice by far, WAR/PLD its just to good for that.
all being said im agree with you, the fast paced gameplay is part of DRK identity and should remain no matter what but need a lot of more help that its looks.