So...DRK kinda sucks now.

[Melichoir]

I think a big part of the issue simply is Delirium. I feel like the devs were like "Well we got nothing, so lets just copy paste some warrior stuff and add some edgy dark graphics and voila. DRK. Now everyone can do drk no problem!"

If anything I suspect they spent to much time figuring out GNB, Dancer, and working on other aspects of hte MSQ that when it came to balance/redesigns, they didnt afford it to much attention. Beyond that, DRK feels like an odd man out cause it doesnt have an identity of its own. Part of that is due to how the tank classes themselves are set up. It's all over the place thematically. Why does Paladin even have HL? Lore wise it doesnt really make to much sense, and more so they missed a huge opportunity to incorporate a broader and more diverse kit revolving around shields. War is fine, I guess, with the FC spam, but IMO it couldve been more brawlier thematically. GNB feels fine as it, and probably is popular due to how unique and put together it feels. DRK is just...God I dunno. Uninteresting.

I would not be opposed to them bringing back HW DRK either.

Then again, parts of GNB feel like they pulled it from HW DRK. So there's that. Overall its disappointing. Even Esteem, cool idea as it is, boils down to nothing but a fancy dot on a 2 minute CD.

It feels boring cause it feels ike its copy paste and that its missing something that gives it that 'feel' that makes me think "Yes, this is DRK."

[TheMightyMollusk]

I don't think it feels bad, just kinda.....boring. The best part about SB DRK was the ridiculous AoE rotation that made them practically immortal as long as there were enough things to hit, but now Abyssal Drain is a weak OGCD. Dark Arts spam hasn't really gone anywhere, it's just a different skill to spam until MP is low. Living Dead is still borderline suicide in Duty Finder.

Much like Bard and Dancer, it feels like DRK got watered down to make Gunbreaker more enticing. Unfortunately, it succeeded, because I haven't picked up my greatsword since I finished leveling it.

[cactuarzzzz]

I miss the old DRK Skill except dark art, dark mind and living dead but the new blackest night is so powerful that it became the 3rd cooldown for any none-ex/salvage tank buster [also making big pull somehow trivial]. In normal dungeon sometime healer doesn't even need to heal me when fighting normal boss because tbn is realy powerful.

I wish they replace dark mind with sole survivor, make bs-quietus animation faster and change unleash-stalwart soul to weapon skill rather than spell so it could benefit from skill speed.

[RyuDragnier]

I much prefer the current iteration of DRK over how heavy the DA spam version in SB was. But HW was still the best iteration of DRK, and I frown on SE for ever destroying it like they did when we went from HW to SB. It went from my favorite tank to my least favorite, and now it's back to my favorite. I WOULD like Delirium to be better or more original, but I'm okay with what we have now (but Delirium really could stand to be more unique tbh).

[Raltar]

DA spam was awful and I'm glad it is gone. But I wouldn't be opposed to getting some DRK changes to make it more interesting than it currently is.

[ElazulHP]

I love that there is no more Dark Arts spam. I personally don't mind that the class plays like SB Warrior. I hate Living Dead still. Overall, it's ok. Needs a little more work, but good start.

[ReiMakoto]

I unironically loved Dark Arts spam, not as much as the Heavenward DRK mind you, but we were never getting that kind of design back. The idea of a tank that had not only a haste buff with decent uptime, but also tonnes of ogcd usuage was very appealing to me, and now theres nothing thats the same, like gunbreaker is fun but damn did I have a good time on DRK all of SB

[Satarn]

DA in SB was 100x better than the current garbage DRK because we actually had to juggle reasources and be constantly active. Sure, we could've used more varied MP spenders to spice things up, but instead of adding those they replaced DA with "single target DA" and "AoE DA" with shittier animations and lower frequency(because why would we want lots of weaving on a supposedly fast-paced job /s).

Tbf GNB isn't really much better, it feels linear as hell, basically PLD with explosions instead of magic. It's not a 1:1 copy obviously, but the general feel is awfully similar.

While the tank balance is good in SHB, all their playstyles are so horribly boring, that literally the only thing keeping me in the role is the fact I've already declared to go tank for my static before the expansion. This in turn means that I've had absolutely zero fun this tier and have to basically constantly fight my will to quit to avoid screwing over my friends.
As weird as it feels with me being a die-hard tank player, next tier I'll either find a dps to main or unsub, unless we'll see some heavy changes(which I sadly doubt).

[SenorPatty]

I think a big part of the issue simply is Delirium. I feel like the devs were like "Well we got nothing, so lets just copy paste some warrior stuff and add some edgy dark graphics and voila. DRK. Now everyone can do drk no problem!"

If anything I suspect they spent to much time figuring out GNB, Dancer, and working on other aspects of hte MSQ that when it came to balance/redesigns, they didnt afford it to much attention. Beyond that, DRK feels like an odd man out cause it doesnt have an identity of its own. Part of that is due to how the tank classes themselves are set up. It's all over the place thematically. Why does Paladin even have HL? Lore wise it doesnt really make to much sense, and more so they missed a huge opportunity to incorporate a broader and more diverse kit revolving around shields. War is fine, I guess, with the FC spam, but IMO it couldve been more brawlier thematically. GNB feels fine as it, and probably is popular due to how unique and put together it feels. DRK is just...God I dunno. Uninteresting.

I would not be opposed to them bringing back HW DRK either.

Then again, parts of GNB feel like they pulled it from HW DRK. So there's that. Overall its disappointing. Even Esteem, cool idea as it is, boils down to nothing but a fancy dot on a 2 minute CD.

It feels boring cause it feels ike its copy paste and that its missing something that gives it that 'feel' that makes me think "Yes, this is DRK."

Last Saturday, I had to come to terms that as cool as Esteem is, losing sight of him visually keeps chipping at it's appeal. Even if you turn off all the effects, fact of the matter (for me, that is) is that since you're busy tanking, you just don't have any time to look at Esteem going at it. I don't know what they could do about that (and no, I'm not suggesting making him bigger) but it feels like it's on the field, it should be noticeable to a certain degree. Like, make it use dark passenger or something. I'm sure that'd get a chuckle out of some people.

[RyuSaarva]

My problem with drk pre-shb was the DA spam, not DA itself. Turning delirium into IR was not the solution either but for some reason, rather than micro-tweak abilities so they become less cumbersome and keep a sense of job aesthetic identity, SE decides to employ scorched earth revisions. I would've rather had DA being this 10 sec buff duration, allowing you to execute some DA boosted moves than seeing it gone and being replaced with...nothing.

The funny thing is that, upon hearing healers were gonna have to "heal more", so to speak, I almost expected drk to go through hp sacrifice movesets, especially when we learned mp/tp was gone. Outside savage/ex, the only thing that threatens tanks are mass pulls so it would've made sense to me if hp costs were now a thing for drk but skills would've been added to compensate for that hp loss.

Alas, simplicity just seems to be SE's mantra for the game and drk is not the only job paying the price for it.

we still have dark arts spam, they just changed the skill name and made do damage instantly instead of buffing the next skill.