A Dark knight proposal moving forward. HW+newer skills

[DRKoftheAzure]

Personally I couldn't stand DRK in SB, sure Delirium back then made you go zoom fast but it was such a pain to play, you used TBN to get that extended Blood Weapon and then DA + mash your hand against the keyboard for that 140 potency on every move. I went WAR after Deltascape because I hated DRK so much and stayed WAR till ShB where i'ved loved playing DRK but that's just personal preference.

I really wish DRK wasn't as polarizing this xpac since there's people who hate it, like it, are indifferent or want it deleted off the face of the earth but everyone's entitled to their own opinions.

You were supposed to use TBN for Bloodspiller if Delirium was on cooldown in Stormblood and DRK was good OT because of TBN mostly breaking on the the co-tank, whereas Shadowbringers DRK just killed what fun was left in Stormblood DRK, Dark Arts was not always spammed because you had to plan accordingly with either Party Finder(I gave up on trying to clear Suzaku EX because of Party Finder groups just being bad before Data Center changes) to make sure that if the previous MT died you could quickly take over, or Duty Finder for both newer and older content and you had no way telling how much enmity the other alliances generated but still had to plan ahead in case one of the other tanks messed up(unless it was a dungeon in which case you had to pray you didn't get partied with a WHM because of the AoE stun being a DPS loss for big pulls because of Blood Price).


And it's because of other class designs that just made DRK have some really glaring weaknesses in all content; once again the WHM with the AoE stun in dungeons along with NIN Trick Attack being 10 seconds and I would have prefered a standard damage up buff that lasted 20 seconds to stack with Darkside AND Blood Weapon over relying on a NIN for Trick Attack, MNK and RDM group buffs only affecting Physical damage of other party members damage dealt but that problem also affected PLD with Holy Spirit and NINs more powerful Ninjutsu and casters in general.

[Jandor]

Personally I couldn't stand DRK in SB, sure Delirium back then made you go zoom fast but it was such a pain to play, you used TBN to get that extended Blood Weapon and then DA + mash your hand against the keyboard for that 140 potency on every move. I went WAR after Deltascape because I hated DRK so much and stayed WAR till ShB where i'ved loved playing DRK but that's just personal preference.

I really wish DRK wasn't as polarizing this xpac since there's people who hate it, like it, are indifferent or want it deleted off the face of the earth but everyone's entitled to their own opinions.

I really didn't feel like I was using Dark Arts as much as everyone memes. Yeah it could be a bit spammy inside the blood weapon window, but for the most part I thought it was fine.

What I really miss though is the AoE rotation, with all that lovely shield and heal. I do like GNB, and would probably still take it over SB DRK to trials and raids, but I really want my old DRK back for dungeons.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

I really didn't feel like I was using Dark Arts as much as everyone memes. Yeah it could be a bit spammy inside the blood weapon window, but for the most part I thought it was fine.

What I really miss though is the AoE rotation, with all that lovely shield and heal. I do like GNB, and would probably still take it over SB DRK to trials and raids, but I really want my old DRK back for dungeons.

As much as I share your love for the MP-Blood engine of SB, I'll be blunt - it was way too good for dungeons. Between Blood Weapon / Price for MP + Blood, Delirium giving MP + buff extension for Blood, TBN giving shield + blood for MP and Quietus turning that Blood into MP again, Abyssal Drain as a spell, while incredibly satisfying to watch, was the piece that made dungeon DRK op to the point where the healer gets turned into another dps. Lifesteal on demand at cost of an easily replenishable resource (MP) was broken. The large pull between 1st and 2nd boss in Ghimlyt Dark I did with 1x Regen and a Benison, rest was my own sustain. And that was just one megapull among many.

Frankly, while fun, that was op beyond doubt.

[BarretOblivion]

As much as I share your love for the MP-Blood engine of SB, I'll be blunt - it was way too good for dungeons. Between Blood Weapon / Price for MP + Blood, Delirium giving MP + buff extension for Blood, TBN giving shield + blood for MP and Quietus turning that Blood into MP again, Abyssal Drain as a spell, while incredibly satisfying to watch, was the piece that made dungeon DRK op to the point where the healer gets turned into another dps. Lifesteal on demand at cost of an easily replenishable resource (MP) was broken. The large pull between 1st and 2nd boss in Ghimlyt Dark I did with 1x Regen and a Benison, rest was my own sustain. And that was just one megapull among many.

Frankly, while fun, that was op beyond doubt.

Oh gawd, people cared about dungeons? >_>

[purgatori]

My technical knowledge concerning this or any other job is not deep enough for me to speak to the balance of the job in any depth (I also don't do Savage/Ex, so balance isn't as crucial to me as it is to some folks). But I am really feeling the loss of identity for this job. I started with DRK back in HW and while I was always a little iffy about DRK being a tank in the first place—I envisaged something more like FFXI's DRK or EQ's Shadow Knigh—it at least had an array of abilities that made conceptual/thematic sense.

When I try to envisage what a 'Dark Knight' should be, I don't think: lowest damage-dealing tank specialising in reducing magical damage. Instead, I think of a tank with relatively high sustain (through leeching health); low burst damage compared to WAR, but high damage over time due to DoTs; damage reductions through a combination of enemy debuffs (sapping their strength, blinding them, etc.) and obfuscation (e.g., 'shadow skin should wreath you in smoke and shows, thus making you more difficult to hit).

Abyssal Drain as a spell, while incredibly satisfying to watch, was the piece that made dungeon DRK op to the point where the healer gets turned into another dps.

I think that's how it should be, really. I'd be happy to pay the price in terms of mitigation for more sustain, and I'm sure that a lot of healers don't mind DPS-ing a bit more often... Or at least they didn't before SE decided to make healing incredibly boring with ShB.