Dark Knight Megathread

[Danelo]

This sounds way too hopeful. That also feels very dishonest from the devs, so I doubt that's the case.
In my opinion, if that was the case, they should have said it earlier. That due to constraint Dark Knight didn't get the amount of work they originally planned.
But that's honestly... kind of entitled to expect them to address dark knight specifically, it would need to be in an insanely broken state for it to be addressed by name and with some form of apologies. As bad as it is, it isn't *that* bad.

I’m going to disagree with it not being that bad... I’ve played every iteration of DRK and I haven’t been happy since HW. I’ve finally moved on and it’s not hard to see in posts that others have too. It’s Time for a rework and it needs to be for ew. This “it needs a rework, please look forward to it in two years” mentality has got to go.

[RyuDragnier]

I’m going to disagree with it not being that bad... I’ve played every iteration of DRK and I haven’t been happy since HW. I’ve finally moved on and it’s not hard to see in posts that others have too. It’s Time for a rework and it needs to be for ew. This “it needs a rework, please look forward to it in two years” mentality has got to go.

Thinking about DRK now compared to HW still depresses me. We had an actual job identity, there was actual flow in the kit and synergy, it felt both challenging and fun to play, and then they massacred it to give us that...THING that SB DRK was. ShB was better, but it appears they still wish to treat DRK horribly instead of looking back at their job identity ideas from HW and running with some of them.

[Shin96]

ShB was better, but it appears they still wish to treat DRK horribly instead of looking back at their job identity ideas from HW and running with some of them.

It really wasn't. Simplified, but still one of the worst reworks I've seen. When the expansion came out I saw about 40-50% of the kit completly scrapped. StB DRK was a mess regarding the Dark Arts spam yet it still retained some of its complexity.

I've always been vouching for them to return DRK to its roots but they seem adamant to build upon the 5.0 rework. The only thing I want for this job is the satisfying feel it used to have which is sorely missing still, albeit 6.0 doesn't include the Bloodspiller spam which is good.

[Oizen]

I’m going to disagree with it not being that bad... I’ve played every iteration of DRK and I haven’t been happy since HW. I’ve finally moved on and it’s not hard to see in posts that others have too. It’s Time for a rework and it needs to be for ew. This “it needs a rework, please look forward to it in two years” mentality has got to go.

I mean I get what you're saying but fact of the matter is Living Dead has been unchanged since Heavensward, which is what? 7 years old now?

[RyuDragnier]

It really wasn't. Simplified, but still one of the worst reworks I've seen. When the expansion came out I saw about 40-50% of the kit completly scrapped. StB DRK was a mess regarding the Dark Arts spam yet it still retained some of its complexity.

I've always been vouching for them to return DRK to its roots but they seem adamant to build upon the 5.0 rework. The only thing I want for this job is the satisfying feel it used to have which is sorely missing still, albeit 6.0 doesn't include the Bloodspiller spam which is good.

If they're not going to return to their roots, then they need to take what they have and make it unique. Add some complexity, like darkside timer management, interaction similar to Sage's Eukrasia, etc.

[HyperiusUltima]

If they're not going to return to their roots, then they need to take what they have and make it unique. Add some complexity, like darkside timer management, interaction similar to Sage's Eukrasia, etc.

I think one of the more glaring problems design-wise is just how much downtime DRK has compared to the other tanks.

PLD has a whole FoF rotation and a Confiteor extension into Valor, and only has as much as 6s of downtime inbetween rotations.

WAR has a flexible rotation when it comes to gauge management using Fell Cleave, but their downtime is non-existent unless they're forced to disengage from enemies or the boss.

GNB is the same as WAR, except more rigid with how Continuation is. Heck, they even have a continuation off of Burst Strike. They don't have much downtime due to being able to Burst Strike inbetween rotations for Continuation and to keep from overcapping on Cartridges.

DRK in particular is literally the meme, "RANDOM BULLSHIT GO" for 30s and then you literally are stuck in your 1-2-3 rotation with a lot of downtime exempting stray Bloodspillers or Quietus. It's close to the same complaints healers make: They don't have enough to do, so all they press is 1 button, except in DRK's case it's 1 combo. If they could add something that could be used between downtimes that would actually be worth, it'd alleviate some of that aside from mechanical issues such as Living Dead.

[Endolas]

To be fair, i didn't read everything on this thread, but i have to say something that hopefully reaches the Dev's.

1. There are alot of things that have to change for DRK, Bloodweapon needs to be 5 stacks instead of 10 Sec. duration, Oblation needs to get a Self-Healing Buff (Nascent Flash Style which also works on yourself),
Abyssal Drain is Useless outside of Dungeons it needs to have a way shorter cooldown or just be a GCD that costs 50 Blood Gauge, The Blackest Night needs to have a 10 Sec. Duration and not cost any MP (just increase the cooldown for it),
Dark Mind needs to be 15% all Damage Mitigation instead of only Magic since you can't always tell what type of damage is being dealt right now, Living Dead needs to change literaly everything is better than Living Dead! i rather spam every cooldown i have and somehow survive instead of pressing Living Dead and dying to a Healer who doesn't know how Living Dead works. Literally all Passive Traits that Dark Knight got are completely useless for his kit and don't provide any help in staying alive or saving a teammate's life. (Which is literaly the Job of a Tank)

2. How on Earth are they removing the Self-Heal for Dark Knight from Heavensward to Stormblood but now give the Warrior something that is even stronger than that back in the day??? Literaly how ??

3. The Situation is so bad that noone over here wants to go into a Dungeon as Dark Knight and i'm actually getting actively bullied for playing Dark Knight and not any other Tank! For real i have so many people message me with stuff like "Just get off that suicidal emo job and pick something that can survive without a Healer." So many people are sending me countless memes about Dark Knight having no self-sustain and how the job is even worse than a melee-dps with Bloodbath on.

The Situation is realy realy realy bad over here, i hope they finally do something about this before the job is completely ruined.

Dark Knight needs WAY more self-sustain and more ways to Help his teammate's.

I Love this Job and i don't want to switch to any other job for that matter, people like me need help from the DEV's !

[Jakulo]

Living dead is probably the most problematic ability in the game and somehow the one ability in drk's kit that has never seen a single change when virtually every other skill has received some adjustments or removed which is kind of mind boggling. I like the fantasy of the skill, using magic to forcefully keep your body going just like the berserk armor and I would say it's probably the last remaining ability that has some sort of job fantasy besides just being a magic knight. I just imagine you eating a tank buster that instantly drops you to 1hp and your character basically just broke every single bone and ruptured every single organ in their body but living dead just twists them back into place for you to keep fighting.

But the gameplay application is just horrendous as it leans way too much into the fantasy of the ability. You are literally helpless which makes you avoid pressing it unless there is communication between you and a healer. And apparently there is lore reason as to why they never changed it but clearly lore hasn't stop the devs from letting smn do whatever the fuck they want. I'm fine with keeping the aspect of you dying if a conditions isn't met but the current iteration is simply too harsh when compared to the other tank invuls.

Suggestion:
1. Separate the invul and penalty into two separate status effects so meeting the healing requirement does not immediately remove the invul effect.
2. Give drk a way to not die when on their own. Ex: The walking dead status just prevents you from dropping below 1hp for 10s. You also get 5 stacks waking dead for 12s and when the effect ends, you take damage equal to 10% of you max hp for each remaining stack of waking dead. Landing a weaponskill or spell will consume one stack of waking dead, healing you for 10% of you max hp.

With this version, a drk can very realistically save themselves as long as there is a target while still retaining the core aspect of the ability.

[ThorneDynasty]

For the job fantasy I think I'd like a less severe penalty for failing the heal check. Down for the count for 5 seconds or something, make it feel like you put every last bit of strength into the fight.

And yeah, meeting the check shouldn't end the actual invuln obviously, it's going to be forever a mystery what they've been thinking with that for this long.

[Soge01]

Bring back Power Slash and get rid of Unleash and its combo for Tar Pit.