Dark Knight Megathread

[Jit]

It is frustrating that there are two different visions of DRK between the devs and player base - they haven’t matched up since HW and the gap has widened. So shouldn’t the players get what they want?

Thats really where i feel all the "gripe" about drk stems and why people are so critical of it's minor nuisances. In HW it had a well defined identity, a playstyle that a lot of players chose over the two other tank options(myself included) for its unique and fast paced gameplay. It is common that someone debating with me that "drk is fine", didn't even play during HW and so never actually experienced the unique gameplay it had. Now it is a carbon knockoff of war with none of the dopamine hit war gives.

Reaper made me realize that a huge part of enjoying a class is a "rewarding" gameplay aspect. On reaper i constantly want to build up to that 50 enshroud so I can have that extremely fun "burst" phase with a fast gcd, several ogcds between, and a big numbers finisher. Drk hasn't had a uniquely rewarding gameplay aspect since HW, when you would pop blood weapon for haste and mp regen so you could Dark Arts "EVERYTHING" lol

For those that weren't around then Drks original playstyle was utilizing Dark Arts(an oGCD, no dmg, mana spender) to buff other actions. Half of drk's kit had additional effects when used under Dark Arts and that was the appeal to the class. Choosing when to buff skills with dark arts and when to pop them dry to use the mana on another resource like buffing your defensive skills or aoes vs single target skills was a very unique playstyle and attracted a strong fanbase. Unfortunately it was COMPLETELY stripped from drk and nothing resembling a unique playstyle has been seen since.

We have a war kit without the big rewarding exclamation marks(our weak version of inner release), without the self sustain on big pulls(we used to have it, they took it away), with a convoluted double resource system for dps(they added a beast gauge er blood gauge to a tank job that was "unique" for using mp), a bunch of oGCD that have little to no impact(just a bunch of buttons to spam to take the place of the Dart Arts mechanic we used to have), and a gameplay that can be summed up with "hit all the buttons when they light up"(no thought once so ever. Hit everything when available, save 3k mp for TBN) The drk playstyle is literally "Weak Warrior with more Buttons".

Going forward I would love to see the job get some love in the playstyle aspect. If I had to suggest something, we are a magic tank, not a War. Ditch the blood system and the inner release *cough* Delirium spam and lets use our mp!

Sorry Danelo, I got carried away with what was supposed to be an agreement that DRK was very unique and fun in HW and has steadily been stripped of its identity since with "we haven't seen any complaints on the forums" as an explanation from the devs.

[Danelo]

Sorry Danelo, I got carried away with what was supposed to be an agreement that DRK was very unique and fun in HW and has steadily been stripped of its identity since with "we haven't seen any complaints on the forums" as an explanation from the devs.

No worries, fun read.

I would love to bring back the identity of “the more you hit me makes me stronger” aspect with blood price. When you OT do like a “dance partner” with MT except reskin as fray so hits to the mt benefit you with mp and drain effects from your kit can benefit the mt and/or you when you. We’ll see.

[Ryaduera]

No worries, fun read.

I would love to bring back the identity of “the more you hit me makes me stronger” aspect with blood price. When you OT do like a “dance partner” with MT except reskin as fray so hits to the mt benefit you with mp and drain effects from your kit can benefit the mt and/or you when you. We’ll see.

Ideas like this are why I think DRK needs its own version of Cover.

[Kalaam]

Having blood price applicable to an ally would have fixed the issue of "DRK HAS to MT" a bit.
Honestly I kind of like the idea of DRK being a "mean" PLD in idea, PLD protects you, DRK avenges you. His "cover" doesn't reduce your damage taken, but it allows him to hit harder (and then he TBNs your because he still loves you very much)

[Sazuzaki]

God you guys are making me want this to happen. DRK should def be the "hit me harder"/avenge type of tank.

Just being able to put blood price or other counter skills on other people would do so much for this job... Very thematic.

Please don't give me hope...

[Ryaduera]

God you guys are making me want this to happen. DRK should def be the "hit me harder"/avenge type of tank.

Just being able to put blood price or other counter skills on other people would do so much for this job... Very thematic.

Please don't give me hope...

In other words, give DRK some serious "step on me mommy" energy, I love it.

[Kalaam]

In other words, give DRK some serious "step on me mommy" energy, I love it.

DRK has a complicated relationship with...having relationships.
Especially with parental figures.

[Dracosavarian]

God you guys are making me want this to happen. DRK should def be the "hit me harder"/avenge type of tank.

Just being able to put blood price or other counter skills on other people would do so much for this job... Very thematic.

Please don't give me hope...

That's what it was in Heavensward, and what I want to see it return to.

Dark Knight back then, was a tank that willingly strode with confidence into a storm of blood and fury, relentlessly taking hit after hit after hit and using the enemy's fury as fuel for it's own abilities. Reprisal, Dark Dance, Blood Price, Sole Survivor, and Dark Passenger within it's kit gave it this feel of a Tank that would turn the enemy's hate into it's own vigor and life force.

And I want to see a return to that. THAT, was Dark Knight's theme. The original Tank that was literally too damned angry to die.

[VicariousXIV]

I have an idea that's a bit more..... out there, per say, but it came into mind because of the main conversation you've all been sharing.

Keep in mind this is all pure theorycrafting at this point too lol

So to start, what if Darkside instead of giving bonus damage it instead granted haste, similar to the NIN's Huton, and the DRK got a new combo finisher that gave Darkside, meaning it would have to rotate between healing itself and getting Darkside. Ofc then cut most of the oGCD abilities entirely, with a couple exceptions I'd imagine, but instead of being a basic combo tank with fuckloads of oGCDs to make the job feel "busy" it would instead be the low GCD tank that was actively fast paced. Then we'd focus on the GCD rotations with "modes" we could rotate through, maybe toggles or something akin to the BLMs Astral and Umbral modes, if not just duration/charges. These would be oGCDs ofc and they'd be something like the old Dark Arts, where you'd drain MP while empowering your GCD rotation, giving them extra effects and not just bonus potencies (maybe even unique animations... I can dream... lol), and then another one that was just used for MP regen. There could also be multiple kinds of Dark Arts, where one gives bonus damage through DoTs or just extra attacks/damage, and then another one used for sustain where it gives different sustaining tools like cures and HoTs, even shields. So you'd basically go into a Dark Arts rotation then go through an MP regen phase and you'd have to pick which version of Dark Arts to go through since you'd only have the MP for one of them. If they're toggles you could even actively swap between all the modes, being forced into the MP regen phase once you ran out.

Then ofc remove the MP for TBN and make it a beefier shield based anti-buster to match the other three tanks, but all the defensives could be kept in their numerous versions as they'd serve as our main weavable abilities with the reduced GCD from Darkside.

This would differentiate the DRK from the WAR as well as make sure it didn't just become another GNB with all it's oGCDs. You might also think "that would just get boring, mostly just having fast combos," but the NIN is certainly far from boring and it essentially is just fast GCDs and Ninjutsus. So rotating through different Dark Arts would be the variations in our play patterns.

If that's not enough add in a new "Delirium" mode where you have to go through a set number of Dark Arts rotations or uses and you'd get access to a "super mode" that gave one "dopamine" rotation of just three flashy big hitters that also worked as a quicker MP regen phase, or something like that lol

This is all just farting out of my head, full theorycrafting, but I am nonetheless curious if this would be something along the lines of what people want? Or if I'm just lost in fantasy land at this point lol

[Shurrikhan]

So to start, what if Darkside instead of giving bonus damage it instead granted haste, similar to the NIN's Huton, and the DRK got a new combo finisher that gave Darkside, meaning it would have to rotate between healing itself and getting Darkside. Ofc then cut most of the oGCD abilities entirely, with a couple exceptions I'd imagine, but instead of being a basic combo tank with fuckloads of oGCDs to make the job feel "busy" it would instead be the low GCD tank that was actively fast paced.

I'm all for some Haste, but... if you cut out half the actions per global over one's burst, that's going to feel far slower even if you give DRK whopping MNK-levels of speed (+20% Attack Speed). I'd already rather not just have Storm's-Eye-but-for-Haste or RPR-Gluttony-but-for... wait, hold on a sec.