Dark Knight Megathread

[Anhra]

If i had any complains about Dark Knight, it would be the following Abilities even being a thing (warning: unpopular opinions incoming): The Blackest Night and Delirium.

I dont think i need to explain any reason why anyone sane would not dislike Delirium, as mentioned already, its just Inner Release in disguise and that thing belongs to either WAR or into the trash. Personally, i'd rather wish that Dark Knight had something more unique instead of this. If i had to make a suggestion, then i would say to replace it with something similar to Last Resort from FFXI, where the DRK gets +15% Damage up and -15% defense (can only be used below 50% HP and with a somewhat long cooldown, to balance it out a little) which lasts until either the DRK dies or goes back to over 50% HP.

as for Blackest Night, i think it isnt a Ability a Dark Knight should have. It's not that is by any means a bad Ability, but it is something that conflicts with the Ideology of the Job. Instead of it being a Shield, make it a Buff that can be used on a allied target for which the Dark Knight is able to take the full damage of the next hit once during its duration.

"But Anhra, a tank is suppoest to stay alive and not to get himself killed with his own Abilities!". I know, but hear me out on this. My point with those kind of ideas is, that Dark Knight's gimmick should be something like "gets stronger the closer to death it is and that Power comes at a prize". This could be backed up further by a trait called "Desperate Blows" for which the DRK gets increased dmg when low on HP at the cost of having a longer GCD on the basic Rotation (but also stronger MP/HP regen effects from Syphon Strike and Soul Eater).

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

"But Anhra, a tank is suppoest to stay alive and not to get himself killed with his own Abilities!". I know, but hear me out on this. My point with those kind of ideas is, that Dark Knight's gimmick should be something like "gets stronger the closer to death it is and that Power comes at a prize". This could be backed up further by a trait called "Desperate Blows" for which the DRK gets increased dmg when low on HP at the cost of having a longer GCD on the basic Rotation (but also stronger MP/HP regen effects from Syphon Strike and Soul Eater).

Hence why it's a terrible idea. Having your damage output tied to being closer to death when another role's job is seeking to keep you alive & healthy is asking for all types of ridiculous arguments to erupt, and just make healers despise playing with DRKs.

Not to mention the very nature of wanting lower HP will lead DRKs to want to MT or to intentionally eat AOEs to lower their health pool. For a tank, it's extremely bad design for any damage source to be tied to their HP. Even on a dps that doesn't have to actively absorb damage tying damage to HP would be a bad idea.

Not to mention how would you balance it? If the DRK's damage is balanced around being in this close to death state, you'd have a severely underpowered tank when its not, compared to 3 tanks that do just fine at any HP level. Balance its dps outside of this near death state and DRK will utterly annihilate the other 3 tanks dps wise when it suddenly comes in with huge damage boosts.

Trying to bring DRK's ideology from other FF games is pointless here. DRK is a tank in FF14; it's ideology in previous games simply doesn't work on a tank job.

[Anahlise_Auhn_Giinslai]

If i had any complains about Dark Knight, it would be the following Abilities even being a thing (warning: unpopular opinions incoming): The Blackest Night and Delirium.

What I do not like about The Blackest Night is the current if-broken bonus. I view a protective barrier that needs to be broken, for a offensive gain, as a liability and a bad design, while I think that a defensive action should not have a liability connection to offense.

My own thoughts on the if-broken bonus are that it should either be a further defensive buff, or a self-heal effect.

As for Anhra's idea, I think that.. at the least, to convert The Blackest Night from defensive to supportive, could be a idea of interest... While, as for Anhra's idea in and of itself, since Paladin has a "take damage intended for the target ally" ability, it is not as if that idea for The Blackest Night would not work...

In regard to for the Dark Knight to have a longer GCD than the normal 2.50... I would only agree with that if Dark Knight has a lot of good oGCD options, to the point of double-weave or single-weave between every GCD, since that would make double-weave more or ease; and the illusion of speed from oGCD weave, is also better than speed from faster GCD, any way...

For a example... 2.40 GCD and double-weave as a constant, between every single GCD, would create a illusion of speed that would be a approximate of around one attack every 0.80 seconds, to which GCD can never be brought that low, and that would be one-fifth of a second faster than literal DPS.
In the case of a GCD extension, the approximate speed, I think.. would only increase to around one attack every 0.90 seconds, which is still faster than GCD could ever go, and still faster than literal DPS, so I would be fine with it.

As a side-note.. I think that single-weave feels a bit too slow, except for Monk.

I think we've long since gone into the era in which dreaming about the job is more fun and exciting than actually playing it, so that's quite understandable.

...Last, I hate how true this is... I have far more fun to work on and put progress into my Dark Knight re-design/re-work pet project, than I ever did when I play the game as the Dark Knight.

[Shurrikhan]

I view a protective barrier that needs to be broken, for a offensive gain, as a liability and a bad design, while I think that a defensive action should not have a liability connection to offense.

Just some few cents:

Personally, I wouldn't mind that (and it might even seem uniquely interesting) if we just had more means by which to manipulate whether it'd break (or, more directly put, whether we'd get its reward) and/or some real reason to use it even when it wouldn't necessarily break (such as for an anti-knockback or anti-debuff when used against lighter damage).

That doesn't have to come from anything specific to DRK, even. That could easily come from role-wide changes towards less passive mitigation and much more frequent and manipulable instances of active mitigation. That could come from fight design. That could come from mechanics specifically being skill-shots that you wouldn't normally intercept an additional count of (but against which TBN on the first prevents the vulnerability debuff). Etc., etc.

[Anahlise_Auhn_Giinslai]

Just some few cents:

Personally, I wouldn't mind that (and it might even seem uniquely interesting) if we just had more means by which to manipulate whether it'd break (or, more directly put, whether we'd get its reward) and/or some real reason to use it even when it wouldn't necessarily break (such as for an anti-knockback or anti-debuff when used against lighter damage).

That doesn't have to come from anything specific to DRK, even. That could easily come from role-wide changes towards less passive mitigation and much more frequent and manipulable instances of active mitigation. That could come from fight design. That could come from mechanics specifically being skill-shots that you wouldn't normally intercept an additional count of (but against which TBN on the first prevents the vulnerability debuff). Etc., etc.

It could just have better design, yeh... My first two thoughts would be a "when the duration expires" if not broken bonus, as well as a if-broken bonus, and then just pick which effect you intend every The Blackest Night cast, while as for a means to control when the Barrier breaks, I just think of the fact that many other versions of the FF Franchise Dark Knight had self-harm skills, of which the Dark Knight could use such a action to break the barrier their self...