Tank IDENTITY

[Lyth]

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There are plenty of ways to do 'too angry to die' that don't involve siphoning HP from your enemies. There's a reason why players pretty much universally refer to it as life steal.

The term 'Second Wind' is an athletic term. You're fatigued, out of breath, and unable to continue. And then you suddenly find the strength to press on. It's similar in concept to 'Thrill of Battle' really, in that you're relying on a burst of adrenaline to keep you going. That's why you punch the air after using it. If they wanted to be mean about it, these sorts of effects would be temporary HP, causing you to collapse from fatigue after. But I can see where they're going with it at least. I don't recall Souleater being directly referenced in the DRK quests. In older games, Souleater did damage you. In this game, it's someone else's soul being 'eaten', through both the animation and sound effects. They could have gone either route with it, but their current implementation makes sense.

I have no problem with non-spell self-healing. As I've suggested earlier, there's nothing wrong with a Berserker type having superhuman regeneration or adrenaline/second wind type effects. There's nothing wrong with having iron skin, temporary HP, or stat bonuses. These things are actually quite common, and that interweaving of offense and defense is something that used to be intrinsic to WAR back in Heavensward. I just don't see how they're able to absorb someone's HP by hitting them. I'm open to suggestions, but it's something that needs to be explained visually through the job action design.

As I've said earlier, I actually don't care what DRK's theme is. I just care that there is one, and that it feels unique. When TBN was released, it felt really unique, and the aesthetic of DRK's bubbles matched up really well. I would have just doubled down at that point and focused on it. If you have a problem with DRK absorbing damage through magical barriers, that's fine too. Just come up with a new mechanic that's unique to DRK, but please just be consistent about it. I don't want to see the same thing copied over on to WAR or PLD just because players begged for it.

And WAR isn't about high HP, any more, really. Thrill is the only action that adopts that approach. If I were designing the kind of tank that you're describing, I'd build WAR's entire kit around them building up massive pools of temporary HP. I remember up until Stormblood, players were coming up with creative ways to see how high they could push the HP pool. That was incredibly fun. I don't think that the excuse 'b-b-but this is the way things are' really cuts it. If you have even the slightest bit of an imagination, I'm sure that you can come up with something more identity defining than what we currently have.

[Shurrikhan]

There are plenty of ways to do 'too angry to die' that don't involve siphoning HP from your enemies.

Again, it's literally not siphoning. They're not absorbing anyone else's HP. The cure values aren't even dependent upon the damage dealt, not that such particularly matters when you've had the lore-based mechanic laid out for you for over 10 years of this game.

The term 'Second Wind' is an athletic term. You're fatigued, out of breath, and unable to continue. And then you suddenly find the strength to press on.... a burst of adrenaline to keep you going.

Then how is it acceptable for "finding the strength to press on" to be fine for Second Wind, but not for Warrior's self-healing? WAR's self healing is literally, repeatedly, described as such.

It was sold as the self-sustaining monster of the battlefield, able to fight on for days, even alone. An indomitable, frenzied bear of a tank. You kill it by stringing it along, wearing it down and out, or through quick and overwhelming force; face it at pace or in its element and it goes and goes and goes. How does healing through combat somehow not fit that and instead end up as "vampirism"?

And WAR isn't about high HP, any more, really. Thrill is the only action that adopts that approach. If I were designing the kind of tank that you're describing, I'd build WAR's entire kit around them building up massive pools of temporary HP. I remember up until Stormblood, players were coming up with creative ways to see how high they could push the HP pool. That was incredibly fun.

I could be cool with that... so long as it isn't a euphemism for offering little actual sustain (which would be the case if that temp HP couldn't be spent as quickly as it's gained, since it'd still leave, just through fundamental design, additional health debt relative to other tanks). The difference between the two is primarily that heal-WAR can spring back and has an actual moving HP bar, instead of merely slowly spiraling the drain.

And yeah, I miss trying to get the biggest Upheaval Direct Crit I could via absurd HP pools. That was good, that was thematic. I'd love to see it return. I just don't think actual self-heals as compared to fading shields (or temporary max and current HP increase, which is just shields but without any advantage vs. status effects / ability to shake things off) fall out of theme for that.

It's an MMO, not DnD. Second Wind doesn't lose its hit points gained or cost you an action after it ends. In this context, there's nothing wrong with a physical character self-healing. It doesn't break the game's logic/universe.