Dark Knight is not fun to play

[Ramiee]

I think TBN can lose it's CD, the MP cost is a fine enough reason not to spam it. I'm still on team turn abyssal drain into a spell again, if you want an aoe for that timer just turn carve and split into power slash and make it a line AoE with drop off like how Shoha is, really having an aoe alternative to the same cd is kinda a waste of space in this game with how button economy exists because of controller players.

[Valence]

Imo WAR is more interesting defensively, trying to maximise Vengeance/Damnation procs, compared to getting in 1 extra Edge into Buff windows on DRK.

I don't know, I don't find the idea of pressing a defensive on cd and letting it turn into the glowy button on its own to be especially interesting. As for the counter effect out of it, as long as all mobs are hitting you...

TBN requires MP management, and gets most of its value with a careful manipulation of combined mitigation to make the shield last longer. It's not necessarily the glowy button you get for free when it breaks that's interesting to me.

[Emitans]

You're right about that.. it's the worst it's ever been in the entire Final Fantasy series.

I miss Dark Arts and managing MP so much

[Erit]

"Just play WAR bro. Why aren't you playing WAR?"

I was actually planning on giving DRK a serious chance when I got to HW this time around but threads like this and others just make me depressed.

Is WAR really the only Tank in a good spot right now?

The inverse, really. Warrior is ridiculous, but Paladin and Gunbreaker both have their respective "things" and all three feel meaningfully distinct from each other.

Dark Knight feels like it's trying to ape aspects of all three, and is doing it poorly. Whoever has been in charge of designing it for the last three expansions now must be doing it on purpose, because even sheer incompetence occasionally does right by accident.

The kicker? Sage was allowed to keep Eukrasia, meaning clearly they are not averse to the original Dark Arts functionality existing in the game. Hell, Warrior's Inner Chaos is essentially a more limited application of the same design. This strongly implies Dark Knight is not an accident.

I can only wonder who hurt that designer so badly that they're driven to these ends, and what force has allowed them to continually be inflicted upon the playerbase.

... Unless by "in a good spot" you mean "has competitive DPS output in high-end raiding," but if that's the case you and I are never going to be having the same conversation.

[Zryn]

DRK is the strongest tank at lv100 but the weakest in all legacy content by far. It is advertised as this tank with lower cooldown mit that you can use more frequently but then they reduce our mp regen which is a direct nerf to TBN. I would really like to see something like abyssal drain changing into PLD's holy spirit where you get a proc for doing your combo for a free drain, this would kill 3 birds with 1 stone. It would improve our self-sustain, it would help get our mp regen back to around where it was, and it would give the DRK's complaining that the removal of multiple oGCD's something to be happy about. Carve and Spit should also have its cooldown untied from Abyssal Drain with this change. Abyssal Drain is currently a button I never push because why would I play DRK in a dungeon when I can just play WAR. If they refuse to change how TBN works then they need to change something else, improve our hp/mp regen, reduce the mp cost of edge and tbn to 2500 or something.

Salted Earth also feels awful to use, let me have a regen while standing it, and let me get a big heal when using Salt and Darkness.

[Hanayumi]

My thoughts...
Bandaid fixes for now;
• The Blackest Night, trigger dark arts on hit, refund portion of mp if shield popped
• Carve and Spit/Abyssal Drain, reduce CD to 30, give 2 charges adjust potency accordingly, C&S increase mp restored, AD remove mp restored & increase hp restored

Further fixes for now;
• Dark Mind, 10% damage reduction, if hit by Mag Atk during, damage reduction changed to 20% and extend duration
• Dark Missionary, 10% damage reduction, if hit by Mag Atk during, adds hp regen

[Hazama999]

I miss Dark Arts and managing MP so much

Heck, I'd go a bit further back and say I miss the way Darkside used to work with the MP drain. It really did make the job feel rather distinct, knowing that there was a slow drain on your MP and you had to manage it. Wasn't hard!... but it had some good flavor.

As a bit of a tangent, I dislike how passive Living Shadow is as a skill. It's a "press and forget" kind of ability... well, I suppose that ain't quite right now that we have Disesteem, but that really just feels like an extra button to press, and little else. I remember losing my shit when I saw Living Shadow pop up in the job skills trailer back in 5.0... but when the hype wore off, well, it really was just a flashy DoT lol.

[HippeusOmega]

Dark Knight definitely needs some kind of sustainability then what it has. The job is not fun to play in dungeons at all

Some changes I've thought of and just spit balling

Dark Missionary obviously lvl 70
Changed Blood Weapon completely to something to the likes of Bloodwhetting and rename Blood Weapon base ability a different ability that changes into Delirium. Not saying an exact copy of Bloodwhetting but something that would fit Dark Knight. When i think Dark Knight I think Blood Sword, Lifesteal, etc. from the old retro FF games. The fact we only have Abyssal Drain isn't enough. Unless you count Living dead.
Speaking of Abyssal Drain separate it completely from CaS and make Abyssal Drain possibly 30seconds for more duty viability.

Again just spit balling some ideas out there.