New Dark Mind for Dark Knight

[Evos]

Here is another approach for a new system for Dark Knight.
Revamp Dark Mind.

New ability: Dark Mind (I like this name)
Effect: Activates Dark Arts (animation change optional)
Grants 5%^ magic defense
The next 3 GCDs become spells
Hardslash, Syphon Strike, Soul Eater (new spell animations - more damage or something new).

When we get Dark Arts via TBN we still get free Edge.
Each new spell can come at different levels until 100 where when Dark Mind is used we get all 3 spells for each of the 3 GCDs mentioned. Starting with Hard Slash. Upgrade with ??Traits??

Allows for future expansion of Dark Knights current system without breaking players hands. Emphasis on spell side of Dark Knight. Modify as needed (def gain, function of spells etc.) - do add different animations or increase blood etc.

The Job is getting there but it needs another layer.
Thank you.

[AnjouMaaka]

That's not a new Dark Mind. That's an entire job rework. Spells are the thing that should be removed from dark knight entirely.

It's very whiplash inducing to go from 2.45 GCD for our single target rotation to 2.5 for our AoE rotation just because the AoE combo is spells and only scale with spell speed. Square Enix could make that just be a non-issue if they would combine skill speed with spell speed for a stat that already exists in the game via Eureka and Bozja called "haste." This would reduce the amount of materia they have to modify stats for in the game which would save them on the thing they like to use as a crutch all the time, their server storage capacity.

Dark Mind is honestly just fine as is most of the time, but this raid tier has very glaringly brought to light the issue of tank mitigation not covering all types of damage, even if it is meant for a certain type of damage. Dark Mind just needs to receive either +10% physical mitigation (the magic mit it provides is 20% so it would still cover physical but at half the value) or a self heal/regen. The problem is less the mitigation dark knight has and more the fact that it has no self sustain because it has no self healing. Dark Knight works just fine as is for anything that's single target like trials and raids. Wall to wall pulls in dungeons are where it desperately needs help.

[Derio]

That would completely limit the job in terms of GCD usage. All the 2.45 DRK players would be angry at those changes. Dark mind just needs to be 20% magical and 10% physical.

[Carighan]

That would completely limit the job in terms of GCD usage. All the 2.45 DRK players would be angry at those changes. Dark mind just needs to be 20% magical and 10% physical.

A good reminder that +speed just needs to be tossed as a stat and where desired for gameplay purposes, be baked in (like on Monk or Ninja, or during specific actions like on Dancer).

Down with silly rubbish stats that just serve to put a thin paintcoat of complexity over a nothing-system.

[BabyYoda]

DRK skill speed should be 3s not 2.5 not 2.45
It is a GREATSWORD it suppose to be HEAVY

[Evos]

Heres the thing, I had already considered the spell speed dilema. Its a none issue if, as mentioned, we stop acting like spells and their "unique" gcds are special. Do they do more damage baseline across jobs versus physical or is it just flavor? It's not a rework at all.

Im proposing a vehicle to introduce more to the job. As of currently we are on track for 3 more line aoe capstones that you just wait 2mins and press.they could even expand of the dark arts concepts this way.

You alter the spread (or not) of the magic def from dark mind, add it to the new spell gcds or however you want, and viola, same defense and more ways to make the job less lame during down time. Also the job will retain the same button count.

Im disinterested in arguments about heaviness in an anime like video game lol.

[Carighan]

DRK skill speed should be 3s not 2.5 not 2.45
It is a GREATSWORD it suppose to be HEAVY

Hard disagree.

But only because I think 3.5s is the goal where I consider something heavy. Consider Viper with their 3.5s * 0.8 buff, and that doesn't feel slow either. Make it 3.5s. But yeah I agree.

In fact, I would maybe think a bit wider with this. Maybe GCD needs to be more variable overall to lend either speed or heft to attacks and weapons. And independent of that, attacks that hit multiple times like Carve&Spit ought to display individual damage numbers for each hit, instead of a single one. Make the damage numbers and their pop-up align with the visual animation for added feel of using fast multi-attacks vs slow single big hits.

I'd totally dig a slow-swinging 3.0-3.5s 2H sword hitting huge numbers in return for less hits.

[Carighan]

Reading the OP post again, this gives me an idea to un-bloat some of the hotbar space on some jobs.

In the case of Dark Knight, maybe our Dark Arts ought to be a spell-"switch" in general. That is, we don't have abilities such as Edge of Darkness. Instead, other abilities become these, which are spells and use up mana. And then we got to first replenish that mana, before dumping it again. This could even go as far as replacing TBN with a far-better Oblation as our short CD, then under spell-mode a TBN-like shield that on absorb refunds some~all mana is added to all our defensive CDs, but they also all cost mana to use in spell mode.