I know people are talking about this already, but I hope to increase the chance of devs noticing the issues DRK has and taking a look at the job. DRK has been my favorite tank job since Heavensward, but it has felt like a budget WAR for ages now.
I'm not someone who knows a lot about job balance or job design. I just want to point out issues that have been bugging me about the class and some possible suggestions for those issues. Please feel free to correct me or chime in with your own points or suggestions.
1) Plunge/gap closer (Enhanced Unmend)
Plunge was removed yet the 'enhanced unmend' trait is still in the game?
This was already an incredibly lackluster trait to begin with, but it is literally useless now. On top of that it feels unfair that DRK and GNB get their damage removed from their gap closers while WAR and PLD get to keep it.
2) Carve and Spit/Abyssal Drain
Abyssal Drain is only useful in dungeon packs and even then it's still only worth using it from what, 4 targets and up? I don't see why Abyssal Drain couldn't be separated into a healing ability to make DRK's sustain stronger. It could be a life steal ability with a certain amount of stacks for example.
3) Dark Mind being magic defense only
Before lvl 70 DRK feels weak defensively and Dark Mind only reducing magic damage taken doesn't help with that. It's not a bad skill, but why is DRK still the only tank with a magic defense only skill?
4) Dark Missionary being unlocked at lvl 76
WHY does DRK unlock Dark Missionary as late as lvl 76? GNB's equivalent skill is unlocked at lvl 64. WAR also gets 'Shake it Off' at level 68 and PLD gets 'Passage of Arms' at lvl 70.
5)Mana management is non existent.
At the moment it takes absolutely 0 effort to manage your mana while this was the core mechanic of DRK in the past. You just use Edge/Flood of shadow for damage and you sit on 3000 mana in case you need a TBN.
6) TBN is only risk, no reward
The concept of TBN is cool to me, but when the reward for breaking a TBN is just a proc of Edge/Flood of Shadow with the exact same potency, then what's the point? Instead a broken TBN proc could give you a small potency increase on your next Edge/Flood of Shadow, some life steal or a small shield. At the moment when using TBN there are no rewards, only risks.
7) Salted Earth and Salt and Darkness
Why couldn't this just be made into a similar ability to what it's like in PvP currently for DRK? While you stand in Salted Earth it will slowly heal you or perhaps reduce damage taken.
8) DRK and the 2 minute burst
At the moment I believe the only reason you'd bring a DRK to clear content is because it performs well in buff party compositions because of the 2 minute burst. I believe the main reason for this is because DRK can sit on resources and release them all during the burst. This however leads to DRK being nothing but a 1-2-3 combo job outside of bursts.
Continue reading...
I'm not someone who knows a lot about job balance or job design. I just want to point out issues that have been bugging me about the class and some possible suggestions for those issues. Please feel free to correct me or chime in with your own points or suggestions.
1) Plunge/gap closer (Enhanced Unmend)
Plunge was removed yet the 'enhanced unmend' trait is still in the game?
This was already an incredibly lackluster trait to begin with, but it is literally useless now. On top of that it feels unfair that DRK and GNB get their damage removed from their gap closers while WAR and PLD get to keep it.
2) Carve and Spit/Abyssal Drain
Abyssal Drain is only useful in dungeon packs and even then it's still only worth using it from what, 4 targets and up? I don't see why Abyssal Drain couldn't be separated into a healing ability to make DRK's sustain stronger. It could be a life steal ability with a certain amount of stacks for example.
3) Dark Mind being magic defense only
Before lvl 70 DRK feels weak defensively and Dark Mind only reducing magic damage taken doesn't help with that. It's not a bad skill, but why is DRK still the only tank with a magic defense only skill?
4) Dark Missionary being unlocked at lvl 76
WHY does DRK unlock Dark Missionary as late as lvl 76? GNB's equivalent skill is unlocked at lvl 64. WAR also gets 'Shake it Off' at level 68 and PLD gets 'Passage of Arms' at lvl 70.
5)Mana management is non existent.
At the moment it takes absolutely 0 effort to manage your mana while this was the core mechanic of DRK in the past. You just use Edge/Flood of shadow for damage and you sit on 3000 mana in case you need a TBN.
6) TBN is only risk, no reward
The concept of TBN is cool to me, but when the reward for breaking a TBN is just a proc of Edge/Flood of Shadow with the exact same potency, then what's the point? Instead a broken TBN proc could give you a small potency increase on your next Edge/Flood of Shadow, some life steal or a small shield. At the moment when using TBN there are no rewards, only risks.
7) Salted Earth and Salt and Darkness
Why couldn't this just be made into a similar ability to what it's like in PvP currently for DRK? While you stand in Salted Earth it will slowly heal you or perhaps reduce damage taken.
8) DRK and the 2 minute burst
At the moment I believe the only reason you'd bring a DRK to clear content is because it performs well in buff party compositions because of the 2 minute burst. I believe the main reason for this is because DRK can sit on resources and release them all during the burst. This however leads to DRK being nothing but a 1-2-3 combo job outside of bursts.
Continue reading...