Suggestion to make DrKs more relevant (DrKs have been buffed, irrelevant post)

I'm all for Drks getting buffed but some of those statements are kinda questionable.
When new bosses like PB get released, Drks will be needed more. Contrary to what you said, not everyone has 30k base hp. It just so happens that Auf is only really done by extremely geared and high hp players because it really isn't worth doing by the average player at the moment.

Also the low HP for more damage is like.. the entire identity of the class. In my opinion the risk should always be there. The reward just needs to be better. I'd be fine if Drks did more damage than Heroes when at low hp (this is coming from a Hero btw).

 

you right.
imo Hero should be the tanky that do a decent damage, while Drks should be the life secrafice maniac that in exchange do very respectful damage
right now Drks do, "only ok damage" and as Drks i dont mind be left out of 2 or 3 bosses.

not every sub-class should be able to do very single boss.
my issue is with the lack of reward and relevance in anything since HP washing became a huge part of the game and nearly every single one wash to point they can do any boss run.
so the last bit of usefull buff no longer matter.

 

I completely agree with you! If they fight melee on low hp you would expect them to deal insane amount of damage, but instead they just deal less than the average damage! So as i see it there are 2 options to buff drk to a decent choice. Either buff its damage so its zerk make it as strong as NL (at least) OR change how zerk is activated to make it same damage but able to do all bosses.

 

U got it right!, Not completely agree at "strong as NL" bcs drks are multitarget, but should be stronger that they are now,imo just 15% stronger than heros is enough(in reality pls,like i said theres a difference between paper math and and actual boss runs)

 

How would you feel about DrKs getting their damage back outside of Zerk, so like 150-170% dmg outside of Zerk and maybe 250-300% dmg with Zerk? I'd like to see there being a point to not being in Zerk (like decent damage w/o the risk) and then a reason to get into Zerk.

 

ermm, im not shure...the whole point of zerk is what makes the class special,that tension all the time and anywhere, i think the only problem is that theres no real reward for that hard gameplay,bcs were not meant to be able to zerk everywhere,like i said i have no problem not being able to zerk at bga or die like crazy at anego, but there have to something to get us able to zerk at main bosses like auf haven and an evetually pb, just those, like i said i think it would be better to have an special buff/pot JUST at those bosses to get us take less dmg when were under 50%hp(b4 someone says that auf haven arldy does under 15k dmg and i just have to git gud, i dare him/her to show me a video where he/her was able to zerk at a boss who hits over 14k, its unrushable and moves like crazy) .
other than that, and i know this may be asking for too much, but when developers are trying a new boss implement it would be a good idea to run it 1st with actual accounts and launch it after theyre able to finish a normal run with all classes, i know all of them are pretty good players of all classes, so, if someone like eli who is a pretty good warrior user tells me that he was able to fully zerk at a pb run withouth problems, i just would shut my mouth and figure out how he did it

 

Perhaps a solution would be to give dark knights an unconditional berserk buff on like a 10-20 second timer every time they take a hit that's over half their health.

If at 30k hp you took a hit higher than 15k, you'd be able to zerk at any HP percentage for 10-20 seconds.

This would essentially allow dark knights to zerk end-game content, but with minimal impact to the risk and management factor that dark knights come with.
Especially because playing with this mechanic properly would mean actively trying to take big hits, which is like a risk in and of itself.

Spoiler

I realize this might discourage HP washing.
Maybe if you stayed in zerk range while the timed buff was active, you'd get like a 10% damage boost.

 

so let's tackle it one by one..

• first issue: lack of damage.
solution: just buff Zerk damage boost from 200% to maybe 220% while below 40% hp (down from 50%).
my reason for this: in my opinion DrKs should be at least second highest DPS warriors given the risk of play style, so zerk adjustment should be a obvious.

• second issue: survivability in high-end and new bosses.
solution: adjust either Iron Will or Zerk and add factor if HP above 10,500, DrKs can't get one shot and remain on 1 hp. (down from max hp to 10.5k)
my reason for this: the only way i can think to find solution to buff the survivability WHILE keep the risk in order to justify the new buffed reward. (200%>220% & stackable buffs)

• third and last issue: relevance especially in boss parties
solution: make Hex of the Beholder be a Passive and stackable buff with pots for every party member, activated as a result of attacking, else its stop get reactivated once attacking resume.
my reason for this: bring back the utility need of DrKs along HB to parties.

obviously those %numbers will need confirmation from more experienced DrKs then i.
but i think its cover all the issues we all agree this warrior face now and in the future.
i think those changes and fixes will keep the fundamental identity of this warrior while bring it back to be viable attacker option in boss parties.

im also sure with those changes more parties will seek DrKs in order to use this stronger warrior attacker while make better use of HB and Hex of the Beholder (HoB?) buffs

 

BIG LIKE. Only problem is- no staff members here to help with that .... started a hero meanwhile xD

 

im sure they care and keep close eye.
we only can hope they will take notes of ideas and feedbacks that come from our community's hearts.
meanwhile i will start another 2-4 new mages for farm.

 

I'm afraid this will turn Drks into a lvl ~132 mule that provides HB and 12 wep att buff to every party member.

 

you 100% right that will be a problem.

we should think of a ways to force the owner of the DrKs to take part in the boss fight instead of just provide a buff and look pretty on the sidelines.

im just spit ball here my first few ideas to prevent this..
we just need to pick most effective and easiest to code

1) how about if we add condition in which the skill zerk and hex to work together?
party buff of hex get canceled if the DrKs hp go above 40%?

2) Drk Hex buff will only be activated as a result of continued attacking? get reactivated once attacking resume.

it will force the attacker to either play his attacker or play his DrK and balance the hp or attack properly.

PS: it should not be too difficult to program, im guess a simple "if/else statement" in the Hex and Zerk skills

 

just make their attack not suck

 

Keep the brainstorming going
I'll point out the loopholes so you can adjust them.

It will work in tough bosses like Ht, Toad, Auf but it's really not hard to keep a 30k HP mule below 40% hp at Zak, Krex, Pap, CWK etc.

I wish such a condition is feasible in royals because this should apply to paladin's crash skill more than anything else.

 

alright so..
solution #1 is no longer relevant because its non effective fix.

solution #2 should be looked into.
ill draw a simple draft and we will go from there.

mechanics and effects of new Hex:
*passive skill in which will grant stuckable buffs to Dark Knight and all party members.
only if the Dark Knight countlessly attack one or more targets.
(same w-def, m-def., avo, acc and watt.).

now about "feasible in royals".
i have faith in the developers in our Royals team.
but as one with some experience with few scripts, it should not be completely difficult to code.

ive never seen Maple code before ill guess its in C#
ill add if-else statement to Hex skill in which i will also declare the skill is Passive from Active.
only activates once action of basic attack, power strike, slash blust, fury/crusher, dragon roar, sacrifice, rush.
(any damage output come from DrKs will actiavate a passive skill that will trigger the passive of Hex to him and all party members".

if (dark knight attack mobs) --condition
{
// code to be executed if the condition (attack) is True --hex passive activate
}
else
{
// code to be executed if the condition (attack) is False --hex passive deactivate
}

note: "Conditional operator" also can be used instead of "if else"
now im sure there are quite few more ajusments in code that need to be done.
such as grant the passive Hex to party members.
in which is quite easy since the mechanic already exisited, just need to apply the function from other script (Class)

but its hard for me to pin point since i didnt see the code once and its been ages since i last code in C#.

im sure it can be done.
question is, will it be effective?

i mean, we need the DrK to be active attacker and good use for the team while keep the mule option off the table, is this Passive Hex idea will fix it or not?
im quite sure it will, but if any of you can think of away to by pass this and still force DrKs to be buff mule let me know, im sure we can figure out a way to out smart the loopholes

 

As others have said, I think giving Drks a QoL buff of making Zerk scale at certain HP thresholds would be ideal:

71~80%..= 125%
61~70%..= 150%
51~60%..= 175%
<50%......= 200%

 

I like the idea of making berzerk scale it could be awesome if they make it really explosive the closer you are to 0% hp and if you are close to 100% should get like 25% damage reduction instead as penalty as for the curve itself i guess it's up to them to decide.

This could make their plays a lot more dynamic and rewarding - should really spice them up imo.

 

1st. Proposition: ok, agreed ,thia is pretty much what many of us are proposing for a while,and just to clarifly bcs some ppl said this to me "20-40 extra % on zerk is too broken" remember that extra 20% on zerk means just 10% of overall dmg improvement (if u see a drk hitting 30k for example,with thats alrdy 200% of his base dmg, if 20% added o. Zerk would make him hit 33k,not big deal) and not even 10 %, bcs reducing zerk activation would make overheal even more constant and would force us to use more than 1 type of pot..i can totally see myself losing even more time adjusting pots to get into zerk range thats why 20% seems correct but...isnt a big deal either...its just..fair.not mention it would make multiclient even harder.but like i said its a good idea.

2nd. Im not shure if i understood it correnctly....ithat means that if im between 30k-10.5k any killing hit would let me at 1/1?........wouldnt be better that any hit over 12k cant 1hitko me when im on zerk range?...if that is wath u meant then it seems like a great idea.

3rd.and this is were not on the same page, its not a bad idea at all,but what makes drks kinda irrelevant at high lvl bosses is the lack of dmg compared to the risk
From your side bcs,why would u choose a drk if it is harder to use than a hero, does the same role, and makes even less dmg? Even an unwashed hero is better than a drk(if i recall it right an unwashed hero gets to 20k+ hp at lvl 200)
And from a pt point of view why choosing a drk over a hero? Its a risk for them aswell bcs remeber being a drk is not only a risk for urself,its always a risk take a drk to a boss run bcs...well he/she probably die and hb doesnt compensate that.BUT if:
Hero is a safer choice and wich is :good multitarget dps+ low risk to die+perfect sed target
DRK is a stronger choice+hb wich means: highest multitarget dps+ nice pt skill but,high risk to die and...not that good sed target...will makes things even.
But dont take this wrong way, hex att buff SHOULD STACK,because like i said we as drks are alrdy behind ,we should get a dmg buff with no handicaps and and this is the perfect one if zerk dmg gets buffed i would agree to hp requeriment gets harder but NOT FOR HEX REWORK, as far as i know its just 15att buff when maxed and,its not 100% shure u will have it all the time, bcs hex adds 1 of 5 stats randomly so,theres just 20% chances to hex rebuff att when its over. Actually that buff its meant to be 25att, and being rebuffed every 20 secs instead of 10...but 15att buff its ok aswell.
To sumerize Hex att buff stack YES
Make it a pt buff NO,with more dmg and hb is enough to be relevant at boss runs.

 

A better discussion to reach results is what should a dark knight be capable of. As in, which bosses should he be able to fight? Any boss that does more than 17k damage is going to kill you, and although there is only a handful that are capable (Think showa bosses/neo tokyo). Many of the staff believe that HP washing isn't a necessity because HB exists, but I would argue the same can't be said for dark knights since our 4th job damage then becomes ineffective. I feel the staff should open with a dialogue regarding this, or shut it down explaining that the choice to berzerk(much like hp washing) is up to the players discretion and have to make that sacrifice.

I personally don't feel its fair to make a dark knight do essentially 3rd job damage because of an HP limit that wasn't taken into consideration when designing these bosses. I also disagree with the notion that damage can only be increased if the threat level increased (lower hp thresholds). We are already at a disadvantageous scenario where 50% of the HP limit is not available to us outside of doing half of our damage. I also feel like stating things like bigfoot, pap, zakum, which were 3rd job designed bosses are poor examples to use when we're talking about 4th job content.

Hp management is definitely a micro management I enjoy about the Dark knight but I feel the limitation shouldn't be that 1hko or die, especially for damage equivalent to a no-risk warrior alternative. I believe the sweet spot that we should be gravitating towards is 1.5H ko's. Manual potion+Pet potion allows for creative methods of mitigating damage passed the 4k threshold.

------

I have played dark knight for most of my maple life (2009+) and understood the huge changes that big bang brought to the class, but also killed it. Things I would like to see/suggest:

• Change beholder heals skill to mitigate damage that exceeds 15k and reflects half of it back at the monster. You get hit by an attack of 26,000, beholder reflects 13,000 back and you take 13,000 damage. This still would force drk's to mitigate the damage at high level bosses. I feel keeping that barely above 1HKO threshold is good for our playstyle.
• Slightly increase our range a bit more on crushers so we aren't struggling on that middle head by standing a pixel length away on the platform in horntail. Also less chance of hitting zakums body.
• All warriors should have stance to 100%

That's my input on it.

 

i would settle with an ACTUAL 90% tbh, bcs now that skill is lying FOR SURE