I love playing my Shadowknight but ...

[Yorke]

... there are some things I can't get my head around about the class.I've been playing the class since day of release and for the past couple of years my GF has been playing a Guardian. For information, neither of us raid, so my views are restricted to group situations/items. It seems to me that SKs are fighting a lose-lose battle on all fronts.What I mean is, it seems impossible to spec/gear an SK that can tank aswell as a Guardian (in terms of mitigation, avoidance and agro control) whilst at the same time, it's at least very very difficult to spec/gear an SK that can DPS aswell as a Guardian. If not impossible.Whilst I can accept that the Guardian should be king of tanking, I find it hard to accept that the same spec'd Guardian should also be so easily out-DPSing the Shadowknight.One of the major contributing problems as I see it, is that tanking gear will, in the vast majority of cases, include avoidance, mitigation, health and strength. As a Shadowknight I need to prioritise INT over STR where possible, and in doing so I nearly always have to compromise on avoidance and/or mitigation and/or health. So in trying to play to the strengths of my class (i.e. DPS via spells) I am forced to take a hit in my ability to tank. Guardians have to make no such concessions, as they need the STR which tends to come for free with the plate tanking gear.For the record, I think the Guardian is a fantastic class and I would hate to see it changed in any way to accommodate the shortcomings of another class. I do find it difficult though, to see where Shadowknights have any kind of advantage whatsoever, in the world of plate tanks.It seems obvious to me (and the droves of Shadowknights who have recently switched over to Paladin) that there are fundamental problems with the class and yet I don't see a single post from a Developer anywhere indicating that they are aware of the issues let alone looking into them. On the other hand, I see some class forums being positively spammed by Dev posts bending over backwards in an effort to try and help their community.Any chance of the Shadowknight getting some Developer TLC in the foreseeable future?With thanks in advance,YorkeLevel 80 veteran Shadowknight of Splitpaw

[yzyh]

<p>And your not going to see this change soon.</p><p>In EQ1 warrior achieve awsome DPS in the end game. They don,t just out damage SK. They out damage a lot of DPS class.</p><p>The problem in both game is that Warrior/ guardian are pure melee class who benefit more from physical buff (they benefit more from weapon DMG, Str, melee focus etc) then hybride class.</p><p>Now if your asking my Why VG have already been able to balance every class they have while even EQ1 still badly umbalanced after what, 8-9years ?</p>

[DMIstar]

We can only pray for better itemization for the next expansion ... But that is also a long shot :/ There Very little chance they are going to change out our Group/mid raid tier armor at anytime.Tanking wise, I suggest just not trying to follow the "warrior" path, Your AGI that you get is nerfed when you have.. So stick to STR/STA/INT mind set.. and Try to find exrtras with that, instead of Leaping over to AGI and then Leaping back to INT ... The DiZok armor is a nice start set. And yes I've been tanking along with those stats. DPS, gear we are not as bad.. Just view it as a new set and a new mirror spec and youll be better off for now. STR/INT/Spell dmg is a good base line to look for.

[Beldin_]

<cite>Istar@Mistmoore wrote:</cite><blockquote>We can only pray for better itemization for the next expansion ... </blockquote>At very first i pray for "better content" in the next expansion. SK was always king of AoE fights .. thats where SKs really shine and could do very good DPS in T7. However the total lack of grouped mobs in RoK took away all the fun of the class for me <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Margen]

<p>This expansion is deffinetly the expansion of Guardians.  They always had the edge in tanking, but with the gear for setups they have now they are doing outstanding dps.  Our guilds Guard self buffed has 76pct DA, raid buff its closer to 86pct DA.</p><p>Even Beserkers are complaining at the current situation, they are either quiting the class and playing alts or betraying.  The same thing you see with a lot of SKs.  We used to be able to continously make the parse even if not in a great group, now we are basicly listed as 5th on fighter dps.</p><p>We still can do the group setting ok, but raiding is getting tougher and tougher.</p>

[Giral]

<p>the biggest issue is ROK , befor ROK SK's  were considered in EOF to be one of , if not the best group tank's in the game  </p><p>and as Beldin said above T-7 Sk DPS was High becuase of Multiple mobs </p><p>So what Happened with ROK ? the Dev's increased mob Difficulty, now pulling 3 or 4 herioc mobs scares the crap right out of your healers (my healers take a laxative an hour befor we group) </p><p>i believe that the Dev's Originaly Planned correctly with giving Bloodletter 3 charges , they knew rok mobs were giong to hit Hard and they also Knew Sk's lacked the ability to take Large damage spikes .  but In Beta of Rok people already screamed "Overpowered" and so bloodletter was made to have only 1 charge </p><p>secondly our EPIC Weopon is a 1 hand sword that Generates Agro ..... this is to make up for the issue's Sk's have in Defensive stance with Agro control becuase there Dps is cut in half in Defensive stance ,  so now you can go Defensive stance 1 hand(Epic) and shield and have a little more survivablity,little better agro control in Defensive, and suffer very sad dps for a Miniscule defense increase(and agro will still be an Issue in Defensive even with Epic in groups unless you have hate transfer or are in a PUG ) </p><p>Personaly i think they should add 1 Charge back to Bloodletter so it has 2 procs, this would greatly help in evening out the Survivability differance between SK's / Guardian's , Sk's Have no Real ways to deal with Constant Spike damage , and Guardians can get there aviodance alone up over 70 % (some up to 80%) Sk's Generaly are in Offensive stance and have about 30 to 35 % aviodance ,    i think Bloodletter was a great idea , Sk's take the damage instead of avioding it (yes i know the Sk's Class fabled set has an additional charge to bloodletter on it , but honestly 1 % of the sk's in the game will have a 6 pieces of Sk class gear befor next expansion(and even after next expansion it will be awyle to others start to get 6 peices) </p><p>secondly i think or Offensive and Defensive stances need a Minor addition , Offensive needs a DPS increase for Spell and CA , and Defensive needs some realistic reason to actualy use it (98 % of Sk's i know never use defensive stance unless they absolutly have to use it as a last ditch resort but know that its near uselss and not even worth switching into becuase the increases for tanking are miniscule to say the least ) </p><p>third  proper itemization for Sk's (we are starting to see Some , lets keep it Coming Devs) </p><p>in rok Sk survivabilty and DPS have both decreased for Sk's ,  many various ways the devs could give minor tweaks to bring Sk's back up to were they should be .  </p><p>i also have played a SK since release so lol i won't hold my breath for any fixes, instead i shall look for even More increases to guardians Survivability and DPS  /no thats not Sarcasm ; P i actualy wouldn't be suprised!</p>

[joeygopher]

<p>100% agree!</p><p> Our DPS hasn't improved in line with the other tanks, we don't have the "easy mode" aggro control, and without group encounters in overland zones, we aren't even the great soloer we used to be.</p>