Just out of curiousity...

[Nebul]

Did the shadowknight even ever have a raid roll? What was their purpose in a raid back prior to the ROK expansion or even back to EQ1?

[Ahlana]

Well EQ1 was easy, awesome OT with the best aggro control out there, including the option to buff hate spells on MT targets (or for fun a wizrad and watch them die). Also they could MT, I did in PoTime just fine when it was current.

In EQ2 you could use a SK as a MT for many raids until RoK when it was no longer a viable option. In fact we used a SK as a MT for many a raids. As guardian or zerker just seemed harder to come by on a PVP server and we did just fine up til RoK and then it was like, [Removed for Content].

[Tiberuis]

In EQ1 SK's were used a lot as Off Tanks.  SK's also had great raid utility with thier hate buffs.  A lot of MT's in raid guilds would seek out SK's to help them control raid aggro.  SK's could contribute with some DPS as well.

In EQ2, the SK's role has been dictated by the current expansion content.

SK's never really have had any strong raid utility in EQ2. 

SK's were effective Off Tanks in EQ2, right up to ROK. 

SK's had respectable raid DPS for a plate tank class, right up to ROK. 

SK's could be used as a raid MT right up to ROK, although Guardians have always had better MT abilities in this role.  SK's were very nicely balanced with the other plate tank classes in the KOS era, I MT'd lots of raid runs in that expansion. 

EOF presented some challenges that Guardians were better suited for, but SK's were still effective Off Tanks with decent DPS.

Since ROK, the other plate tank classes are better suited for raids, with stronger tanking abilities, stronger aggro control abilities, more effective raid utility, and for the first time ever, far superior DPS abilities.

The fact that the other plate tank classes can DPS the pants off an SK since the launch of ROK is what hurts the SK class the most.  That is why there are so many upset SK's in these forums, voicing thier concerns, re-rolling to another class, and quitting the game outright. 

SK's would welcome some hate control utility, and a DPS boost, to make the SK raid useful for ROK raids.  This would bring us back in to the game, and help to once again define our "raid role."

[stahlej]

In EQ I used to get group invite to cast hate buff on main tank and to pull mobs since we had a useful FD spell... or to be the MT with a monk pulling since I could snap aggro in an instance.SK's also have pure hate "nukes" which did no damage but boosted their hate.Also look at the AA's...Glyph of Angry ThoughtsThis ability increases the hate you generate by 30%.Much better than the useless 3% Siphon Hate we get in EQ2.When I raided I used to be in the mid top10 for DPS in EQ2 and I was by far the No.1 DPS if I was the main tank on mobs. But guess why we were nerfed...

[DMIstar]

In EQSK's where *Pullers: We had the utility for this, Harmshield, FD, DeathPeace, Inivs (thought most commonly Pre Nerf CoS) Invis Vs. Undead which was targetable... Bobbing Corpse... So Had plenty of utility to get what we needed done.*SA Tanking, Or MT depending.. We didnt hold up as well as other tanks, But We had Aggro Control ... Actually For a long time the best aggro control in the game via Disiese Cloud. Which was Ninjad so we fell to Heart Flutter and other tap steals, Till that was ninjad and They invented the Pure Hate spells which never worked well at all... So Clinging darkness and Fear became the best things to have.. But those still did rather well.  Our lifetaps where nothing to get excited about, but they are better then here. Plus with other dots and debuffs we had a good supply on abilities to keep us.. Now I cant sit here and say the grass is greener over there, Cause especially right now EQ Sk's have a lot of problems, And had quite a bit of problems add over the years. THough I half hoped that this game would have more of a direction laid out for the SK class... But alas I was wrong on that ;/ ...