Doubtful the decision to change from DPS to Tank was made during production. Speculation abound only because of the hard line SE's taken so far, but I don't expect DRK to be a hybrid dps/tank any more than WAR is. SE's taking care to not immediately replace old classes (see NIN fitting in nicely with MNK and DRG, not blowing them away) with new ones so it stands to reason DRK's mitigation will be on par with PLD and WAR and their DPS somewhere between the two.
Important to keep in mind: SE most likely balances around endgame (Coil, currently) and not dungeons/quests. If DRK doesn't mitigate enough to be viable, it's not a tank. Likewise, if it mitigates just fine but also puts out DPS-like numbers while OT, it'll be changed.
Edit:
I've had Spirits break 1.1k with only FoF and slashing debuff. Doesn't make a DPS to spike on one hit, but I will concede that a str-focused WAR can do respectably when fully-kitted out.
Important to keep in mind: SE most likely balances around endgame (Coil, currently) and not dungeons/quests. If DRK doesn't mitigate enough to be viable, it's not a tank. Likewise, if it mitigates just fine but also puts out DPS-like numbers while OT, it'll be changed.
Edit:
(11-12-2014, 10:37 PM)Seriphyn Wrote: WAR can already do this (I can crit 1.2k+ with unchained/berserk, and a pop of inner beast), so I'm really curious as to what DRK will bring.
I've had Spirits break 1.1k with only FoF and slashing debuff. Doesn't make a DPS to spike on one hit, but I will concede that a str-focused WAR can do respectably when fully-kitted out.
![[Image: yEROfKO.png]](http://i.imgur.com/yEROfKO.png)
