My experience as a monk

[TheBlueFox]

My favorite class since early DDO has been the Rogue. The high damage sneak attacks and ability to defuse / reflex through traps was always nice. I play it well, and still have a high level Rogue.

After acquiring 32 pt builds, the first thing I did was create a Monk, it had been something I wanted to do ever since the monk class came out and now that I return to DDO after a 2 year break, I went ahead and made one.

Im just...baffled at how much I'm enjoying it.

My monk is a halfling dex monk, meaning High AC, speedy attacks, and overall awesomeness.

As a rogue I have NEVER managed a decent AC, as such Ive even thrown out Dodge as a feat and just learned to manage aggro with calm attacks and diplo. With my monk, Im level 12 and running around solo in the vale taking down rares and laughing. Granted to you this may not be anything special, but going through 30 minutes of fighting and exploring without using a single HP pot or wand is kind of new to me.

In combat, I find I fight similarly to my rogue, I attack things that are focused on other people and avoid getting too much aggression toward myself. However when I do, my AC keeps me from getting demolished. What is NEW to me, are the multiple clickable attacks that the Monk possesses. Elemental strikes, finishers, stunning fist all are spammed and cycled. I find it greatly satisfying to immediately stun a rough enemy, take it down, and use the massive amount of generated Ki to blur the party or Align the casters and repeat the process. I'm still getting used to actually USING the elemental strikes for damage though, as sometimes I see myself with upward of 100 ki and thinking "I could have done more if only I used wind strike 1, 2, AND 3 rather than just 3"

The passive abilities like slow fall and monk speed make my other characters feel painfully slow. I logged on to my rogue after playing as my monk and I kept looking to see if I was Harried or affected by tendon slice or something.


My disappointments come in the form of Developer related issues, mostly affecting the handwraps themselves. No + stunning blow, No greensteel, Metalline rarity. I do find that my damage is significantly weaker than most, but my ability to stun and support more than make up for it. Any enemy stunned by my abilities are torn through in the blink of an eye by either me or another fighter. As a result, the kill count usually shows me near the top if not at it. (but that just means last hit, but its an ego booster)

I wonder. How did you all find your monk the first time you tried it out?

Are any of you really disappointed with the monk? or like it?

[Arvess]

I splashed monk and was like Woah! i need more of that! When I went full monk, i was amazed. I don't know if i would have kept playing this game if it wasn't for the monk.

[ezgoezit]

Seeing as the monk was my first char because my friends that brought me into the game said it was very survivable, I don't have much to compare it to. I enjoyed myself for the most part until lvl 7 when I started being able to heal myself and then I started really having a blast. Since then, I have played other classes and things I took for granted as a monk really stuck out. The desease and poison immunities you get for free as a monk are a great example. I was always wondering why people made such a big deal about them before I killed one with my cleric and ended up with some disease... I was like "***, was that?!" My monk is wisdom focused, so my stun hits pretty often, and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

Don't even get me started about the wraps. I am at lvl 11 now and I am having the toughest time finding decent lvl appropriate weapons to affect a lot of what I am fighting. I really hope I don't have to resort to the "bane collection" approach to this situation, but I am just having a nightmare of a time getting in on a Shadow series lfm. I have been considering suspending all of my activities and focusing on finding a good guild just so I can have better chances of getting in decent groups and getting support when I find myself in situations like this.

Despite the equipment issues, I am still having a great time. I hope everyone else is having as much fun with their monk as I am.

Have fun monking all,
Ez

[LAWPRE]

I have done Monk on both sides of the fence (DDO, PnP) it has always been my favorite class. In PnP (where you are almost always in a group and can go above level 20) taking a few levels or rogue and/or spell class just made the monk even nastier.

I have a much easier time getting this to work in PnP. Cast Shocking Grasp, sneak up to mob, use Stunning Fist. You get the Shocking Grasp Dam, the SA and knock them silly!!

However, as handwraps were in a VERY optional book, I was ALWAYS having problems with loot (after all, how many staves can you REALLY carry!!?). It seems that this is the problem in DDO as well. I have not heard nor seen any really decent Monk loot below level 10

[Zantul]

I feel this is the place to share my monk story. Well I was in a full group of level 8's 2 level 7's and one level 6 monk. The group was great healer, tank and me as a wiz and I was owning everything my wizard is aweseme to say the least. So we get to the beholder room in I forget which quest. Withing second this beholder OWNS everyone and the level 6 monk is alive soloing this thing and take it down after about 10-15 seconds of beating on it. I never played my wizard again. Monks rule.

[TheBlueFox]

Heh I kind of feel a little bad. I hear people going "Those Shadow tomb wraps are F'n annoying! I cant get a shadow tomb group, and when I do, they dont drop. I've tried a jillion times!!!"

I got them first shot >.> and I dont even use them that much. I use my +1 Maladroit of 3% weighted (im only level 12) and that helps me lower their AC for my power attack and stuns to hit. Enemies that are MUCH higher than me get taken down easy. Ill see 5 misses, 3 misses, 1 miss, then NO misses, and the enemies either stunned, at 0 Dex, or dead. The sheer amount of attacks and the speed that the monk dishes them out makes them perfect for stat damage and stunning.

[KerouacZac]

I played a bit back when Stormreach first went live & like the OP, had a rogue & was very attached to it. Well, real-life got in the way [as it often does] and I had to cancel my sub. I came back 2 months ago and immediately went VIP to try out this new [to me anyway] Monk class.
O*M*Fing*G
I wouldn't trade my monk for anything.

[Azmode]

I too just recently came back after a two year break. Just so I could play the Monk again - it's always the class I play in PnP, and when the game came out I was so sad that it wasn't available.

Monks are very unique, however they are very easy to break, and IMO very hard to play when compared to other classes. They are complicated - require focus, and situational awareness. If you have problems using combat moves, and hitting a ton of buttons at the right time the Monk definitely isn't a class for you.

My problem is the fact in DDO they took away the damage capability of Monks. IMO a Monk's damage comes from having a ton, and flurry of attacks.

Then again, the whole addition of the Ki Strikes, Stances, and other enhancements are great, and I love the idea. I just wish the Developers would capitalize more on them, and possibly make the Finishers(especially Dark Path) more useful as you get higher. As of right now only Aligning the Heavens seems worth using in group situations past level 6-10.

Also, an other problem I have with Monks is that most pure Monks are essentially the same. Not much flavor, and most Builds seem to almost have 80% of the same feats to be "Optimal".

More combat oriented Feats need to be added as well. The fact we have no enhancements that can add to unarmed/kama/staff damage or hits... No way to increase the effectiveness of Finishers. No way to increase the DCs of our Stunning Fist, Quivering Palm, Eagle Strike, and other Monk special attacks. Reallly, the enhancements are bland, and I wish there were more variety - that way running into a Monk of the same build would be rare.

Also, the fact that in order to have effective special abilities like Stunning Fist requires you to sacrifice many other key abilities(Basically pumping Wisdom only).

If they would increase the Radius of the Light Finishers area of effectiveness, and actually make Dark Monks useful would be a great addition as well ; ) . I'm so tired of every minute having to make sure everyone with SP is grouped together in order to get Heavens on them. The fact that we can ONLY give our finishers off during combat, and can't stack them, makes this even more essential. I don't know how many times I stopped using special attacks just because I wanted to make sure I got Heavens on everyone.

[t0r012]

I feel this is the place to share my monk story. Well I was in a full group of level 8's 2 level 7's and one level 6 monk. The group was great healer, tank and me as a wiz and I was owning everything my wizard is aweseme to say the least. So we get to the beholder room in I forget which quest. Withing second this beholder OWNS everyone and the level 6 monk is alive soloing this thing and take it down after about 10-15 seconds of beating on it. I never played my wizard again. Monks rule.

how long ago was that? I was in the exact same situation a short while back. I don't remember the levels but it was a very similar setup party wise but, I was the monk and the only one left standing.

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I love my monk(s) I found out DDO was going free to play so I did the 10day free trial and was like ohh monks! always my first choice for PnP back in the day. So when it went free first thing I do is buy points and rock my monk. I don't regret it for one second.
two nights ago running my level 5 monk through WW with a new player to get him some BWBs So we start up with the 2 of us and he is like "Hard?" when he sees the difficuly setting I chose(he is lvl 4) and I'm like 'yeah we will take it easy since are just running for your gear' so he is like 'with just the 2 of us? uhhh, ok' I could tell he was thinking I was nuts.
So anyway about 1/2 way through he stops and asks "do all monks rock this hard or is it just you?" I say it has to be the monks cause I'm still quite new to this. I swear that guy is gonna roll a monk now , I give him 3 days before he does , a week tops.

[QuantumFX]

I love playing my monk. I really, really do. I hate how Turbine keeps trying to find new and inventive ways to screw them over in the gear and versatility departments.