What do you think of monks?

[Rosestorm]

So what do you guys think of monks so far? Are they pretty cool? Or are they puny, wannabe tanks (or both)?

[Qzipoun]

So what do you guys think of monks so far? Are they pretty cool? Or are they puny, wannabe tanks (or both)?

I have yet to be impressed by any high level monk and have yet to see them fill any roll in parties that cannot be filled better with a non-monk or a splash-monk

[moonprophet]

'nuff said

[adamkatt]

I have yet to be impressed by any high level monk and have yet to see them fill any roll in parties that cannot be filled better with a non-monk or a splash-monk

So what your trying to say here is that all your characters are monks?

[Shaamis]

I have yet to be impressed by any high level monk and have yet to see them fill any roll in parties that cannot be filled better with a non-monk or a splash-monk

Why does anyone HAVE to fit into a "role"? Why cant a monk be super self-sufficient (which they are at their appropriate level), and contribute to the completion of the adventure as anyone else?

If you should be mad, be mad at the adventures, that force you to look for certain types of characters (not classes) to allow you to advance to completion:

Von 5
Xorian Cypher
opening locks to advance
any other quest that REQUIRES a specific class ability or skill to advance.

D&D is all about non-conformity, please don't bring the fab-four mentality, leave it at the door.

Monk class engineering is all about high-level and end game stats:
Phenominal ac, saves, and damage (when they get their highest HtH damage dice at max level), and non-item dependant, in a game that other classes HAVE to depend on their loot, raid loot, and rare drops.

Shaamis the Drunken-style (dwarf) martial artist has almost no problem getting in groups at level 11, and the monk stigma is starting to fade already.

[Dailus]

Personally I really like monks, although the class requires a little more manual dexterity than I am used to. I have yet to get a finishing move off yet because my target dies before I can get one off (only 4th level btw).

- Dailus

[Kerrn_Siff]

I personally find them pretty boring and unexciting to play as well as mediocre in most performance categories.

I am, however, extremely excited that it has boosted interest in DDO and has breathed new life into the game for many veteran players.

So, I like em, just not going to play one

[Generals]

Besides being quite fun to play, they are a very survivable and versatile class. In 90% of the groups I've been in the kill count is in the Monks favor. They tank great. They deal death great. They can get out of a dangerous fray and heal up quickly. I've seen many party wipes avoided by an observant and quick monk. All things being equal they are at least as capable as most other classes behind a good player (not that I'm one =).

This is my impression to mid-game so far (right at level 10). End game and upgrades should make it an even more valuable and fun class.

..and besides the female form spinning around in those outfits is just plain hawt

[Cedrica-the-Bard]

Why does anyone HAVE to fit into a "role"? Why cant a monk be super self-sufficient (which they are at their appropriate level), and contribute to the completion of the adventure as anyone else?

If you should be mad, be mad at the adventures, that force you to look for certain types of characters (not classes) to allow you to advance to completion:

Von 5
Xorian Cypher
opening locks to advance
any other quest that REQUIRES a specific class ability or skill to advance.

D&D is all about non-conformity, please don't bring the fab-four mentality, leave it at the door.

Monk class engineering is all about high-level and end game stats:
Phenominal ac, saves, and damage (when they get their highest HtH damage dice at max level), and non-item dependant, in a game that other classes HAVE to depend on their loot, raid loot, and rare drops.

Shaamis the Drunken-style (dwarf) martial artist has almost no problem getting in groups at level 11, and the monk stigma is starting to fade already.

Couldn't agree more, well said.

I was in a Shroud run lst week and there was a 16 Monk in the group. I'd been watching him the whole time to see how he did. I was really amazed! He barely got hurt, never asked for anything buff related because, as far as I can tell, Monks don't really need a whole lot of extras to be useful, and he had a TON of kills. As we finished, the conversation about his build ensued and it was very telling. Obviously I wasn't the only one watching his performance throughout the quest. So he discussed his build with everyone, talked about how he switches stances depending on the situation, the benefit of staffs over fists in certain cases, etc.. It was very interesting and everyone was duly impressed with this Monk. Clearly, the guy also was a very good player which counts the most for any class, but it was clear evidence that Monks are not easily pigeon-holed and can offer alot of diversity to a party.

To say otherwise is, well, simply arrogant.

[Lifespawn]

i like my monk currently 10th lvl high ac high to hit phenominal saves decent damage the only thing we're missing is special effect handwraps such as pure good transmuting cursespewing greaterbanes once those are added there will be a huge increase in dps which is already quite good i might add.

Also what eladrin posted on dc's and finishing moves getting better and longer the higher lvl you are along with the right build is going to make monks spectacular.

Greensteel handwraps would help alot aswell as would a monk enhancment to increase crit range on monk weapons by 1 maybe available at lvl 10 to keep it from splash classing so with improved crit we'd get 18-20 not overpowering but very much needed.

[Darth_Sizzle]

For what possible reason would they leave out Greensteel (Greenweave?..whatever) handwraps while adding Greataxes etc at the same time?

Why leave out transmuting, pure good, and other effects for handwraps?



We have received no information, from any Turbine source, telling us anything regarding these serious discrepancies ... (Please, please correct me if I'm wrong)



So, reality being the case, all other classes potentially have more to offer than a Monk.

*If* you were to compare a Monk with another similarly equipped class (no Greensteel, no PG, no transmuting; which also means no cold iron, silver, etc) then I believe you would find the class benefits to be much more evident.

[feynman]

Monks are funny: I rerolled mine 9 times before I pulled vicious handwraps, which served me well until I could use +5, although +5 vicious will be even better. Without the vicious bug, monks are feeble below level 8ish. After that, +5 handwraps and power attack work well, but still short of the kind of DPS you expect out of a martial arts master, although getting kicked around for 5 minutes before killing the mob does have a certain Jackie Chan feel to it.

My final (!) build is 16/16/12/8/16/8 elf, with power attack, cleave, and TWF. Level points are going to str, class points to wis, and race points to dex.

Note that you don't get Ki unless your primary attack (not effect) does damage; this is most notable in places like Delera's, where the DR on the skellie's will often prevent you from acquiring Ki while using fists. This is what Q-staves are for.

I haven't found a good use for kamas, yet, although that will probably change with access to green steel kamas; unless we get true TWF (2 handwraps, dag-nab-it!) and green steel handwraps, TWF with kamas will be the end-game equipment for all monks, if only for the extra bonuses (exceptional str AND wis?!).

All the moves are weak; I use Ki almost exclusively for healing, though that, too, will change if they fix the block-to-charge-finisher "bug". If they do, then light will be just as gimp as dark. IMHO, there should be a way to charge up healing quickly so that I can dump Ki after a fight; as it is, I sit there charging up the heal over and over again, while the party gets restless. If they "fix" it, then I won't have anything to do with my Ki. The only other finisher worth anything is fire, and only at low level.

This class needs some love, particularly when it comes to party role. My greatest accomplishment was to qualify to pull both the strength and wisdom levers in VON 5.

[MrCow]

All the moves are weak

Grasp of the Earth Dragon's immunity to stun is not weak, although it is situationally useful. It is also one of the truly unique things monks have that they can bring to a party right now.

[QuantumFX]

So what do you guys think of monks so far? Are they pretty cool? Or are they puny, wannabe tanks (or both)?

They're like barbs, clerics or rangers in that they're not bad player resistant

[Cyr]

They are the single most overpowered class the game has seen. Yet, people are making horrible ones or expect them to out DPS barbarians. They are not as is so often stated able to fill many roles. What they are is able to be built many ways. This means str based, dex based, splash based, or even full multi-class based. They fit very nicely as a splash into many builds just like paladins. They also work very well as mostly monk builds with a little of something else.

The best monks I have seen are easily able to tank any raid boss in the game with minimual healing, do decent dps (on par with the best of other dex builds or around fighter damage levels), can get to those annoying places in quests that otherwise require another five minutes to run out to with the party, and most importantly can handle agro for the party effectivly.

The worst monks are generally pure monks with fairly low AC and pumped up str scores who use their fists. These generally run straight into a group of monsters without realizing two important things. One, their AC is not so good so they will get hit all the time. And two, they move much much faster then the other people in the party so the other tanks (and cleric) will not be right on their heels ready to shed some of that agro off of them.

Now I have seen some other decent monks out there (which will I think be the norm in the future). They have high hit points, good strength, and a decent (not maxed) str. They know that they are pretty comparable to a decent fighter build in dps and have a little higher AC. They do not charge recklessly forward (read abudndant step not used constantly to get ahead of the whole party and then die) but are ahead of the rest of the party a little. They slide around mobs and through them while attacking to minimize attacks that can land vs them instead of sitting there swinging like a barbarian. They happily have all the caster agro because their high saves and improved evasion make casters a joke to them saving much grief from the barbarian in the party.

So all in all, monks are uber if built right. (Do not read pure monks...I do not think pure anything but casters are the best buidls). Most monks though are mediocre at the moment. They are a new class and most people had lopsided expectactions about how they would work and most people are not used to playing them yet. They are for the most part lacking the top end equipment in the game (which is around 10-20 points of AC depending on how lacking they are) and do mediocre DPS due to this lacking equipment also. Give them time, people will see what works best and emulate the trial blazers soon enough.