Make Monk fighting more fluent - monk finishers

[Megaton_Samurai]

But you will still do it... you'll just be doing it whole fight, instead of only at the end, when you're finally not DPSing, hence have time to make a water combo. Isn't it better to have it continuously on during the whole fight and let it linger for a minute after?

I guess I'm not understanding the problem. A monk on the Path of Harmonious Balance can use his Ki to help his allies focus outside of combat. Why does this need to be changed?

[SkyCry]

Because that's not what monks were designed to do in the first place. Do helpful finishers? Yes. Do them outside of combat? Not really.

One of the reasons why, for example, earth buff is considered less helpful is because it has no use outside of combat, while a water buff has some use. This is something that would be more balanced, when all the buffs will be done in combat, hence buffs will primarily be compared based on their effectiveness during the combat.

A monk would have to choose which buff is more important depending on situation, depending on which enemies are there, which abilities they use, depending on party set up. That's more tactical decisions, requiring monk to keep cool head and combat awareness, unlike barbarians, who just rage and rush in. Do you do water buff to save cleric some SP? Or do you do fire buff to make stuff die faster, requiring less healing, saving even more SP?

[Megaton_Samurai]

Because that's not what monks were designed to do in the first place. Do helpful finishers? Yes. Do them outside of combat? Not really.

Their current implementation does not support this conclusion.

One of the reasons why, for example, earth buff is considered less helpful is because it has no use outside of combat, while a water buff has some use. This is something that would be more balanced, when all the buffs will be done in combat, hence buffs will primarily be compared based on their effectiveness during the combat.

The earth finisher is considered less helpful because the places where it provides benefits beyond what Freedom of Movement does is almost singular. The air finisher has the same problem in that is it almost completely worthless when blur is available. The fact that they are not good outside of combat isn't their problem.

A monk would have to choose which buff is more important depending on situation, depending on which enemies are there, which abilities they use, depending on party set up. That's more tactical decisions, requiring monk to keep cool head and combat awareness, unlike barbarians, who just rage and rush in. Do you do water buff to save cleric some SP? Or do you do fire buff to make stuff die faster, requiring less healing, saving even more SP?

I've gone an entire quest (Sins if you're curious) having the entire party buffed with all 4 positive elemental finishers. Point is, I don't have to choose one or the other, I can have them all. I also don't bother because it's a huge pain and I don't like doing it. I'm GLAD that earth/pos and air/pos finishers are mostly worthless or else I would feel obligated to keep them running. To get the effect you're suggesting, the buff durations would have to be lowered to something like the new void finisher (10 seconds). Now, maybe that would work with some re-balancing. I'm not saying it wouldn't. Maybe if the buff finishers were all crazy like earth/pos/earth gave DR10/- in addition and the SP discount from water was instead 50% off and so on. But now we're getting into huge amounts of changes beyond what we're already suggesting.

[Alexandryte]

/not signed

I rather enjoy the fast pace of DDO and the fact that with some planning (read: prepping things before a big battle/while not in combat) makes a world of difference some times.

None of your suggestions particularly aid the monk class and only harm it since you are presenting an "all or nothing" case. Just because the way monks work currently conflicts with YOUR idea of how they should work does not provide solid ground for argument.


As it currently stands, monks have their own list of issues....lets not add to that needlessly.

The current system, while not perfect, works and provides monks with a purpose based on their philosophy (light or dark).

[redspecter23]

I appreciate where you're trying to go with this, and to be honest, I can almost see some use for dark path monks, but my light path monk likes holding onto finishers until the best chance to use them comes up. While your suggestion does open up some possibilities, it shuts down far more than it opens.

[TylerTheTiler]

That is not specific to my suggestion. The fact that ice attacks are required to make ice buff is not something I came up with. It's something that's currently in the game. You give me too much credit here.

But you're requiring each hit land with your revisions, I'm just saying it's impractical given the elemental effects.

Yes, but if the target didn't duck one of your moves, you'd do your combo one move sooner. Makes sense? It makes more sense to me than "I missed you 3 times, so now I get to breathe fire at you"..

Not really because the current system let's you do it regardless, so you're just adding an extra unneccesary requirement and step. You're focusing ki through movement, regardless of it hitting or not.

But it won't make it worse either, if you're actively involved in combat. The extra timer only matters when you're trying to make a combo out of combat. Heck, 12 seconds is A LOT of time to think it through thoroughly and that means that you can take 36 seconds to do whole combo - that's a LOT. Blocking is something that needs to be considered, I agree... However monsters don't block, so it's not a priority. I think it would be OK for blocked strikes to count, I see nothing wrong with that.

So if you have to take a breather in combat, you forget what you going to do? I disagree. What if YOU have to block, cause you're getting swarmed. That ticks off the timer too, I don't think the timer idea is a good one. It sounds clunky and impractical.

What you call it is of little relevance. Imagine finisher meaning "the finishing move of a combo". The point is you manipulate Ki in a certain way, you arrange it in certain order (monk = law = order) and that allows you to produce a certain synergy effect, for no *extra* cost. If you take your sweet time, the effect dissipates and you have to start over.

Yes, you're manipulating ki. Punching things in the face to do it, shouldn't be required. You have to remember you're a monk. If you focus heat, light, and heat again, it makes a synergy effect, I completely aggree. But again, why does hitting things have to be the reason for the reaction? It's just the focusing of the ki, and if something hits the ki during each focus they get the effect of it. Hitting things isn't the cause.

[SkyCry]

So if you have to take a breather in combat, you forget what you going to do?

No, Ki dissipates. Nothing lasts forever. Ki especially so. But it's not a problem, because finishers would be much easier to do - that's the balance of this solution.

What if YOU have to block, cause you're getting swarmed. That ticks off the timer too, I don't think the timer idea is a good one. It sounds clunky and impractical.

If you have to block, you're not focusing Ki. There are a lot of possibilities here, however. For example you could say a monk in earth stance is focusing Ki on defense, hence the reason he gets Ki on each get-hit. This obviously needs some polish, but how often do monks block?

Yes, you're manipulating ki. Punching things in the face to do it, shouldn't be required. You have to remember you're a monk. If you focus heat, light, and heat again, it makes a synergy effect, I completely aggree. But again, why does hitting things have to be the reason for the reaction? It's just the focusing of the ki, and if something hits the ki during each focus they get the effect of it. Hitting things isn't the cause.

Your Ki strike is about transferring the Ki energy in a forceful way, which can only be done using direct contact with target. But if there's nothing to transfer it to, then you can't output all of it. Hence you didn't make a full Ki manipulation - you had to stop before Ki burns you back - and you didn't meet the requirement for combo.

Explaining it in a proper role-play way isn't the issue here, however... the issue is what would make monks more fluent and more fun to play? Being a portable mini-buff generator? Or being a vicious punching machine?

[SkyCry]

Their current implementation does not support this conclusion.

Hence the needed change of implementation.

The earth finisher is considered less helpful because the places where it provides benefits beyond what Freedom of Movement does is almost singular. The air finisher has the same problem in that is it almost completely worthless when blur is available. The fact that they are not good outside of combat isn't their problem.

Also Air finisher stacks with blur, Earth doesn't stack with FoM. But even so, Fire finisher gives something both in-combat and out-of-combat: not just to-hit bonus, but also saves (to pass a trap, for example), and skills (a lot of uses). That makes Fire buff very sought-after: it's universally good. Once again, I said that was one of the reasons, not the sole reason Earth buff is considered useless.

I've gone an entire quest (Sins if you're curious) having the entire party buffed with all 4 positive elemental finishers. Point is, I don't have to choose one or the other, I can have them all. I also don't bother because it's a huge pain and I don't like doing it. I'm GLAD that earth/pos and air/pos finishers are mostly worthless or else I would feel obligated to keep them running. To get the effect you're suggesting, the buff durations would have to be lowered to something like the new void finisher (10 seconds). Now, maybe that would work with some re-balancing. I'm not saying it wouldn't. Maybe if the buff finishers were all crazy like earth/pos/earth gave DR10/- in addition and the SP discount from water was instead 50% off and so on. But now we're getting into huge amounts of changes beyond what we're already suggesting.

Durations, Ki costs, all those things are easily modifiable variables that can be used to balance the end result. The core of the solution is to do finishers *easily*, but *only* in combat. Versus finishers that require more Ki (30 vs 20), require your constant attention to a hotbar button, require your extra attention to watch if you have enough Ki to execute it, to reposition yourself (because you can, hence you must) for best buff output, etc.

I'm GLAD that earth/pos and air/pos finishers are mostly worthless or else I would feel obligated to keep them running.

It's the point of this suggestion. Either you concentrate on max DPS (like using fire attacks on ice beings) and let buffs sort of flow out by themselves (but not necessarily the buff you would prefer), or you concentrate on specific buffing (kick ice beings with ice just to make that water buff) possibly at the cost of some DPS. But whatever you do, you just kick and punch stuff! You don't stop punching to make a buff, it just flows out of you if you've done the combo. Those who want to concentrate on buffs, because they consider themselves buffing monks, still can do this - they'll carefully plan attacks. Those who prefer to concentrate on DPS will still be able to use finishers, even though finishers don't add DPS.

[SkyCry]

Just because the way monks work currently conflicts with YOUR idea of how they should work does not provide solid ground for argument.

I was hoping there would be more people who would "see the light". It's quite disappointing that people are satisfied with the screwed up system we have. They got used to it and refuse any change, perhaps?

But isn't just MY idea of how they should work. A long time ago devs were asked why the finishers are so fragile - switch a weapon and it's gone. The answer was it's to make them more of a part of combat, not something you carry around for best opportunity. The implementation of that idea, however, is clearly flawed.

I wish someone could dig out that dev answer, as I don't even remember when it was... But obviously some time after monk introduction.

[TylerTheTiler]

No, Ki dissipates. Nothing lasts forever. Ki especially so. But it's not a problem, because finishers would be much easier to do - that's the balance of this solution.

I'm not debating ki dissapates, however monks have incredible will power and are able to hold onto it better as their concentration improves. I have no difficulty performing finishing moves, in fact I can perform them as needed during the battle, without changes to the current system. I don't think the hitting only cast is a good idea, especially since monks are second teir AB.

If you have to block, you're not focusing Ki. There are a lot of possibilities here, however. For example you could say a monk in earth stance is focusing Ki on defense, hence the reason he gets Ki on each get-hit. This obviously needs some polish, but how often do monks block?

Now here I disagree, a monk focusing his ki on defense is still focusing his ki wether they're focusing on a block or dodge or what have you. I think perhaps at the expense of KI per block they could get DR and Defense boost similiar to a shield, I think that would be cool. Now, I completely agree with stances needing some fine tuning. And I believe deflect arrows only works while blocking, so hopefully at least when an archer is at a distance.

Your Ki strike is about transferring the Ki energy in a forceful way, which can only be done using direct contact with target. But if there's nothing to transfer it to, then you can't output all of it. Hence you didn't make a full Ki manipulation - you had to stop before Ki burns you back - and you didn't meet the requirement for combo.

You're empowering your strike, the ki is being emitted regardless of it hitting anything. "Through careful use of their abilities, monks can unlock special finishing moves to perform amazing effects." that is directly from the feat finishing moves. It does not say only while making physical contact with things.

Explaining it in a proper role-play way isn't the issue here, however... the issue is what would make monks more fluent and more fun to play? Being a portable mini-buff generator? Or being a vicious punching machine?

I agree monks need work. However, and this is only my opinion, but I don't like the ideas you are presenting to fix the problem. Perhaps future stances might have the answer you're looking for. I like the idea of the fire stance being about ferocity, maybe each hit in that stance would automatically add fire damage and at the end of each combo auto emit a fire attack. I think that sounds promising. But saying that hitting should be the only way to manipulate ki, I'm very against that.

[TylerTheTiler]

I was hoping there would be more people who would "see the light". It's quite disappointing that people are satisfied with the screwed up system we have. They got used to it and refuse any change, perhaps?

People aren't satisfied with the system. I would like to see changes, I just disagree with your ideas. There's also a long list of other things I and I'm sure other people would like fixed first before they start changing this.

[Aaxeyu]

/Signed.
This suggestion makes alot of sense.

[SkyCry]

I'm not debating ki dissapates, however monks have incredible will power and are able to hold onto it better as their concentration improves. I have no difficulty performing finishing moves, in fact I can perform them as needed during the battle, without changes to the current system. I don't think the hitting only cast is a good idea, especially since monks are second teir AB.

Thanks to the DDO implementation of flurry of blows, monks have full BAB when using Ki weapons or unarmed - and that's all that matter for Ki strikes. I'm not arguing *everyone* has a problem performing finishers. I'm arguing it takes away your attention from combat and makes finishers awkward to perform.

Now here I disagree, a monk focusing his ki on defense is still focusing his ki wether they're focusing on a block or dodge or what have you. I think perhaps at the expense of KI per block they could get DR and Defense boost similiar to a shield, I think that would be cool. Now, I completely agree with stances needing some fine tuning. And I believe deflect arrows only works while blocking, so hopefully at least when an archer is at a distance.

Frankly I haven't thought about blocking, deflect arrows etc. I don't think my suggestions affect block in combat in any significant way. You still have to stop blocking and start punching to make a finisher even with current implementation.

You're empowering your strike, the ki is being emitted regardless of it hitting anything. "Through careful use of their abilities, monks can unlock special finishing moves to perform amazing effects." that is directly from the feat finishing moves. It does not say only while making physical contact with things.

Yes, that's what it says in DDO finisher ability, the current implementation... and I'm suggesting we change it...

I agree monks need work. However, and this is only my opinion, but I don't like the ideas you are presenting to fix the problem. Perhaps future stances might have the answer you're looking for. I like the idea of the fire stance being about ferocity, maybe each hit in that stance would automatically add fire damage and at the end of each combo auto emit a fire attack. I think that sounds promising. But saying that hitting should be the only way to manipulate ki, I'm very against that.

Stances could produce other effects, I agree. I have quite a few ideas, but I think all of them are less important than this main suggestion.

[TylerTheTiler]

Thanks to the DDO implementation of flurry of blows, monks have full BAB when using Ki weapons or unarmed - and that's all that matter for Ki strikes. I'm not arguing *everyone* has a problem performing finishers. I'm arguing it takes away your attention from combat and makes finishers awkward to perform.

I think any awkward detraction it might provide is based on play style. Have you tried/do you use a controler? I suggest it if not, you can get an xbox 360 corded controler for 20 bucks on ebay. I did and I haven't looked back since, or if you already have xbox controllers laying about, you can get a wireless adapter for roughly the same price. Or try re-mapping your control keys. If you have to look at a keyboard to perform the combo you want to do, I can completely agree. But if you have a well mapped button lay out, I have to again disagree. If you haven't, try it, it's a lot easier to change a keyboard layout than it is to recode the combo system for monks. Other class abilities don't function any differently, you click em or hit the corresponding key. If any skills should auto activate, it should be cleave line.

Frankly I haven't thought about blocking, deflect arrows etc. I don't think my suggestions affect block in combat in any significant way. You still have to stop blocking and start punching to make a finisher even with current implementation.

If you're charging down an archer, you can cast walk of the suns, block and tumble forward. Which I think more litterally interprets how a monk would assess and act in the situation. But your suggestion implies that a monk can't concentrate on improving their reflexes because, they can't punch the archer from here. And I can't speak for everyone but to me, it sounds silly. Adding certain auto hit combos, absolutely. Making them all that way... not gonna fly that lead balloon.

Yes, that's what it says in DDO finisher ability, the current implementation... and I'm suggesting we change it....

I like the ability to assess a situation and adapt to it, without needing to punch additional enemies to trigger it. You have to land hits to store the ki, isn't that enough hitting? If anything your suggestions are taking away tactics and strategy from the battle.

Stances could produce other effects, I agree. I have quite a few ideas, but I think all of them are less important than this main suggestion.

I am with you on the stances, they're current implementation is weak at best. However, I would rather have stance functionality improved than lose my ability prepare for a battle. Monks are scholars and philosophers first, and combatants second. Beating things up isn't the key to their power. It's all about the ki, which is manipulated through force of will regardless of any impending or immediate combat.

I have to ask you to agree to disagree, we clearly do not see eye to eye. I respect your opinion, but we're just from two different points of view. And I doubt either of us will win the other over.

My best regards,

Ty

[SkyCry]

If you're charging down an archer, you can cast walk of the suns, block and tumble forward. Which I think more litterally interprets how a monk would assess and act in the situation. But your suggestion implies that a monk can't concentrate on improving their reflexes because, they can't punch the archer from here. And I can't speak for everyone but to me, it sounds silly. Adding certain auto hit combos, absolutely. Making them all that way... not gonna fly that lead balloon.

How does fire buff help you avoid arrows? What you're talking about is defensive fighting or combat expertise. And that's how they work - you concentrate on defense so much that you make defensive moves and don't hit as often.

I like the ability to assess a situation and adapt to it, without needing to punch additional enemies to trigger it. You have to land hits to store the ki, isn't that enough hitting? If anything your suggestions are taking away tactics and strategy from the battle.

All the tactics need to be implemented. My suggestions change the way you implement them, not the way you come up with a tactic. It can be more challenging if your character is not well-built, but you can overcome that with skill - by watching carefully what happens and especially your own attacks. You're rewarded for both paying attention and having a well-built character that can hit stuff.

I am with you on the stances, they're current implementation is weak at best. However, I would rather have stance functionality improved than lose my ability prepare for a battle.

These ARE improvements, you just can't have your cake and eat it too - you have to give something up.

Monks are scholars and philosophers first, and combatants second. Beating things up isn't the key to their power. It's all about the ki, which is manipulated through force of will regardless of any impending or immediate combat.

I don't know what your monk is, but mine has 8 intelligence - he's definitely not a "scholar". But I understand the point. The problem is, monk in monastery is something different from monk out there killing stuff. He mastered special techniques that are especially useful in combat (finishers), but require him to actively output Ki into enemies. That's all just trying to find a background story for this, I don't think background story matters all that much, we can discuss something like this for years.

I have to ask you to agree to disagree, we clearly do not see eye to eye. I respect your opinion, but we're just from two different points of view. And I doubt either of us will win the other over.

My best regards,

Ty

There's always a compromise possible. For example, devs could make air-boxing a Henshin ability - Henshin is so specialized in special Ki manipulation in general (not specifically light or dark), that he can do combos without actually hitting anything. Possibilities for a compromise are endless...

[TylerTheTiler]

How does fire buff help you avoid arrows? What you're talking about is defensive fighting or combat expertise. And that's how they work - you concentrate on defense so much that you make defensive moves and don't hit as often.

The fire buff gives plus two to tumble and reflex saves.

All the tactics need to be implemented. My suggestions change the way you implement them, not the way you come up with a tactic. It can be more challenging if your character is not well-built, but you can overcome that with skill - by watching carefully what happens and especially your own attacks. You're rewarded for both paying attention and having a well-built character that can hit stuff.

These ARE improvements, you just can't have your cake and eat it too - you have to give something up.

But the reward I have now is so much better, I buff the casters who in turn buff the team for less sp which means more spells afterward. When the melee combat comes up, I buff the front liners and provide free light heals, lessening the clerics work load. Why take away a winning strategy? Oh, the rogue caught some aggro, I can run to his aid, cast a quick heal, and draw some attention away with a cone of fire. Instead of having to chase the enemies down to within unarmed melee range and let the enemies beat him to pulp. Why? I like baking and eatting.

I don't know what your monk is, but mine has 8 intelligence - he's definitely not a "scholar". But I understand the point. The problem is, monk in monastery is something different from monk out there killing stuff. He mastered special techniques that are especially useful in combat (finishers), but require him to actively output Ki into enemies. That's all just trying to find a background story for this, I don't think background story matters all that much, we can discuss something like this for years....

I don't think it's so much back story, as much as what you want doesn't mesh with the monk ethos or fighting styles, you want a change, that change is percieved by me as negative to how I want to play my monk. Barbarians rage, fighters fight, monks concentrate, paladins curse your immoral actions. If you're using a barbarian monk, I could see rage causing combos to auto fire. Not a full blown monk, not a fighter/monk, not any other kind of monk classing. This is a role playing game, each class has one or more roles it is designed to fill. I think what you want isn't designed for the monk class.

There's always a compromise possible. For example, devs could make air-boxing a Henshin ability - Henshin is so specialized in special Ki manipulation in general (not specifically light or dark), that he can do combos without actually hitting anything. Possibilities for a compromise are endless...

Again, with the ki manipulation being only by punching. I disagree with that. It's fundamentally flawed, you can't carry a charge up a ladder, I can understand that being distracting, or rumaging through a chest. However, not hitting something I can't fathom ruining your concentration.

[Halock]

The only changes i'd like to see in regards to finishers, is cut off .5 seconds of delay on the buffs, hell removing the delay entirely would make me ecstatic but i cant see that happening.

Oh, and please stop me losing them when i climb up ledges, open door, vales, pick up some mushrooms......etc etc

[t0r012]

Couple of things
The title of this post does not match your intended topic. You are not lobbying to make Monk fighting any more fluent you are suggesting that finishing move fluidity become more combat centric. It is a not so subtle difference.

I do agree that "finishing moves" how they are currently implemented from how they are "prepped" to how they are "executed" and even how the whole action is named is just plain wrong. It is way too combat focused in my opinion. At least for a harmonious balance path monk.

I think your idea is a good one for Inevitable Dominion path monks (I refuse to use the misnomer 'Dark' path) as their focus is much more combat oriented.
Their power is created, shown, focused on and dispensed in combat. Some reworking of your ideas would be required but they idea that ID monks to have their special moves flow naturally while in combat makes a lot of sense.
Maybe they should get the reduced cost auto finishers when doing the prescribed strike orders but be able to expend the full ki amount to trigger the desired effect.
Maybe have them generate more ki when fighting that HB monks.

Now for Harmonious Balance path I see the storage and expenditure of ki to be a much more deliberate process. Yes they can still cause effects with their strikes but finishing moves (also awfully misnamed) should be available when the ki is. If anything they shouldn't be allowed to use 'finishing moves' in combat or while preforming any action.
I might even go so far as to remove the generate ki when fighting with a HB monk but give them auto ki generation with a slight boost when stationary but that leads to serious balance problems with everyone being fully monk buffed all the time and fully healed so a lot of reworking would be required, maybe too much.

So yes I veered way off course and apparently am trying to completely redo the monk paths in your thread I apologize for the mini hijack but I was mostly on point.

[SkyCry]

But the reward I have now is so much better, I buff the casters who in turn buff the team for less sp which means more spells afterward. When the melee combat comes up, I buff the front liners and provide free light heals, lessening the clerics work load. Why take away a winning strategy? Oh, the rogue caught some aggro, I can run to his aid, cast a quick heal, and draw some attention away with a cone of fire. Instead of having to chase the enemies down to within unarmed melee range and let the enemies beat him to pulp. Why? I like baking and eatting.

You buff the casters, who buff the team... that's not a reward for you paying attention in combat or making a good build. That's something any level 3 light monk can do. What makes YOU better? Do you want them to bring you for something ANYONE can do? Are you sure you want to be the portable SP-efficiency improver?

Now the other things you mentioned are all combat-related and you can do the proposed finishers in those situations. Throwing light heals will be even easier! (30 Ki cost instead of 40 Ki and reduced preparation time, due to reduced cooldown, which has to be reduced due to new max delay between strikes.) Doing a quick fire-fire-fire would also be easier, when needed, provided you have enough Ki and provided you can hit your target. That's the goal here - make finishers much easier to use IN combat, but impossible OUT of combat as a trade off. Out of 3 of your scenarios it would greatly improve 2, but make one impossible.

I don't think it's so much back story, as much as what you want doesn't mesh with the monk ethos or fighting styles, you want a change, that change is percieved by me as negative to how I want to play my monk. Barbarians rage, fighters fight, monks concentrate, paladins curse your immoral actions. If you're using a barbarian monk, I could see rage causing combos to auto fire. Not a full blown monk, not a fighter/monk, not any other kind of monk classing. This is a role playing game, each class has one or more roles it is designed to fill. I think what you want isn't designed for the monk class.

Monks concentrate, but they have limited concentration - they are not gods. Perhaps the maximum delay between individual strikes could be somehow tied to concentration? But then you'll easily have monks with 50+ seconds max delay which would probably be inappropriate... Soft cap and diminishing returns above it might work... Or how about 12s + (1 per 5 concentration)... so 22s with 50 concentration and 15s with 15 concentration?

Again, with the ki manipulation being only by punching. I disagree with that. It's fundamentally flawed, you can't carry a charge up a ladder, I can understand that being distracting, or rumaging through a chest. However, not hitting something I can't fathom ruining your concentration.

It's not that not hitting something is ruining your concentration. It's that you need to apply your Ki onto something to make a combo. Without applying Ki onto an enemy your Ki isn't properly/fully molded and hence isn't ready for combo. It's simply a way you choose to look at it. It's not like we have a real monk we can study and see how he works - it's fantasy and background story of it is subject to discussion.

[SkyCry]

Couple of things
The title of this post does not match your intended topic. You are not lobbying to make Monk fighting any more fluent you are suggesting that finishing move fluidity become more combat centric. It is a not so subtle difference.

What title would you propose?

I do agree that "finishing moves" how they are currently implemented from how they are "prepped" to how they are "executed" and even how the whole action is named is just plain wrong. It is way too combat focused in my opinion. At least for a harmonious balance path monk.

I think your idea is a good one for Inevitable Dominion path monks (I refuse to use the misnomer 'Dark' path) as their focus is much more combat oriented.
Their power is created, shown, focused on and dispensed in combat. Some reworking of your ideas would be required but they idea that ID monks to have their special moves flow naturally while in combat makes a lot of sense.
Maybe they should get the reduced cost auto finishers when doing the prescribed strike orders but be able to expend the full ki amount to trigger the desired effect.
Maybe have them generate more ki when fighting that HB monks.

Now for Harmonious Balance path I see the storage and expenditure of ki to be a much more deliberate process. Yes they can still cause effects with their strikes but finishing moves (also awfully misnamed) should be available when the ki is. If anything they shouldn't be allowed to use 'finishing moves' in combat or while preforming any action.
I might even go so far as to remove the generate ki when fighting with a HB monk but give them auto ki generation with a slight boost when stationary but that leads to serious balance problems with everyone being fully monk buffed all the time and fully healed so a lot of reworking would be required, maybe too much.

But even HB monks are not monks that live in monasteries, but rather are those who came out adventuring. They have learned abilities that can aid their party (as opposed to ID monks who learned abilities that can disable enemies faster), but these special abilities are combat oriented. Normally a HB monk in a monastery might have no use for these skills and would develop a different set of abilities instead. But these HB monk adventurers find it convenient - after all, they do hit bad nasty evil stuff all day long, so it's not a problem.

So yes I veered way off course and apparently am trying to completely redo the monk paths in your thread I apologize for the mini hijack but I was mostly on point.

While I'm still more inclined towards my ideas (how surprising!), I do welcome other ideas wholeheartedly. If nothing else, they give new angles to look at it and will most likely spawn some improvements. It's not all that unsurprising that a new idea like this isn't widely accepted as it was created, without any polish. What's important is whether the core of the idea has merit or not - the rest can be adjusted and polished as necessary, cooldowns decreased, delays increased, etc.