Monk Gear question

[Ecoski]

Right, I decided to roll a 28-point (gasp) wis/dex light monk build a few days ago, and have had enormous fun playing as it. However, I noticed that having reached level 8, I'm was still wearing the starter robe, missing a ring, had no cloak and was hatless, seeing as I'd charged through the 4 levels from veteran rather fast.
I swiftly tried to remedy this and on my first run through it I gathered the necessary ingredients and crafted myself the Jidz-tet'ka bracers. Feeling slightly better, I skipped along to the auctioneer, feeling confident that I could use the age-old remedy to life's problems, and throw money at it. Then I hit a snag. I could see absolutely nothing at all worthwhile buying, as I could guess that it would last me almost no time whatsoever, and it was all rather pricey. Therefore, my question to you fine gentlemen/ladies/warforged (male and female look the same), is this;

What is the gear that a monk should aim for?

I currently have the bracers, I'm going to probably stick with an outfit I pulled out of a chest in sentinels, until I can get the garments of equilibrium, but for every other slot I'm lost. It turns out monks are far more complex than I thought...

[BansheeMalthus]

I ran into this probleem with my dark monk when I made him at first. The might of the abishai set is nice, especially all 5 pieces, and the warth of Sotra Kell is good. Also remember, you can never go wrong with Clickies!

[phillymiket]

Well, if your level 8 you could have a heavy fortification robe.

That is huge, get that.

The other things mentioned above are good.

Resistance cloak would be good too. (i guess +2 until level nine then you could get a +3). Trapblast gogs from STK will still be useful for another level or so.

Run Carnival and get some +3 stat rings (min level 5 i think) or just wait until level 9 and get +4 stat items for strength, dex, con and wisdom.
Wisdom on the hat maybe, con on belt, strength and dex on rings or gloves maybe?

You could run Tangleroot and get the +3 strength gloves.

False life item. HP are good. (soon you can hit the dessert rare chests for a dusk heart or maybe find one on the AH they are sometimes not that expensive)

You're about at level to run Xorian Cypher. Hit that and try to get a Planar Gird. Chaos Guard is good too but I would rather just use the bracers you have (I wore them till level 20)

Your almost at the point where you can grind the shadow crypt. Get your devout handwraps! (if you can)

[Marmaduke]

red fens sets, chrono sets, robe of invulnerability, soulstealer

[donfilibuster]

invulnerability then hvy fort outfit or robe, but really i'm somewhat dissapointed in the lack of named outfits.

and most of the time you find robes, need monks look budhist or shaolin? outfits look like pajamas and robes like dresses.
i even tried checking the store for the +4 armor to see if i could free the bracers slot but find there's only robes and not outfit.

dun find personal liking on armor kit over robes either, and on robes it looks too wizardly.
ended up using the kit over the starter drapes and calling it a night.

[Nebuchanezzar]

For your Robe/Outfit I would recommend Heavy Fortitude or Invulnerability. Equilibrium when you get them.
.
If you have StK the Trapblast Goggles are a solid choice but honestly the Insight Goggles from Korthos are fine.

Head wear should probably go for your +Wisdom slot unless you are using Minos. The Garment of Equilibrium has your Heavy Fortitude though allowing you to leave the Head for a Wisdom item.

Boots are generally the best Striding set you can for me but it's worth keeping an Angers Wrath set for the +2 to hit bonus when needed.

Rings - I like to put Dex and or Str on my ring slots but that's not always ideal. Eventually you will want 2 ToD rings there for the bursting effects even if you don't have a matches set(necklace and belt fwiw). Just put what you can in your ring slots. Chattering Ring, Tumbleweed, or whatever you have that best fills that slot.

Gloves - a decent spot for a str item but I have really gotten accustomed to the Charged Gauntlets from Chronoscope in that slot.

Bracers - keep the Jidz. They will serve you just fine for almost all(if not all) of your leveling time.

Belt - Con and/or GFL item is my choice in the belt slot. Just about anything is decent there as long as its helpful. I like those items because I'll be using Knosts Belt from ToD at 18 again and it just makes the transition easier for me.

Cloak and necklace are open slots. Necklace will hopefully be a ToD set someday but I usually have my Silver Flame Talisman in that slot and my cloak is currently a Mabar Cloak(have a lvl12 and lvl20 one)

I assume your Trinket is the Voice of the Master.

Having spewed that out I would say focus on getting good clickies. Shield and Haste clickies would be my first priority as they are both insanely helpful, especially when soloing. Invisibility clickies are a close second imo. The Visor of the Fleshrender from Tangleroot is very helpful with its Death Ward and I keep a couple of Rage clickies on hand too. Mostly just to keep my drinking problem under some pretense of control =]. I also grabbed the Nightforge Armbands from Relic of a Sovereign Past for a Heroism clicky. I don't have a Planar Gird but it tides me over to 18 when I can use my Draconic necklace again. Stoneskin clickies from a GS item are priceless but UMD can get you Stoneskin scrolls or wands usage if you have UMD skills.

Beyond all that I highly recommend finding the best +Stunning wraps you can use at any time. Stunning Fist is just too nice.

Some of the stuff mentioned is obviously beyond a lvl8 character but I was trying to generalize a gear layout. It can and will fluctuate with what you have available and what you need to do in any given quest. When I solo I usually wear my Icy Raiments and Chattering Ring. When I go on raids or quest with a group it's generally my Equilibrium and ToD rings to maximize my dps. I assume you don't have any capped characters(from the fact its a 28 pt and not 32 pt build) so you will probably need to simply settle for what you can get. It's sad imo that loot you will find in chests is generally unhelpful when you get it. If you do have higher level characters though keep an eye on what they are getting, you may find a gem of an item to help you out.

GL and HF