A question about light based monks

[Blackheartox]

1. & foremost i would like noone to be offended (if it is somehow possible)
2. If i get something wrong please feel free to correct me .
3. I would like your opinions about the question.

So heres the main point:

I would like to know why so many light monks dont use their finishers?
Heres a list with the desriptions:

Healing Ki I - You heal all nearby allies for 1d4 plus 1d4 per two monk levels.
Grasp the Earth Dragon - Nearby allies become immune to daze, stun, and sleep for 60 seconds.
Dance of Clouds - Nearby allies gain 20% concealment for 60 seconds.
Aligning the Heavens - Nearby allies gain a 25% reduction in spell point costs for 60 seconds.
Walk of the Sun - Nearby allies gain a +2 untyped bonus to attack, saves, and skills for 60 seconds.
Moment of Clarity - Activate this finisher to clear away all distractions from your allies, granting a +5 Insight bonus to hit and skill checks for a very short period of time
(all skill descriptions from ddo wiki)

I mean ok you can skip dance of clouds when the casters start using blur, but the rest?
I play the monk for a while(plan to do a monk 3 fightermonk 3 barbmonk3 palamonk 3 roguemonk3 final monk build lol that is gonna take a year or more from my life) & it kinda gets me when i see 4 monks in a shroud with me & im the only one buffing.
I dont say all people are like that but most are. Esp the Moment of clarity. +5 insight to hit? is that a waste or am i missing something.
It takes 1.5 secs to prepare a finisher. Use fire3 any light fire 2= walk of sun..
I dont see where the problem is?
You waste around 10 secs to put all the buffs on the members.
After that feel free to do whatever you seem fit to do.
I wont say that theres a mistake of not buffing. Im suggesting you try it once in a while. I will do it, but would like others to grasp the playstyle of a light based monk. Its not only atack atack try to stun. For me its more like atack buff atack buff stun stun stun atack buff change robes change wraps use clickie atack . etc..
Monks are hard to play if you play them right & in the same way more fun then most other melle classes (fo me at least)
& the last
4. Tnx for taking the time for reading this post

[Zildoran]

I only do the moment of clarity buff when fighting very high ac mobs, like Malica in Epic Big Top. It is so short, and is usually not worth it. I use the aligning all the time, the other I usually don't bother with besides in TOD raids the earth finisher gets used a lot in the end fight so the healers don't get stunned.

[MaxwellEdison]

I drop aligning the heavens at quest entrance or shrines (Usually as a veiled innuendo ) for when casters are dropping their buffstacks. Fire finisher pretty much only gets used when I'm at a vendor, or the rare rogue that needs a boost. Earth finisher I think I have only ever used in ToD, and I don't think I've ever used wind finisher on purpose. The last is mostly because when it was needed (Before caster's could pass out blur) I really didn't have a lot of Ki to throw around either.

I do use the triple light finisher occasionally when I'm in the scrum (more as a joke really) on a boss or to revive incaps, but it breaks the attack chain for more frequent use. I usually pop moment of clarity when I'm running in fire stance with more ki than I know what to do with and am just spamming monk strikes til a finisher pops up (joking...kinda).

[morph_1]

1.those monks you see not using finishers dont have the skill and timing down.
2.some stances ki is not too forth coming to spam buff over elemental strikes so a reserve is kept.

[Kevorkian]

The duration of moment of clarity is so criminally short its not worth dropping unless you're in the middle of a boss fight. The others I try to drop often, especially aligning.

[goodspeed]

Well healing ki kinda just sucks. Wish they'd give it a lil nudge or something.

Earth isn't really worth it unless it's needed specifically for a touch fight. Maybe if hold or freedom of moment was in there, but otherwise it kinda sucks for a general quest to.

Dance of clouds is nice but why bother when you usually have blur. It lasts a whole lot longer then 60 seconds.

Walk in the sun is half way useful and I find I'll cast that

Clarity is good but like it was said, why even bother. If the timers could be increased to even a minute and a half it might be more useful but otherwise, in the time-span to do the quick combo I could have ran up and ko'd everything. The end just doesn't really seem to meet the means.

[t0r012]

1. & foremost i would like noone to be offended (if it is somehow possible)
2. If i get something wrong please feel free to correct me .
3. I would like your opinions about the question.

So heres the main point:

I would like to know why so many light monks dont use their finishers?
Heres a list with the desriptions:

Healing Ki I - You heal all nearby allies for 1d4 plus 1d4 per two monk levels. my light monk uses it all the time when solo , in a party not so much. better to put out damage than 3 light attacks (unless against undead)
Grasp the Earth Dragon - Nearby allies become immune to daze, stun, and sleep for 60 seconds. great for inevitable fight in VoN3 and ToD other than that not so much. the earth strikes are good but the light strike could be used for another damage strike. and firing the finisher takes time that not only stops other ki strike but also regular punches.
Dance of Clouds - Nearby allies gain 20% concealment for 60 seconds. decent in the harbor but thats about all
Aligning the Heavens - Nearby allies gain a 25% reduction in spell point costs for 60 seconds. I'll drop it at quest starts , shrines and when portal beating for the caster wailing. and a few other times.
Walk of the Sun - Nearby allies gain a +2 untyped bonus to attack, saves, and skills for 60 seconds. great for buffing rogues and throwing prior to running in to a tough fight but +2 hit/damage isn't worth breaking you attack chain and using sub optimal ki strikes.
Moment of Clarity - Activate this finisher to clear away all distractions from your allies, granting a +5 Insight bonus to hit and skill checks for a very short period of time too darn short to bother , unless your buffing a rogue or doing a vendor purge.
(all skill descriptions from ddo wiki)

I mean ok you can skip dance of clouds when the casters start using blur, but the rest?
I play the monk for a while(plan to do a monk 3 fightermonk 3 barbmonk3 palamonk 3 roguemonk3 final monk build lol that is gonna take a year or more from my life) & it kinda gets me when i see 4 monks in a shroud with me & im the only one buffing.
I dont say all people are like that but most are. Esp the Moment of clarity. +5 insight to hit? is that a waste or am i missing something.
It takes 1.5 secs to prepare a finisher. Use fire3 any light fire 2= walk of sun..
I dont see where the problem is? bad ki strikes with a short duration blocking your attacks means you don't make up the damage.
You waste around 10 secs to put all the buffs on the members. 10 seconds is a lot for monk attack speed.
After that feel free to do whatever you seem fit to do.
I wont say that theres a mistake of not buffing. Im suggesting you try it once in a while. I will do it, but would like others to grasp the playstyle of a light based monk. Its not only atack atack try to stun. For me its more like atack buff atack buff stun stun stun atack buff change robes change wraps use clickie atack . etc..
Monks are hard to play if you play them right & in the same way more fun then most other melle classes (fo me at least)
& the last
4. Tnx for taking the time for reading this post

my stuff in red. if they weren't so slow o fire and or lasted longer they might be worth but. In most cases they aren't worth it. running between portals in the shroud dropping aligning on the Healers/Wailers works with monk run speed,.

[Will_Ferrer]

I simply cant be bothered.

Those buffs are mostly for me, Earth Dragon is awesome when you know stun is coming but there are a lot of quests where its just a waste of ki. Trying to herd everyone together so you can throw a buff every 50 or in some cases every 8 seconds is obscene. Im a melee not a buff bot. I don't buff unless it has a big impact. In the shroud, I dont think many ppl are having issues connecting so I dont throw walk on the sun. If Im doing a quest and casters are getting to the shrine with 30-40 percent of their mana left Im not gonna clear the sky for them. Now my monk has not done epics in about 6 months, maybe ill see something that might change my mind but unless I am doing epic chains I dont really see a need for these buffs other then Earth Dragon... and dont get my started on Moment of Clarity, more like flash of clarity

Honestly the amount of ki I generate is hardly enough to allow me to do anything but DPS or CC and in many instances falls short of even that. leaving buffing and healing a thing of the past

[TeacherSyn]

I use my light monk buffs very often. But I've also learned where it's logical to do it, or not.

I know how to use Healing Ki everytime, anywhere and on anything. To not heal yourself and others when you can and when it doesn't impact your overall fighting or role--well, that's criminal.

Monk buffs, like Bard buffs, also can't be dispelled by beholders.

I make it easier to have specific buffs on a macro key that I can activate, even when in mid-fight. The advantage here is that you can and should use regular attacks--the character will add in the finishing moves and activate the finisher as you do this.

I let those with better buffs that will overwrite my own do so. I know that there are four finishers that ALWAYS help any party: Healing Ki, Aligning the Heavens, Walk of the Sun, and the little-used Grasp the Earth Dragon. A little secret: Use Grasp the Earth Dragon in the Dreaming Dark final quest or in the Lordsmarch quests where stuns are prevalent--your party will be less likely to get stunned at all by enemies.

Sure, Monk buffs last only a minute in most instances. But if your fight lasts longer than that, well, perhaps a better tactic is needed for some fights. (And you can refresh these buffs even while fighting.)

Monks are opportunists because of natural ki drain. But they are often sought after because they can help in instances where no other fighter or spell caster can manage. Other classes can carry only so many potions and weapons before your resources are exhausted in long or taxing quests. For the Monk, his resources are enemies themselves--his ki will recharge through them. So long as there is something to fight, the Monk will be able to help the party. A Monk with a filled ki bar is either between fights or is doing something very wrong.

[SensaiRyu]

I'm thinking of LR'ing my lvl 16 dark monk into a light monk with rogue dillys.

Based on my melee style - void dark void - I'd say I'd be spamming Clarity a lot. I didn't take the void line at all on my first life. I did on when I TR'd. Clarity seems like a really nice buff even for 15 secs.

I would use the void light void finisher whenever it popped up. And for my melee style it would pop up often.

But I only have about 45 ki at the start of a dungeon. One or 2 party buffs and I'd be done. I'd have to get used to using alignment/walk at the start of quests.

Seems like some of these buffs would be useful to my monk and anybody else if they happen to be nearby.

Can u say quickbar explosion?

[Therigar]

I know that some monks use their finishers relatively often -- especially Heavens, Sun and Clarity. I usually do not because I find that having to remember to buff the party every 60 seconds to be just too troublesome. I probably would use them if the effects increased in duration as the character's level increased -- similar to how spells last longer as caster levels increase.

The only two that I use on any regular basis are Healing, Grasp and Dance. I use Dance on myself when soloing because I don't have blur and it is a less then perfect substitute. I use Grasp and Healing in ToD every 3 days or so (Grasp when fighting Horoth and Healing after while standing near whoever tanked).

To me the big issue is the duration of the effects for the first set. For Dance it is that better options exist. With the others it is a case where there just isn't any real need most of the time.

The last things that I'd mention are these

1. Spell casters are generally buffing before the finisher goes up and have so many spell points that they don't seem to worry about if they've saved a few points by waiting.
   
2. Most players don't need the help hitting and damaging the enemy.
   
3. Most players don't need the skills boosts.

In the end that means there really is very little need to use the finishers.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Things die fast.
Parties zerge and dont stand still very long.
The slightest non-combat action on my part loses a finisher.

I'm too busy desperately trying to up my kil count.


However, I finally have a keyboard setup, and enough experience to inderstand my Light monk finishers.

And I do try to use them when I can.


My lowbie Dark Monk however, is having a heck of a time using any finishers.
Mostly because things just die too quickly, and I cant even pick up a collectible without losing a finisher.

[DragonTroy]

based on both my own experiences playing with plenty of monks, playing a monk, and from the comments above, i have to assume you have been running around with some bad monks.

admittedly, dance of clouds is kinda pointless once blur is passed out so much the melee's get annoyed if they don't see it on them. and moment of clarity is just too short(only time ive ever tried to keep this up is epic big top, darn you malicia!)

but the others ive seen used fairly regularly. and sometimes its nice to see walk the sun pop up while beating on harry. they are used.

if you arent seeing them, maybe you need to find some new monks. or just ask if you feel you need them. they can always meditate if you pester them long enough

[Arctik]

I play a 20 light monk... I spam my finishers every possible moment.

[baddax]

If you are playing a light based monk you should use there finishers as necessary. They are situational but Very helpful.