Yes I am saying you are whining TOO damn much so that it led the devs to buffing the class too much hoping y'all won't whine anymore in the future. Face it. You all whine so much about AGI stat being non-existent in Monks gear so that the devs decided to put up STR AGI INT VIT in more than one gears (Hat and Top) while others only has a max of three stats? (except Crescentia. Crescentia has four stats too. but then again Crescentia is a DPS class with less HP and defense. But Monk has high defense, HP, VIT STR, INT, and AGI. It's too much!) And now you talk about balance, yeah right.
ATM I am just a normal Warrior guy with no significant hones to be proud of. Everytime I faced my friend's Monk (which also use a plain Osiris gears) 1v1, he torned me up to pieces, again and again. Why? Because Monk has TOO MUCH PROS in regard to its CONS. Lemme describe:
(+) High Attack Power, even equal with Warriors with the use of both stats, STR and INT.
(+) Pretty high Critical Rate.
(+) High Damage Modifier (350% on a basic skill while others has 250% damage modifier. 600+% damage with the use of only 3 spirits.)
(+) HIGHEST defense in the game as for late.
(+) Guaranteed ultimate skill to CRIT after the skill below is used.
(+) LONG disabling skill with low cooldown with a seriously ibmalanced benefit. (5 seconds knockdown on only ONE SKILL without the use of spirits? Rogues need CP to effectively use their disabling skill. Monks don't. You can just faceroll this skill at the start of the battle and rape your enemy easily with Asura.)
(+) Has reset skill. Ouche.
(+) Damage buffs and debuffs.
(+) Too much important stats in a gear (STR INT AGI VIT as compared to other class). High amounts too.
Now let us take a look of their CONS:
(-) -_-ty AoE skill. The only reasonable cons of Monks which is not much of a problem in the current state of the game.
(-) Normal movement speed (Who cares about MSPD if you can just blink yourself to the enemy in less than a second?)
(-) Less attractive overall class design (especially weapon). YOU KIDDING ME? LOL.
(-) No self-heal. Who needs one when you can kill your enemy less than 5 seconds? Not to mention, Warriors need to have 100 rage to effectively use their self-heal.
Where so you get your informations from? Did you compare two normal characters?
(+) High Damage Modifier (350% on a basic skill while others has 250% damage modifier. 600+% damage with the use of only 3 spirits)
Do you know how the total damage is calculated? It's
Total_damage = ( avg[Weapon_damage] + Stat_effect ) * Skill_modifier
Stat_effect basically is a scaled down physical or magical attack power.
That means, because monk knuckles have a lower average damage than a warrior greatsword, it can still be balanced out either by a higher attack power and/or a higher skill modifier. Therefore, if you want to check damage inbalances, you have to compare the average damage done to a certain foe (f.e. the black sheep)... Skill modifier or physical attack power can't be considered alone anymore, because the developer and a seemingly majority of the players prefer it that way.
(+) HIGHEST defense in the game as for late
Even before AoV, the monk had the highest defense rate of all classes. This was a conceptual decision to balance out the lack of a healing skill. This was necessary, because the monk was designed as a tanking class, not a dps class. As a chrismas gift, the new AoV patch downgraded the monk significantly, putting him from 1st to 4th rank. This inbalance is quite easy to recognize: The pre-AoV situation was the following:
Honor Knightage - Light armor (monk, wiz, sorc, priest, sm) = 618 defense
Honor Knightage - Medium Armor (rang, bm, rog, sin, cres) = 927 defense [+50% more defense]
Honor Knightage - Heavy Armor (Warrior, Knight w\o shield) = 1238 defense [+100% more defense]
Honor Knightage - BM in Grizzly Form = 1390 defense
Honor Knightage - Warrior with Defender = 1609 defense
Honor Knightage - Knight with Shield = 1827 defense
The monk could compensate that by leveling Iron Skin and Steel Body. With Iron Skin f.e., the monk could have the same defense rate as a Rogue, Assassin or Ranger. With Steel Body, he could further increase the defense:
Honor Knightage - Monk with Steel Body = 1854 defense
Honor Knightage - Steel Body AND Iron Skin = 2163 defense
You see? The Monk had the best defense!
With AoV however, the whole thing went wrong. Beside the new defense rate calculation formula, the defense values also changed. Right now, compared to light armor, it's more or less like this:
Medium armor = +100% more defense = 200% total defense
Heavy armor = +300% more defense = 400% total defense
So even if the monk uses both Iron Body and Steel body (+250% defense), he couldn't even reach the defense of a Knight without shield or a Warrior without defender. That's why he the new defense via VIT isn't that bad at all. Sure, a question might be whether or not that bonus is balanced. But that should be answered by those players who like class-specific stat bonuses.
(+) Guaranteed ultimate skill to CRIT after the skill below is used
That's why this skill has a base cooldown of 60sec, whereas most of the other 'ultimates' have a 20sec cooldown. So even if the monk wastes 5 additional skill points, to max-out Summon Spirit Spheres (reset skills), he's still at an average of 40sec per skill use (3 times within 120sec). That's why the overall threat against an ordinary boss isn't any higher.
So maybe you could 'nerf' the damage of a single Guillotine Fist, if you reduce the cooldown as well (see assassin).... or adding multiple possible targets (see Warrior or Beastmaster)... or skip any prerequisites (see Priest).
(+) LONG disabling skill with low cooldown with a seriously inbalanced benefit. (5sec knockdown on only ONE SKILL without the use of spirits?
Many classes don't need any extraordinary prerequisites. A Soulmaker can cast his ultimate 'Sacrifice' without anything in advance AND knocks his opponents down for 3sec. The Crecentia can start the fight by putting you to sleep. The Wizard or Sorcerer would freeze you, the ranger places a snare below your feet, while being invisible. The Assassin can cast Shadow Assault, the Knight: Shield Charge, the Warrior Battle Leap and so on.
Personally, I'm not a fan of this 5sec knockdown either, but my arguments are a bit different... and balance is hard to achieve here. The Warrior Battle Leap f.e. is superior against masses of enemies (WoE, Colo, mobs) and he get's a second - slow cooldown - stun. The Knight has two fast stun abilities, as well as the BM. So I doubt that changing Lightning Walk into two different 3sec knockdown/stun abilities - similar to other classes - would be better in any way.
(+) Has reset skill.
On contrast, the monk is the only tank class that has no healing skill at all. That's the tradeoff.... and he has the highest cooldown for a ultimate skill as well. Just imagine if the monk would get a 20~30sec Guillotine Fist, replacing the skill reset for a healing skills similar to those of a Beastmaster, Warrior or Assassin and you might rethink your statement about a 'reset skill' being such a benefit.
(+) Pretty high Critical Rate
Opposed by a pretty low Vigor rate.
(-) -_-ty AoE skill. The only reasonable cons of Monks which is not much of a problem in the current state of the game.
Although a drawback on your list, it's not necessarily true. A Warrior's Brandish Storm replaces cooldown with animation time.
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To sum it up: If you think a Monk is overpowered, go get yourself a healing pet or befriended priest and do several 1-vs-1 duels in quick succession. That would 'balance' out the the 120sec skill reset option for the monk, as well as the 60sec cooldown for Guillotine Fist.
But even that might be a flawed test to see any class inbalances, because right now ALL the classes do the same thing: First - stun your opponent; Second - kill him while he is unable to act. Yes, the Warrior has a slow drawback because his Battle Leap isn't an instantaneous and sure hit, but it's an AoE stun instead.
