FIRST OFF - EVER SINCE THE AoV PATCH, A GOOD PORTION OF SUGGESTIONS WERE IMPLEMENTED IN SOME FORM. FOR NOW, THIS TOPIC WILL DISCUSS THE NATURE OF THE MONK CLASS AND ANYTHING RELATED TO MONK. THANKS!
Anyway, I'll get down to it. Monks need help now. Beastmasters, I have not forgotten you guys too. Still, I have little experience using the latter so today I come to speak about the Monk. Of course, I am one of the few Monk players left in this game. I might not be as popular as some monks or even as skilled as they are, gear-wise or . Still, I think they all can agree on one thing. This class does not get played for a good reason.
Let the Rogue fixes be just the start of this buffing of classes. Start by fixing the two most unwanted classes.
Let us go down on some basics: Pros and Cons of the Monk.
Pros:
-High Health (Second Highest Possible)
-High Defense
-Strong Offensive Buff
-Mobile Defensive Buff (50% Reduction and +20% Dodge)
-Refresher Skill
-Makes use of all 5 Stats
-Fastest Weapon Attack Speed
Cons:
-Lack of DoT
-Lack of Party Buff
-Lack of Party Defensive Buff
-Lack of Self-heal
-Lack of Crowd Control
-Lack of AGI
-Lack of Extensive Area Damage
-Permanent -10% Attack Power
-Terrible at Colo
-Bugged Skills
-Single Skill Build
-Weak Gear Scaling (Too much based on %)
As you can see, the cons out weight the pros. As a class, having too many cons can be negative to the class's population and even create bad trends for newer players. This is a dangerous aspect of balance, as the class will eventually be devoid of players who will devote their time to observing and perfecting the monk.
Also a minor note: Monk and Beastmasters are widely considered un-played classes. Remember that they are completely new classes; They have no relationship to their acolyte and archer counterparts as they do not share their skills. This might be a clue to why they tend to be unplayed.
Also, a general consensus of the player base can be shown to be majority Damage Dealer classes followed by Tanks followed by Healers.
Okay, now let's get into detail about the Cons.
Why Monk is a Bad Class Design:
-Simple explanation: Class is outclassed by other tanks in areas such as damage, area damage, party utilities, and survivability.
List of why Monk is Terrible: Tank Comparisons - Looking at the Aspects of what a Tank Needs.
-No DoT = Most tanks have a scaling form of damage through a "constant" damage application. We call them DoT's, or Damage over Time. They help keep THREAT going even when the boss stuns/disables/roots them. Monks do not have this, sadly. It might be a basic uniqueness that they don't have one, but still, it is a problem they have because eventually they will get out-threated by the other tanks.
-No Party Buff = This makes Monks undesirable for raid compositions. Of course, this can be solved by having an Off Tank Warrior or Knight with STR buff, but it still makes monks less desired. Even though they are great single target tanks, Knights can also function as a strong Main Tank.
-No Party Defensive Buff = I understand Knights and Beastmasters have some form of team defense. Still, Monk lack any utilities, so this might be a small issue. Warriors have forms of offensive techniques to stimulate threat focus and damage. Monks are only self focus, and it damages the overall party because other tanks can do the same function, if not equally well or a minor difference that can be acceptable due to their great strengths.
-Lack of Self-Heal = I get it, Knights have terrible healing. Still, it is better to have some than none. Monks need a strong self heal that is stronger than warrior's heal; After all, they were once acolytes, how could they not know healing? Then again, it might ruin the aspect of Beastmasters, so this can conditional to think about.
-Lack of Crowd Control = Tanks all have a form of controlling the field. Knights and Warriors have plenty of tools such as stuns and knockdowns. Melee DPS has knockdowns. Monks... they have something that stuns themselves to stun others. Yeah... This is a major PvP and PvM problem.
-Lack of AGI = This could honestly be a problem given AGI is an important stat, but this sole reason Monk damage, gear, and dodge sucks. As to those saying they need AGI like Swordsmen use INT, remember that Swordsmen use Battle Tactics. Monks have nothing to do with AGI but still, because of how good a stat it is, having almost none of it makes them liable in end game.
-Lack of Area Damage = Lightning Crush and Heavy Tackle are limited to 3. For the other tanks, they can hit up to 10 at any given time, except Beastmaster, although they still have one. Monks need help in this department, given its a common skill that even the melee DPS have.
-Extremely Bugged = I will go more into detail about this. Still, bugs kills a class. Rogues has them, Assassins have them, Female Swordsmen have them, and many other classes have minor bugs. But Monks have bugs that damages their usefulness overall outside being outclassed, making them undesirable.
-Damage is Extremely Dependent on % = Monks are too dependent on Fury Explosion to scale their damage threat range to Warrior/Knight's level. Even then they barely make it, and that's if Battle Tactics has not been applied to this comparison. Our main tank skill also screws us over with -10% debuff and we have to constantly time our Throw Spirit Sphere to reapply the 10% buff to cancel out the debuff. This is plain stupid also, as our weapons give little attack boost, even with the dual INT and STR scaling.
-Gear Scaling is Bad = Monks have this problem due to their class being too dependent on percentage increases. This might be a good thing end game, but bad gear is bad.
-Terrible at Colo = This is a player skill thing and while I can't say much (Only won 2 Colo), I can only give advice for maybe advancing hopefully to the 3-5th round safely and checking out the Acolyte's Class Discussion for more Colo info. What is true though is that Monks are punching bags, can deal with multiple mobs fair enough, and can refresh G-Fist for potentially 2.3-6k damage. Still they are not equipped as a tank to retaliate against their attackers, especially ranged foes.
-Single Skill Build = Trust me when every monk has literally the same build. All geared towards the Tank role. That is a problem. When a class called Monk is forced into the same build, the options to monk makes boring. Sure there might be small differences such as taking more points into Lightning Walk or not taking Flee, but that is not a problem of build, but more of lack of skill points to cover PvE and PvP.
And here is my favorite part. The bugs.
Bugs
-Lightning Walk Bug - This bug happens when elovation differences hampers with the skill. Can do a few things that bugs the skill - Use it can cause user to move to the side of target instead of front of them, or cause teleportation to target but skill not activating, which can cause minor animation rooting. Cooldown is not triggered, and message plays. Usually occurs when performing at 19.6m and being in motion forward.
(Rare Cases: When attempting to use Lightning Walk, sometimes the skill itself will not acknowledge target and thus will cause error and skill will not be used. Only occurs in Colo)
-G-Fist Bug - Knockdown applies too early, animation takes too long, roots user as well. If the skill misses, the target can move away and user is still rooted. Animation still applies and will not finish early even if missing.
-Intimidation/Summon Spirit Sphere Bug - This taunt skill can not be "refreshed" through the properties of SSS.
So how can we fix this problem? Well, first Warp Portal has to acknowledge that Monk needs help. Then the Developers from Gravity need to apply patches. Same process as Rogues got this treatment. So why not Monk? Not enough players to demand it? Well, what can you expect?
How to Fix Monk (Balance and Bug-wise fixes)
Note: Each suggestion are separate entities. They also offer multiple and/or options, and can appear overpowered.
-Crushing Blow - Currently grants 2 Spirit Spheres at the cost of low damage and rooting animation. Allow for increase damage by double or/and remove the rooting animation or/and apply 40-50% movement speed slow for 2 seconds.
-Lightning Crush - Currently only hits up to 3 targets, but increases threat rate. Allow for increase targets hit by 10 or/and increase targets hit by 6 or/and increase area of effective damage by double.
-Intimidation - Currently bugged. Allow Summon Spirit Sphere to refresh the cooldown of this skill.
-Summon Spirit Sphere - Currently bugged. Allow for Intimidation to be refreshed from effect.
-Lightning Walk - Currently bugged. Allow for 1 second stun and/or relocation to be constantly in front of target through bug fix.
-Throw Spirit Sphere - Currently 1 Point Wonder. Allow for increase damage % on buff and/or remove Steel Body's debuff.
-Steel Body - Currently gives -10% ATK debuff. Allow for Overall Gear Scaling Improvement or/and remove entirely.
-Flee - Currently only gives +20% Dodge buff. Allow for +40% Dodge Buff or/and 50% Movement Speed increase buff.
-G-Fist - Currently only does 120% damage at max level. Due to poor scaling of Monk class and REQUIRES Fury Explosion (30% ATK Buff Increase), as well as bugs and the skill being Melee, allow for Damage Percentage to 170% at Level 5 or/and increase Overall Gear Scaling Improvement and/or Reduce Animation Time and/or Increase Knockdown Duration and/or Add Magic Attack Percentage and/or Consume all remaining SP for Percentage Damage.
(About G-Fist, it can be debated that the 60 second cooldown might extremely high, compared to other classes with similar damage but 20 second cooldown. But since G-Fist is Fury dependent, lowering the cooldown might not be a viable option. Also, remember Monks do have Summon Spirit Sphere. That option gives us 2 possible burst attacks. I did not add cooldown decrease because it can stay at that cooldown but needs a massive damage boost.)
-Gear - Currently gives low damage to Monks. Compensated with health and high defense. Still needs improvement. Allow for more damage on weapon and/or AGI instead of WIS and/or Increase STR/INT per gear more.
How to Fix Monk (Applied New Skills Fixes)
-Party Buff - Grant party members Increased Vigor Rate.
(This will fix the high G-Fist problem and complement classes such as Wizards and Priests)
-Self-Heal - Grant Healing based upon Spirit Spheres.
(Healing based upon how many spirit spheres can help Crushing Blow be more useful)
Visual Improvements
-Weapon - Currently monks don't even use Fist as a weapon... they just have something floating on their arm. Either apply two visual fists weapons or add some sort of glove on the left hand.
Flee - Current unable to see if Flee is in use. Suggest adding minor wind effect around user to showcase Flee buff.
Extra Assist Tools
(Credit is due to those associated with their respective thread and those who assisted in multiple other monk threads)
Rukaroa's General Monk Guide
http://forums.warppo...-steel-v072713/
Rukaroa's Monk Skill Analysis
http://forums.warppo...phere-analysis/
Some Coliseum Knowledge for Monks
http://forums.warppo...olosseum-guide/
Edited by Meconopsis, 15 January 2014 - 06:58 PM.