Maybe I should rephrase that. Do monks ever have a rotation type attack setup like in WoW, or do they basically just hit auto attack, and kick in raids? If they get more attacks or a rotation, when does that come about? During what xpac?
Melee was very basic before the combat disc system was retro-added onto it. Personally I wish they had added a few good abilities under the actions/combat existing mechanics (abilities you train by using) rather than the bloated (overlap, ones you never use) disc system. Create an 85 heroic (especially if you have never played past level 70 back in the day or on progression) and you'll see what I mean about so many buttons to possibly push. So as a sort-of answer to the original post question... you'll have lots of things to do post 75, whether they have situational value is another matter.
The monk has a few (damage) abilities, the Rogue has it worse and but one really It becomes a bit more interested from Planes of Power onward where disciplines (special abilities, often powerful ones, you can use on a timer). Don't make the mistake thinking auto attack is just auto attack, pure melee hit harder and more accurate and successful than hybrids - find sense of worth in that too. I just love that melee chat window where the damage rolls in like nothing. I personally find the Monk very rewarding, we melee very well, feign death is one of the better abilities and them dragon punches and kicks look awesome. But if you want rotation heavy style of play, you might want to roll another class.
Yeah the spell casters in this game are where the tactics and rotations are. Melees are very simple, but how you play them matters and requires skill and knowledge of the game. With tanks you have to be good with positioning and understanding aggro etc. With a Monk you have to be able to FD split pull. Later on the Bard will do all the pulling but it is still a big part of being a Monk. The actual combat is very basic though.
Adding a few button to push will not make things better, the problem is more intrinsic than that. Game is just boring without some other motivation.
I'm going to speak specifically to monks given you reference that in your initial post. Monks are a lot of fun on TLPs for the following reasons: Top DMG/Burst DMG in a majority of the early expansions Pulling - Great pullers, reliable and no real dependencies (Mana for bards, etc) Utilities - FD, Mend, Dragon Force (positioning mobs) Discs - Whirlwind/Void (situational), DMG Discs, etc --> Using these appropriately yield high damage It doesn't seem like a long list, but it's enough to keep you busy in groups and raids. You can be as active or as passive as you'd like with the class. If you're major concern is "Will I just assist, attack and go afk?" The answer is you can, but you have a ton more you can add if you play actively!
I play 18 toons, and have played almost every class (aside from Necros and SKs). Melee are boring, and really, in a group setting, most casters are too. Very few of the classes are all that dynamic on the TLPs. DPS are generally the worst, and melee dps are the absolute worst, especially now that you don't actually have to press the backstab/kick/punch/etc button once you hit 61. If you're looking for something dynamic and interesting, I highly recommend one of the following: Paladin: Stunning, rooting for CC, emergency healing, group healing, curing, tanking multiple mobs, positioning mobs with divine stun, etc Cleric: A bunch of different types of direct heals, hots, group heals, cures, stuns if you're feeling adventurous, divine arb, etc. Keeping a group alive is fun and very active Enchanter: Mezzes, stuns, charms, tash, slow, nukes. An enchanter has a very lively, active, and risky playstyle. Never ever boring Druid: Fewer healing tools than the druid, but with nukes and debuffs, the druid is also a very active playstyle in groups. Almost always doing something Beastlord: Between the pet, heals, nukes, dots, and debuffs (plus the fact that in a fair amount of content, beastlords can actually tank), a beastlord is often very busy Shaman: Heals, debuffs, dots, the ability to tank, and due to the aggro generated, they often will be. I would be bored out of my mind maining a melee class.
Nothing much has changed in Omens. Technically, monks can be interesting to play as pullers, but usually find bard pulling to be more engaging and entertaining. I'm not sure beyond omens. Generally speaking though, EQ doesn't have particularly complex combat mechanics by the standards of most MMOs. Tanks and obviously healers have a lot going on, and the CC rule in EQ is moderately involved, but it's still a fairly slow paced and static game in that respect. I always get bored playing pure dps.
Yes we can all device epic tales and scenario's where that Mage did some epic moves in this or that group situation, but the reality is most often send pet, nuke, send pet, nuke, send... And yes in theory the druid, I love that class mind you, is VERY diverse, but I can just as easily break it down to a repetition of not even a handful of spells in 98% of the time while grinding. So I think it's a matter of pure theory, when you look at the caster with all the spells and whistles they seem far more interesting, while on pure melee's disciplines get ignored, but in reality it comes down to the same repetition regardless on most classes with just a few exceptions depending on era. This debate on the Rogue, while I like the class very much, would be a little more applicable to perhaps, but the monk with very unique skills such as feign death, mend and those nice Kunark disciplines, no way it is boring.
Eventually you'll have a lot of abilities to keep track of and 30s cool downs to spam and 10min discs to run in different combinations. It gets infinitely less boring than original EQ.
Exactly the last class that had any appeal was duoing an Enc with a Dru on TLPs, at least as busy as it was there was reason for being busy there was none of the "make fun through making work" failure going on. But as soon as you get into a group all that goes away and it goes back to boredom, yes group play is boring because to be efficient the risk was to be utterly mitigated in group play. Funny thing is the game is only fun in ones, twos and maybe threes beyond that its damn dull unless your idea of fun is watching bars fill... its just run its course we wont be back and in a way that makes us sad.
So is this why all the other classes got nerfs in live due to tanks being bored? they cried so much out of a game. Just saying.....
You have to mash flying kick/tail rake until autoskill is available at 61. Then you're only really burning discs every 15-30 min depending on xpac. I still find monks somewhat fun since they do lots of extra hits due to their aa's and 2 abilities. Way later, (75+?), you start getting some short re-use DPS combat abilities which use stamina.
I've come to the realization over the years that the Bard/Enchanter CC/charming/chain pulling role is the most interesting and engaging to me. If I play any other class, I almost have to box because its too slow. Beastlord was actually kind of interesting to me though on Phinny, I'd play that again. I've given Coirnav another chance and started enjoying playing a SK too, get a little bit of pulling action, tanking is involved enough and spells to mix it up a bit - not so mind-numbing like warrior play.
