The biggest problem with the monk class today is tanking. Monks are not really a viable tank for groups level 20 and beyond. The reason why is consistency, and monks lack it. With a plate tank healers can gage pretty well when they will need to be healed. Because they have consistent mitigation. Since monks are avoidance based we lack this consistency. With my monk I will take 3 full hits in a row, then I might dodge the next 3. But it wont matter because the 3 initial hits have killed me before the healer can finish casting. Where if it had gone hit, miss, hit, miss, hit, miss. I would be alive and healed. Now the Mob did the same damage in both cases, but in one I am alive and the other I am dead. My suggestion to fix this is simple. Every time a monk is hit, give him a increased chance of avoiding the next blow. If I am hit once, give me a greater chance to avoid the next blow. If I am hit twice, give me a much greater chance of avoiding the 3rd blow, and so on. This would even fir in with the idea of the monk. After being hit by a creature, a monk would then know what to expect and be more likely to block the next attack it. Now please don't get me wrong. I don't want to be a better tank then a guardian. I just want reduce the streaks of the class and make us more on par with other tanks. And my second point. We should dual wield our bare fists. We have two hands there is no reason for us to only punch with one of them. Message Edited by Blaze79 on 11-27-2004 11:09 AM
I agree. I'm lvl 25 and I can still tank fairly well, especially if I am warded, but there does need to be some consistency to the damage we take over time. Without that, we are close to useless, by that I mean a well balanced group has no need for a monk.
Monks and Brusiers are already useless. No one would ever consider putting one or the other in an ideal group. If DPS is needed, a scout in the form of Assassin or Brigand will significantly outdamage a Bruiser. If a tank is needed, no one would ever begin to argue that a Guardian isn't a MUCH better tank than either Monk or Bruiser. Pulls don't work as they used to, so FD is rather useless (and heck, it never works anyway). Both classes suck. I'm a Bruiser and my friend is a Monk -- we're rerolling.
I think you are missing the entire spectrum of monks in EQ2. We are not the gigantic damage dealers we were in EQLive. We do not have the evasive skills of monks from EQLive either. We do have some very VERY nice group utility skills. We are an offensive tank, we do the most dmg out of all fighters, however, our AC and HP is the **ZOMG**s. We don't do that much dmg over zerkers however, so how do we make up for our lack of HP and AC? Utility. A perfect example of Monk utility that works well with both small and large groups: Have the main tank (preferably a zerker) use intervene on the monk and have the monk hold agro. Have the monk put the dmg dampering buff on the zerker and the hate reduction buff on the healer/zerker (depending on your group.. a good duo is a zerker and monk). Turn your defensive abilities on as a monk and IF you get hit, the zerker gets hit and can then go berserk. The healer RARELY has to heal the zerker. If the agro gets out of control, have the zerker turn bloodlust on and turn his HP buff on and he can take the agro and still have the dmg reduction buff on him. The utility that monks get is earth shatteringly good. Our melee dmg is fantastic coupled with the utilities we get and the ability to choose to be either highly offensive or highly defensive. Monks are great pullers as well. Get Adept 1 FD. It works 90% of the time it seems. If it fails, get up, run, FD, and it works. I really don't see why people complain about being a monk. Give it time. If you have played Baldurs Gate, you know how long it takes monks to become the power houses they really are. "The most beautiful flower doesn't always blossom first."
