Actually -I base all my research on my third-cousin's baby-sitter's neighbor. She once met Kevin Bacon so that's supposed to mean something. Yeah - maybe you're right, Gage... all races play monk alike. Ain't nobody attacking your chosen race.... chill.
I'm not saying anyone is and I am chill. Your opinion is one thing, mine is another. Quitting getting ******** that I'm voicing mine.
I play a dwarf monk. And at 22 I have depending on weapon/gear choice..69-75 agi and pushing 60-65 strength. For a dwarf, I feel I am way ahead of the dwarven agility curve with each piece having as close to + 3 agi and some +7. Shame there are no helms with + agi. For my trait so far I choose the +def and unlike the +3 def I thought it was more like +5 def which is about a whole skill level in defense. So basically I have fixed my starting lack of agi and am at a decent to high Kerra or other high starting agi class level with the good gear I have. It is possible and real easy to do and I believe I can easily do the same if not better at level 50. I always play dwarves and to be able to make him into the tanking freak he is I wouldnt have thought possible if not for the abundance of +3 to + 10 agi items I have seen in the mid teens early 20s. I agree play what race you like and prefer, what seems as a + or - to a race can be fleshed out later.
Choose the race you like. If you think Iksars look fitting for ya, choose that. If you prefer a Ratongas look, choose that.
I play a dwarven monk too, and have had no problems at all. I'm usually dps, but I was the MT for EL boat ride at 27, and Zek at 28, and we won both. In fact, for the EL boat ride we only had five people as the intended MT (30 berserker) had already done EL access and accidentally zoned to EL, making me the only other possible choice for MT in the group. For whatever reason, dwarven monks are not common, which is fine with me - I like being less common. Most mornings I do "/ monk dwarf all" and I'm the only one on that isn't anonymous, playing on a crowded server. Dwarves have some nice racial benefits as they progress levels, incidentally, that work well with the monk class.
I play a dorf Monk also and I agree with Gage, play with what ya like, beginning stats aren't that big of deal. I have 74 STR and 90 AGI unbuffed. Nice work flamin a guy that is very respected here /shake head. http://eq2players.station.sony.com/en/pplayer.vm?characterId=133359113
Gage trolls the guardian forums need to beat him up on home turf sometimes *poke* Ogre for one has no racial Agi trait.. so going ogre as a monk you will be a fat clog with no agi at 50, at least 20 points lower then a half elf.With a bard the diff may bbe 300 vs 320, no biggie. But in other groups may be 100 vs 120, which does matter. *shrug*
I'm not flaming anyone... I'm answering the question in the title of this thread. Attributes aren't meaningless. I'm fine with disagreeing with Gage - and whoever else - thinks they are. Is the difference huge? No. Is the difference big enough to make you NOT pick a race you really want to play? No. You have to weigh what you want in a 'look' with what you want with your character development. Answering a question "What are the differences betweena Wood Elf and Kerra" with "pick what you want" is fine - but then arguing with someone that actually answers the question is trolling. I have nothing against Gage and like him just fine - just disagree. Hope that's all-right.
Its fine to disagree, everyone has opinions I wasn't trying to be argumentative though, I was just trying to let everyone know that from playing with a bunch of 40+ monks that are all different races it doesn't seem that different to me as far as functioning. In fact the biggest difference is probably below 30, where imho its the least important since the majority of your gameplay will be above 30.
Well, the way I look at it if you are all into min/maxxing and getting the most outta your char, one could say you are right. But thats the way I looked at it in the begining and chose classes/races that I ended up not enjoying just because I thought they were the "best" or thats what my guild needed at the moment. I always play dwarves, and put off for so long making what I really wanted a dwarf monk because people kept telling me its a waste, or youll be **** at high levels. I have to say, since finally making mine I trully have found a character I enjoy and wish I had done so from the start. I even spent many hours selling my old armor and drops on my merchant to afford good agi gear for the little guy. And best part I look forward to logging in now, so I can agree with you that some races are started better in some stats, but I also wish I never looked at that starting stat info or listened to the "best" race for this class type threads. It really is about playing what you wish..min/max if you want or play an oddball race too, the gear you can find in this game can maximize your character to its limit. However, Id totally agree if all I could find is +1 to 3 agi at the highest, but having even a few pieces with +6 to +10 agi isnt unheard of even in the teens. To each their own..may you min/max with the best of em, for me Im going to enjoy my dwarven monk, just wish he'd leave the ale alone I would like to level again soon.
By all means... don't pick a race you are not fond of or detest... then the game won't be as fun But - he wasn't asking what he should choose... simply what the difference between them were - so the assumption was he liked the both and was having a hard time deciding. Anyway - the difference between almost any race at higher levels is minimal. I do think there IS a difference, but not enough to cause you to play a race you don't like to start with.
Sheeesh... What's up with the dwarves? Dwarf here too..... :smileywink: My girlfriend plays a warden. My daily agi is 103 at 24 and 111 when I use the specials. We tear through some stuff.
I beleave stats do matter but i also value Strength ( mana ) agaility ( avoidance ) and stamana ( Health ) all as equil in importance. Haveing said that if you ad up the sum of starting STR AGL and STA from your two choices you will find that you are better off as a kat. At the same time, there is nothing you can not over come with wise choices later in the game so ultimatly it matters very little. I am a barbarian If i had it to do over again i think i would have been a troll and defected to qeynos. Bottom line? Cats sound like they are yowling in heat every time they take a hit and i just couldnt deal with that and Woodelves ..... dude ....naw ..... naw Philipmoris -BiG ToBaCcO-
The way I approach it is that there are several stats that are important for monks. The main ones, imho, being AGI, STR, and STA. I feel that for tanking, AGI and STA are most important. For DPS, I feel that STR is most important. Personally, I try to keep something of a balance to my character and not try to overload any particular stat because I could be called upon to fill the either the tanking or dps role at any given time. My take on the whole gear issue is that you have choices in gear that will easily make up for any racial differences. Many times, there are items in game with similar stats with minor variation. I am sure you have seen options in gear in the game like this. For instance, there might be rings that have these stats (this is made up btw): Ring A has +10 AGI, +5 STR, +3 STA. Ring B has +10 STR, +5 STA, +3 AGI. Ring C has +10 STA, +5 AGI, +3 STR. All three rings are available to you. In the same way asking what race is best, asking what ring is best is not a very good question outside the context of your character. Do you want more AGI because you can't pick AGI racial traits and you want to get hit less? Do you want more STR because your race is weaker and you find yourself always running out of power or not hitting hard enough? Whatever your choice may be, it is very dependent on your overall character and can't really be said to be best for everyone. The point is that everyone has options and every deficiency in one area can be made up by equipment. Should you choose a race with a high starting AGI, unless you make your choices to ONLY maximize AGI forever, your racial choice will, over time, matter less and less because your gear choices will tend to eliminate any deficiencies and boost stats you want to focus on as well.
I went Wood elf... no not because of the extra starting Agility, simply because Lupinin v.1 in EQ1 was a woodelf. Granted he was a druid but still... I may not hit as hard as a Kerra, but when the parses come out (gotta love combatstats.com) an equal level Kerra monk (26 for those curious) does between 1-5% more damage then me. When you are talking mobs with 1000+ hits thats one hit. One swing of auto attack. It really makes no difference which race you choose. If I were to do it over again, I'd have played a ratonga and betrayed though... their jumping sounds make me laugh every damned time I hear it.
