I have both tank classes geared, but I've been playing Monk 90% of the time, for years now. So the old "roll this" answer doesn't work for me.
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I feel haymaker is somewhat intended to give a little dps boost from the front when soloing, its just not very good unfortunately.
Keep in mind that the number of skills is limited and i am sure most monks would rather have new skills that benefit them for playing in a group rather than "wasting" three slots for a front combo.
No.
/10chars
They don't have to add any new skills for a front combo, just make a front combo through the skills we already have.
Example:
Bootshine (back) 150 potency with Critical chance > Truestrike (back) 190 potency > Snap Punch (flank) 180 potency
Bootshine - If used in front of a mob lower chance of critical then from behind
Truestrike - If used in front of a mob 170 potency
SnapPunch - If used in front of a mob 160 potency
So the incentive to attack the "regular way" is still there, you'll have more damage by attacking from the back and sides, so that will keep anyone from wanting to attack from the front, but at the same time make it an option for situational purposes.
I actually agree with op. Having just gotten around to leveling mine past 30, it's really sad what poor DPS this class puts out during leaves or soloing fates. It's obviously not of grave importance , but allowing its rear attack bonuses to apply from the front as well wouldn't hurt anyone either.
I've been tanking as MNK way too often lately (ST or tank that leaves instances to name a few) and as much as some possible frontal combo could be pleasant, I usually have no problem holding aggro and still making 'decent' damages. I agree it doesn't make much sense to become less powerful when punching a mob in the face (unless punches are really more powerful when hitting someone in the butt) but standing in the front will 4ever be a Tank job (when they do it right that is), and I don't think we're having any problems with soloing mobs so I don't think we need any of those so far.
(and i don't see how people can say this community is amazing when i see how people reply on forums. damn.)
I'm not really sure how (or why) they should go about fixing this. I personally like the way the MNK's moveset is designed. I main MNK, though I tend to play BLM as much or more. Basically since they started with the beast tribe quests I started leveling BLM to do those because MNK is so ineffective on solo content. With BLM everything dies in 1-2 hits. Sometimes 3 I suppose. MNK loses something like 35% of their DPS capability in solo content, but solo content is so easy that thet's not very much of a problem. It just makes MNK feel tedious and drawn out when soloing.
The problem with having something other than Ninja's gimmicky Sneak Attack that deals more damage in the front is confusion. It confuses people who might think they are suppose to attack from the front, only to be cleaved for their trouble.
Giving Monk more damage while they're at the non-corresponding position, is a slippery slop of leeway which might result in a situation of not using correct positioning at all, because the damage is only marginally different.