A wordy observation of 6.X MNK

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Originally Posted by Valence

I mean I don't see what more you'd want at this point. I'm always for interesting things but I find this interesting on its own since it plays across multiple variables in an overlay of buffs/dots to refresh and correct Nadi combinations to output. It's already ten times more interesting than mudras. And than what a lot of jobs actually offer now that I think about it (aka just press GCD/OGCDs out of CD during burst for a lot of them)...

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Ideally... quite bit more, but more realistically, just... Blitz not necessarily requiring exactly 3 skills, and some further utility or situational value / further implications from certain Blitzes themselves (along with *maybe* some variations in their uptime cost).

Again, I think Blitz is an incredibly efficient design. It's really good, and 8-per-80s (via sets of 4) free-form actions it's situated around is the best take we've had on PB (better even than 5-per-60). They're better than mudras (I do not give a damn about splitting ST | AoE actions) especially due to the impact of the GCD flow on Solar/Lunar priority, and every third PB being truly freely ordered alongside the two fixed orders is chef's kiss, but --also like mudras or Ikishoten or Kaiten of old-- there's definitely room to do more with them, and to good effect. Given the option, then... I would.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Valence

I mean I don't see what more you'd want at this point. I'm always for interesting things but I find this interesting on its own since it plays across multiple variables in an overlay of buffs/dots to refresh and correct Nadi combinations to output. It's already ten times more interesting than mudras. And than what a lot of jobs actually offer now that I think about it (aka just press GCD/OGCDs out of CD during burst for a lot of them)...

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Some connection/relationship with Chakra, a more tangible effect on our rotation/skills outside of burst, finding a way to incorporate lower level Blitz into the rotation somehow, etc. There's plenty that can be done with the mechanic for future changes.

To make it clear, I was talking about the Blitz sequences, no chakra. Chakra could probably benefit from some tuning.

I also don't doubt that blitz with this current base can allow for a lot of things to built upon. I was just befuddled by the comment saying that it's a GCD after 3 GCDs in sequence... I mean, that's the whole basis of any rotation, it's GCDs followed by GCDs... What matters is how they interact with each other, and what I mentioned in my previous post is why I think Blitz is a decently intricate and complex mechanic already. I don't really see what allowing for shorter blitz sequences would bring more, but I'm totally open to interesting things. Would that behave like 1 mudra, 2 mudra and 3 mudra ninjutsu in spirit with more nadi combinations? I could see it being a thing, which they'd need to balance with the amount of other things overlaid/intertwined with it (buffs/debuffs), which Ninja doesnt have to deal with when it comes to more frequent and combination heavy ninjutsus.

Then again, I do believe the main problem with MNK currently is definitely not Blitzes and not even Chakra. The main problem of the job is that they don't know what to do with the non damage form variants, aka Dragon Kick, Twin Snakes and Demolish. Those are specifically there because they need an alternate version for each form, else the whole core combo of the job crumbles (what point would there be to have a freeform cycle where you can choose between 2 skills at every step, if there isn't 2 choices in the first place?). Yet we have seen what happens when DK is badly tuned versus True Strike and Snap Punch (DK rotations), demolish is okay I guess, it's a fast dot to refresh which we don't have much anywhere else, but twin snakes? It just feels it's there because they don't know what else to do with that skill, but on the other hand it's one of the two constraints that make Blitz execution/rotation extremely demanding. And then again, True Strike and Snap Punch? They are very bland and bring nothing to the job, but I guess that could be said for DRG damage combo as well, which they have started replacing skills with buffs like Raiden (kinda similar in spirit to bootshine/leaden, just better on the UI). Perhaps there is things to be done there idk, but I do feel that the 6 core actions are kind of in a mess right now in terms of design. And also very much repulsive to a lot of newcomers to the job, ngl, especially disciplined fists. And they'd also need to make much clearer the concept of stanceless vs Opo stance, because it's far from obvious right now and most newcomers don't even understand the subtlety behind it. I like it because it brings a lot of depth to the core cycles of the job, but it's extremely obscure to grasp for a new player as well.

tl;dr I do feel that it's not 6.x MNK that is problematic, it's the 2.x MNK that is.

I mean, suggestions for dealing with the problems affecting the 2.x part of the kit have been given frequently since EW release and are themselves quite simple: shift some DK and Twin potency to True Strike (and perhaps a tiny bit to SP). Done.

As for Forms... here's an old idea for when Greased Lightning was first headed for the headsman's block in ShB:

• As above, 40-60 potency siphoned from Dragon Kick and Twin Snakes, each, with that potency per minute given instead to True Strike, Demolish (direct damage), and Snap Punch. (Mostly to True Strike.)
  
  
• You no longer need to be in a particular stance in order to use a particular skill. Form Shift pruned.
  
  
• New trait: Flowing Fists - Your weaponskills associated with a form increase the initial damage of weaponskills associated with any other form by 10%. You may hold up to two such bonuses at a time.
  
  ※ "Formless" weaponskills are always fully empowered and empower all other forms.
  
  You could also just write this as an additional effect beneath each weaponskill, e.g., "Flow: Opo-opo - Increases the direct damage of Raptor and Coeurl skills by 10%. Instances of flow stack, but only two instances of Flow can be active at a time."
  
  
• Small Job UI rework making use of the forms input under Perfect Balance in order to help players keep track of what Form they're on / should use next.

Three sets of options: Triangular or Linear; Used or Unused; "Show on Status Bar: On|Off". "Triangular" puts the form least recently used takes the upper-central position, highlighting which Form to use next, while "Linear" just goes from left to right. "Used" notes which Forms you've already used (such that you should use whichever form isn't highlighted/saturated, while "Unused" notes which Forms will benefit. The player can choose to show Flow: Opo-opo, Flow: Raptor, Flow: Coeurl, and Flow: Formless on the status bar or not. The default is Triangular, Unused, Off. A new rune has been added for Formless (from Perfect Balance).

During Perfect Balance, these runes are purged to show only progress towards Blitz. Upon completing Blitz, this gauge element will return to its normal setup, with two Formless runes shown if using the "Used/Show Buffs" option or all three Forms' runes highlighted if using the "Unused/Show Buffed" option, both of course meaning that your next skill will be fully empowered.

Effects/Implications: Rather than needing to hit Formshift to open with whatever you like, you can just... open with whatever you like. Given the slight shift in power away from DK and Twin's potencies, the threat of losing the 20% direct damage bonus is sufficient to keep Monk rotating as before without needing to rely on the clunk of Form Shift.

This does, yes, allow for Monk to perform some aspects of optimal drift without relying on Perfect Balance, but almost only at a net loss if doing so when not completing combat within 2 GCDs. If all 6 skills again had positionals, then it may also see some slight additional uses cases in salvaging situations wherein one would otherwise be forced to clip a Demolish or Twin early or to miss a positional (by being truly stuck on the rear or flank and having failed to adjust GCD sync to this prior), but that seems more a favorable bonus to depth than a problem. For the most part, this just means that we'd have the same flow as now, but without the counterintuitiveness of Opo-opo skills maybe/maybe-not being empowered and Opo-opo (but not really Opo-opo) skills being available at all times atop all else (including actual Opo-opo). So, same as now, but more polished / no counterintuitive clunk.

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Likely Questions:
1. Why have it affect only Forms' direct/initial damage instead of Forms' damage altogether?
>> To leave the possibility of opening with Demolish or Twin-Demolish, if that would be optimal for the given oddball situation. The chances of it being abused for DoT-cleave seems pretty low, but if that becomes a concern, then we can drop that bit of added flexibility by having Flowing Fists affect Demolish's DoT damage too (and, of course, balancing Demo around that).

2. How could this be phrased more simply?
>> Each form buffs the other two as to force the usual trio rotation of Forms (from any starting point) but now in any order, without needing Form Shift.