Why is the Monk so disproportionally difficult to play in comparison to other DPS?

What does the Monk get in return for such a difference in difficulty?

As far as I am aware, the Monk isn't the best DPS and as far as melee DPS go, most people seem to favour Dragoons.

Also, can someone explain to me why there isn't an ability, say on a 60s CD, that gives max Grease Lightning stacks. It's like having the setup of a DoT class that takes 16s to cast all his DoTs.

Perfect Balance helps you get the 3 stacks quick at the start and if you accidently lose them.

I do wish they would up the time of greased lightnign just a little though. Dodging a single aoe really hampers you if it is at a bad time for your greased lightning upkeep!

The main reasons I ended up choosing DRG over MNK are:

1) Ramp-up time. It takes somewhere around 20 seconds to reach GL3(give or take, depending on base skill speed), and the process has to be repeated every time fight mechanics cause it to drop. This is just too clunky for my taste. I don't mind a little ramp-up time, but on some fights you end up spending half your time getting GL3 back. DRG's short-term buff does not stack, and is therefore easy to maintain.

2) Mobility. Fist of wind isn't enough of a speed boost to get you to adds or back to the boss much faster than you would normally. And Shoulder Tackle's CD plus required minimum distance makes it not as reliable as it could be. It's a great ability, just not a viable means of getting around on movement-intensive fights. DRG gets multiple jumps all on different CD timers, plus a ranged attack(which, granted, is pretty weak and very expensive to use, but in a pinch at least it lets us get in a little damage).

I like MNK, and can appreciate a class being harder to play, but it feels like the implementation just fell short.

@Vies

1) Perfect balance (Might be perfect form been off my monk a bit now) lets you execute without being in any form. You can pop this and get 3x snap punch and a demolish in before it drops. perfect as an opener as you do 3 decent hits, DoT and get GL3 up. You can also use it if you accidently drop GL during combat.

2) TBH there is a point in here but it's not mobility for getting to adds. Shoulder barge (tackle) is great for that. You can regularly beat other dps melee to a mob add or after an aoe avoid. This helps you quickly get back into a GL3 upkeep rotation before other people are actually attacking.

Apart from fists of fire (Active 99% of the time) the otehr 2 are fairly lacklustre. The only time I'd take fists of earth is if the fight mechanics included un avoidable aoe damage. Even then a lot of people just dont bother and stay in FoF. And fists of wind is almost pointless as higher deepz is always preferable to being able to move fast.

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Originally Posted by Terabyt3

@Vies

1) Perfect balance (Might be perfect form been off my monk a bit now) lets you execute without being in any form. You can pop this and get 3x snap punch and a demolish in before it drops. perfect as an opener as you do 3 decent hits, DoT and get GL3 up. You can also use it if you accidently drop GL during combat.

2) TBH there is a point in here but it's not mobility for getting to adds. Shoulder barge (tackle) is great for that. You can regularly beat other dps melee to a mob add or after an aoe avoid. This helps you quickly get back into a GL3 upkeep rotation before other people are actually attacking.

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1) Perfect Balance has a long cooldown so it's not very useful for maintaining GL stacks on movement-heavy fights. You either get a quick opening or a free refresh in the middle of the fight, but otherwise it leaves a lot to be desired. Sometimes it feels like PB is better saved for when you already have three stacks of GL so you can unload a barrage of Snap Punches.

2) Shoulder Tackle's long CD and minimum range drastically reduce its effectiveness as a mobility tool. Being tied to a Stun also prevents you from using it in a lot of cases so you don't cause diminishing returns on the boss.

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Originally Posted by Garnatian

What does the Monk get in return for such a difference in difficulty?

As far as I am aware, the Monk isn't the best DPS and as far as melee DPS go, most people seem to favour Dragoons.

Also, can someone explain to me why there isn't an ability, say on a 60s CD, that gives max Grease Lightning stacks. It's like having the setup of a DoT class that takes 16s to cast all his DoTs.

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If you mean peopel prefering DRG over MNK for raids, its because the piercing debuff DRGs apply also helps Bards. Blunt debuff only helps MNK.

Some people just like a harder class to play, and there is the monk. I personally love monk, I find it hard to play anything else besides it. It's a challenging class that requires skill to play, and even if you don't do the highest DPS, you have survivablility and utility as well. The class is fine. If anything it only needs a few quality of life changes, but nothing drastic.

I honestly feel they should just up the duration on twin snakes and greased lightning, to say 15-20 seconds.

I forgot about PB when I last posted, but I have pretty much the same opinion as ElHeggunte on it.

I had a few thoughts on possible monk improvements. Not to turn this into a 'fix monk' topic, but I want to at least get these down while they're fresh in my mind.

1) Instead of making GL stack, have the traits offer straight boosts.

2) Remove the stun on shoulder tackle, lower/remove the minimum distance, and lower the cooldown.

3) Change arm of the destroyer from PBAoE to a ranged line attack(similar to LNC's non-combo AoE skill).

4) Maybe not necessary if the last two thoughts are considered, but a boost to fist of wind's move speed buff would make life a bit easier.

Unless I'm not considering a factor or two, these would make MNK more desireable to groups while having minimal impact on their combat style.

Also, the mobile ver. of these forums is a PITA.