How should Monk 4.0 have been done?

[Shurrikhan]

This ! I main monk since 2.1 and the rotation hasn't changed a bit since then, we only got a few QoL tools in Heavensward (which were quite nice) and this is going to be the same again in 4.0 with even less things to do (bye ToD, bye Fracture, hello useless buffs) and buffs that go against the monk meta.

I don't want to spend 2 more years doing the same rotation over and over again.

Okay, a similar question here, because this is another point where we seem to face discrepency based on how much one theorycrafts, etc. My rotation changes slightly about every .04s GCD. (I tend to prefer play at 1.96 or 1.88 GCD because of its rotational options.) When Form Shift was added my rotation became more consistent, but once Meditation was added, too, there became multiple rotations possible to be least affected by being forced out of melee range. To me, this is fairly satisfying, as I find myself adapting more, and to greater effect, than on any other job.

But, clearly that's not the case for everyone. Just as some people by consider the A, B, A, B rotation of a Heavensward DRG as "basically the same" as the A, B, B, rotation of a 2.x DRG, I've heard from many that Heavensward, despite changing Demolish's duration and allowing greater control over Forms during downtime, didn't really affect rotations, providing instead only functionality.

So, at what point would rotation start to feel different? Does the internal balance (how much x skilled is prioritized over all or most others, even if it means clipping duration or wasting potential direct potency) need to change? Does the order need to change? Does it need outright new skills? And if the last, is this for the aesthetic or for new effects?

Though it would require universal changes, maybe something that could be done would be to make Dragon Kick and Twin Snakes more viable even when already active? For instance, if the blunt potency modifier were stackable to some extent, or took additional advantage of itself as to eventually create a nuke skill? Though that would make optimal gameplay less blatantly obvious, it might have a side-effect of reducing skill gap to extent between less skilled and average players, while retaining the same total between those and skilled players.

Or, what about the animations for certain skills changing conditionally? At that point you have the aesthetic varying more than presently. Likely this would be tied to additional effects, either within the skill or attached more broadly to the Monk (e.g. through Fist stances). Would that help?

Or—last idea I can throw out from the top of my head—instead of GL applying on every Coeurl, it instead applies with every completion of all 3 Forms. Lockout is removed; you now have access to all 9 weaponskills at all time, but their "Momentum" (a softer combo mechanic) is retained only when using a new form each GCD and reaching a given form again, after cycling through all others, as quickly as possible. At this point you can open in any Form, thereafter cycle in any order, and even occasionally break from said order (albeit at potency/duration loss), allowing you more rotational variance. The only issue here, were ToD and Fracture kept, would be that they would cost a tiny bit of Momentum as you'd be returning to the Forms of a given cycle per 4 GCDs, up from 3. Their potencies (as might Snap Punch's) would have to be increased slightly to compensate.

2) sprint will have no tp usage anymore, means we will have more freedom to use sprint without [trading Fists of Fire for Fists of Wind temporarily]

Sprint has been my main worry, too, about Fists of Wind in SB. As I've never needed Fists of Wind more often than Sprint's duration per its cooldown, it will be replaced. I'm a little sad. And that's coming from someone who would save Invigorate for Sprint in T9 originally because no one would bait the Jumps to melee and we were right on the cusp of pushing phase. ...I still used it when farming Void Ark for Gobdip tokens in order to get more hits on PlantDog, too, giving myself a quarter second spare to hide from the blast and pop back out the other end just barely with enough time to 5-Chakra. #MonkGimmicks

As such, it almost certainly needs to be something else. The question is what. Should it simply cause all potency dealt to reduce the cooldown on Shoulder Tackle by a small amount (e.g. .005 seconds per potency dealt), so that it is at least providing a different form of mobility than Sprint? Should we make it something that takes advantage of Sprint, too, such as by building bonus potency onto the next strike during movement speed? Should we blend the two and have it increase melee range and allow for some amount of blink-strike? Or maybe even have it turn every skill into a minor linear AoE?

If you look carefully in all these skills we have, in reality, 6 useful skills and 3 that have... a really really situational or even a questionable use.

I feel like this is a concern with every class and job. Sadly, in many cases the situational skills remain unimproved even while output-affecting cooldowns and DoTs have been flattened or removed.

I don't see AoE or status effect weaponskills as being made any more useful in ST rotation short of SE adds new undermechanics. For instance, for Rockbreaker to be useful in ST despite having an inferior base potency, it must have some unique effect. Let's say every enemy has a specific Armor amount at the head of their health, e.g. making up some 10% of their HP. While that Armor is up, they take reduced damage. This mitigation is reduced as the armor points (AP, as compared to HP) are reduced, whether linearly or exponentially or by whatever other formula. However, when you've destroyed said Armor, you're given some additional opportunities. For instance, certain attacks may explode the shredded armor outward for added AoE damage (e.g. One-Ilm Strike, Clean Shot, Empyreal Arrow, Sonic Thrust), or better clear away the damaged Armor away to remove its mitigation entirely (Rockbreaker, Full Thrust, Aeolean Edge). At that point you'd at least have *some* reason to use Rockbreaker in AoE.

One-Ilm Punch is at the same time simpler and more difficult to make viable; it depends simply on how often SE is willing to include its mechanic on the mobs we fight. If they were more frequently given buffs worth removing, it'd be powerful, possibly even overpowered, but left as is, its use exists only in 2-3 PvE fights in the whole game, and none of them serious content. I suspect the unwillingness to include it lies in SE's being more willing to leave one skill dead than to overpower a job through that skill, which means they haven't yet come up with a formula by which to balance it. Now, that's not to say that they could come up with the formula in a day, apply it, attach buffs to mobs, and we're good to go; this would likely require cataloging and categorizing every buff in the game for its relative value, and then weighing that against the relative potency of One-Ilm Strike. In other words, at DK+Twin+GL3, One-Ilm Strike would deal 180 potency of buff removal, first targeting the buff automatically considered most important, and any remainder of that buff chaining on to the second buff and so forth, or possibly detonating for direct damage after having removed every buff present.