5.0 MNK Problems

[Irisdina_Wiloh]

Incoming wall of text.

I've had some more time now to play Monk and run through the expert dungeons a few times as well as doing content at varying levels. I apologise for the long wall of text but I want to cover everything that matters to me as a Monk player and try to make it clear what the problems are.
I cannot stress how hard it is now to maintain GL in dungeons and to an extent, 24 man content. I'm lucky if I can SSS the final mob of a trash pack and make it to the next without losing GL or being forced to ST in ahead of the tank to hit the mob and refresh GL. I'm becoming more impatient and I’m constantly looking at my GL timer through dungeons because having to change back to FoF, build back up to GL3 and then change back to FoW before getting GL4 is not fun. I put up with it because I don't want to be the rude DPS player running off constantly pulling more but it I have to say, some of these dungeons feel like SE managed to spread the trash out just enough that you cannot maintain GL to the next pack even if you SSS'd the final mob, sprinted and ST'd in to the next pack with your snap punch, demolish or rockbreaker primed.

Content lower than 78 feels ok, but only ok. Whereas before if I lost GL midfight in a 24 man raid because of a boss mechanic making them untargetable, I didn't mind, I could just use PB/Wind tackle to get it all back quickly and carry on. Now, without Anatman all I can do is stand there in total misery watching as my GL timer runs out and I can do nothing about it, knowing I have next to no recovery. PB is still on CD because of my opener, or from the last time I had to recover my stacks. When you lose access to RoF and Brotherhood, you have no burst, except I suppose PB. I like the leaden fist buff as it keeps me more active than how DK worked previously, but it also feels even worse when the bosses start spinning around or mechanics cause it to be impossible to hit positionals. These mechanics also seem to be fairly frequent in SHB content meaning you burn through your True North cooldowns constantly and even then there's times where you are still stuck with losing many positionals. The change to Riddle of Earth is better, however, having to get hit on purpose to keep our stacks running is a terrible mechanic. I would be happy if either Anatman got moved to be a lower level skill or we returned to PB being 60s.

Anatman is a good skill and I’ve grown to like it quickly. However, I think it needs to be changed to be an instant tick, not waiting on a server tick. It also needs to work the same outside of combat as it does inside combat, in that it refreshes your timer and generates stacks (although I wouldn't mind if it didn't generate stacks). If you were able to use Anatman between pulls for a guaranteed instant tick, I think it would go a long way to alleviating that feeling of trying to rush to the next pack, or the boss. There is no way SE could have implemented this skill and foreseen the Anatman rotation. I’ve not gotten around to trying it but it seems completely against how you’re meant to play a game.

Six Sided Star is cool, I like the idea behind it and when you're actually able to use it, it feels pretty satisfying to watch and hear. But, it needs to be changed. It needs to be an OGCD, because with it being a GCD, it can be next to impossible to time it correctly, at least with it being OGCD you'd stand a greater chance of getting the timing right and being able to use it more easily with TK. Obviously this will affect the way the GCD cooldown effect will work but as it stands, this skills is hard to use as unless you're 100% sure that you will not lose any GCDs from using it, it's a gamble at best and only really used when moving between trash packs to try and keep GL running, with maybe the odd usage during a fight when you have to disengage and would risk losing GL on returning.

Riddle of fire - In SB, I liked this skill a lot and actually didn't mind the slowdown as it felt like it let me weave more easily. Now with SHB, you feel the slowdown of RoF more than ever before when at GL4. It's almost unbearable at times seeing your 1.9s~ GCD shoot back up to 2.37s~. Not only does it feel slow, it actually impacts me personally with the flow. I find myself pressing GCDs too early and then wondering why demolish hasn't reapplied, why my leaden fist buff is still active etc, because the GCD is just sat there waiting to be pressed because the slowdown caused me to press it early. I am not sure how you would rebalance RoF to remove the slowdown effect as it would probably cause Monk dps to be too strong if you didn’t get the slowdown, but as it stands right now, it feels very detrimental to your rotation with GL4.

Perfect Balance being on a 2 minute CD now makes losing GL stacks the most punishing I’ve felt it been since I started playing Monk in SB. With no fast and efficient way to regain stacks due to this change and the removal of Wind tackle granting GL, most every bit of content excluding the majority of SHB content is extremely cruel to play as a Monk. When bosses jump away and you have absolutely no way to keep your stacks and PB is on cooldown, you have to start from nothing. It happens far too often and really drives home the feeling that Monk should not be played at anything lower than 78 where you have Anatman and a slightly improved Riddle of Earth to give you a chance of saving your stacks.

Monk is still fun, I will still play it, I will still raid on it and I still enjoy the challenge of Monk, especially now I can use Anatman during downtime to keep my stacks but also well timed uses midfight to refresh it when I have to disengage. With that said, I am slightly hurt that Yoshi P said he had the most fun reworking Monk for SHB and that they listen to what the Monk players want. Whilst I do not lament the loss of the TK rotation, I cannot understand where Monk is heading anymore. All these tools to keep GL, except they are clunky, way too situational or just level locked too high that lower content is a nightmare. TK is dead in the water and unless it's changed to be a 60s ogcd button that only works at max stacks but does not remove stacks, it will remain that way.

I can only hope we get some adjustments when Savage is released because as much as I love Monk, I almost want to just level up Samurai or Dragoon because they seem far happier with their changes and at least have a job identity, something Monk seems to have lost despite the inclusion of GL4.


TL;DR - Monk has regressed and is now painful to play in most content pre 80 and even then dungeons and some fights are not much fun due to changes to skills, clunkyness of new skills and overall fight design causing unavoidable downtime causing you to start from zero GL unless you have specific skills for keeping your stacks. The interaction of new skills with the Monk rotation are not interesting or fun and leave Monk feeling like an after thought that no one in SE knows how to play or balance.