Monk rework suggestion.

[Shurrikhan]

1. They have had multiple chances to make the Fist Stances "powerful, unique tools." and they've never done anything with them beyond more of the same.

Yes, and admittedly, having multiple chances means nothing if they've never used a single one of them. But completely wasting something's potential and something having no potential are two very different things.

"But if they continue to be what they've always been" is not a new threat; it's the status quo. So why are you using it as a strike against what they can be?

To be honest, though, I wouldn't take issue with that, either, if not for all the reductions you'd requested elsewhere, effectively removing TK, SSS, and what makes Brotherhood feel like what it makes itself out to be. If you're going to effectively strip those tools of control away from us, rather than improving upon them, then every remaining tool matters all the more.

2. This change is largely about fixing Monk's currently terrible leveling process. Chakra right now is currently similar to what Heat was on Machinist in Stormblood. You have a gauge, but until deep Meditation you can't really engage with it. I might even go further and suggest that Deep Meditation 1 should be moved to level 54 when you get the Forbidden Chakra and Meditation so it always has a use in combat. The alterations I propose for Tornado Kick and Enlightenment in this manner gives Monks gauge an AOE use at lower levels, where it currently can only use it for Single Target attacks. This was a problem when doing Stormblood content and it still is. It also solves the problem of Tornado Kick being the noose around the jobs neck by preventing the devs from giving the job halfway decent recovery. Returning Howling Fist at low levels again, provides the job with something additional for lower levels where the job is almost prohibitively sparse in how you engage with it.

Then by all means, let's move Deep Meditation to earlier and/or fix Meditation. But that doesn't require Tornado Kick to be effectively removed from the game as anything but an animation. I'd rather the devs work around that "noose" than for Monks to have absolutely no way to engage with their core mechanic, GL. It should be a mechanic, not just a once-per-instance ramp-up punishment that you can very rarely squeeze a bit of extra potency out of by means of two otherwise unused buttons and at least 10 seconds of standing still. Nor would it be a problem for Monk to have no AoE spender if its AoEs just each had a chance per hit, with whatever taper balances it out, to proc Deep Meditation.

5. Brotherhood already is TFC/Enlightenment spam. The manner in which it interplays with the party is entirely to the jobs detriment in most content. My proposed just makes Monk's Riddle of Fire's consistent in all content including 4-mans and Solo-duties rather than having them be arbitrarily weaker outside of 8-man content due to a lack of bodies. A flaw of the skill is how it is less functional in certain compositions, and included in the umbrella of that happens to be all content where you aren't in an 8-man party. Cutting out the middle man and giving you a consistent Chakra skills solves that.

We could say the same of every rDPS buff. Why not cut the middle man out of Battle Voice and Battle Litany and just have it do direct potency instead? At the very least, make THAT your Anatman (since it's, in essence, passively generating Chakra) and don't pretend it's a raid-buff in any way. But then let's call it what it is: Brotherhood removed and replaced with a generic gauge generation ability. Shoha for SSS, super-Ikishouten for Brotherhood.

6. They already messed up Monks rotational loop by implementing a 5% additional haste and making the Leaden Fist buff stem from Dragon Kick without regarding how that would actually affect things on a broader scale. The double True Strike rotation exists entirely because they didn't consider this. Re-extending Demolish to 21 seconds and having Six Sided Star have a rotational use would make it more satisfying to use as a skill and would return some of the flow of Monk it originally possessed that's been lost in the action trimming of the last few expansions.

Double true strike rotation has always existed at high Skill Speeds, both under the 18s Demolish and the 21s Demolish. Unless oGCDs are coming up and most be perfectly synced, it's always been better to lose DK onto DK and Twin onto Twin for 29 potency or 35-37 lost (depending on AA speed) in exchange for the extra 50-60 potency on True (depending on which expansion's Twin Snakes you're looking at).

It just hasn't always been a perfectly consistently loop; Stormblood, following the removal of ToD/Fracture, is the first time it's been woven consistently (outside of RoF, which would then rotate like no-Frac ARR mid-high SkS), and only at especially high Skill Speeds. And that's exactly what I'd want to see from SSS: alterable rotations. That way, we aren't stuck with something clunky (no way to perfectly meet the Demolish timer) between having gained GL4 and SSS. Maybe those rotational strings have a 1:1 ratio, maybe a 2:1 or 3:1. Maybe its meant primarily to align PB and RoF to your greatest potency over duration, similar to "fill"/"rush" TG alignment on SAM. Whatever. But it should be useful without feeling terrible not to have.

7. Unless the button that exists to freeze GL while allowing you to move has a 15 second cooldown, then Monk will forever be hamstrung compared to the other DPS by boss jumps, especially now that Greased Lightning 4 has caused the loss of Greased Lightning to become even more painful to recover from than before. Perfect Balance can never have a shorter cooldown as long as Leaden Fist or Tornado Kick as they are now exist as far as the devs concerned, as they don't want it to have the value it does as a DPS cooldown.

Then fix the mechanic rather than throwing out any and all tools it invalidates. As with Forms, we know the ARR version of the fundamental mechanic is pretty damn awful. So why, apart from the extended duration and the ability to completely invalidate it, is it still fundamentally the same as it was then? Let's fix the core, then decide what needs to go.

[SpeckledBurd]

Yes, and admittedly, having multiple chances means nothing if they've never used a single one of them. But completely wasting something's potential and something having no potential are two very different things.

"But if they continue to be what they've always been" is not a new threat; it's the status quo. So why are you using it as a strike against what they can be?

To be honest, though, I wouldn't take issue with that, either, if not for all the reductions you'd requested elsewhere, effectively removing TK, SSS, and what makes Brotherhood feel like what it makes itself out to be. If you're going to effectively strip those tools of control away from us, rather than improving upon them, then every remaining tool matters all the more.

They are wasting the jobs potential every expansion by existing. Instead of getting new traits that could change or improve gameplay, we're getting more traits for these Fist Stance's that don't change the underlying problems that exist with their design and take up slots that could tie into other aspects of the jobs gameplay. It doesn't matter if they have potential to be something, not only are they not changing them in such a way that actually does anything with their potential, they're detracting from the growth of the job by continually receiving traits that do nothing.

Then by all means, let's move Deep Meditation to earlier and/or fix Meditation. But that doesn't require Tornado Kick to be effectively removed from the game as anything but an animation. I'd rather the devs work around that "noose" than for Monks to have absolutely no way to engage with their core mechanic, GL. It should be a mechanic, not just a once-per-instance ramp-up punishment that you can very rarely squeeze a bit of extra potency out of by means of two otherwise unused buttons and at least 10 seconds of standing still. Nor would it be a problem for Monk to have no AoE spender if its AoEs just each had a chance per hit, with whatever taper balances it out, to proc Deep Meditation.

The core mechanic is a buff that is meant to be upkept, not a resource to be spent. When it could be used effectively as a resource to be spent, the most charitably you could say the reception was was Divisive. And since it is a buff to be upkept, then the way we engage with that should reflect that. Reward us for upkeeping it properly and refreshing it rather than keeping a skill around that currently is at total odds with that design.

Having no means to interact with your gauge in an AOE scenario is absolutely a problem, especially if it's getting more procs from Deep Meditation. Using not having an AOE option for something in an AOE situation is the reason so many jobs had their AOE combos reworked, because it's inherently less effective to be using a Single Target option in that situation. Being able to use more of a Single Target skill in an AOE situation helps nothing.

We could say the same of every rDPS buff. Why not cut the middle man out of Battle Voice and Battle Litany and just have it do direct potency instead? At the very least, make THAT your Anatman (since it's, in essence, passively generating Chakra) and don't pretend it's a raid-buff in any way. But then let's call it what it is: Brotherhood removed and replaced with a generic gauge generation ability. Shoha for SSS, super-Ikishouten for Brotherhood.

That doesn't address my point at all and none of those skills are equivalent. Battle Litany, Battle Voice, or Trick Attack don't directly impact the play of the jobs they're on, they just benefit the party. Monk is different in a way that negatively influences how the job plays. By its design, Brotherhood's design renders Monk's personal less engaging in 4-Man content, Solo instances, or if there's too many casters around. Just making it proc off of casters doesn't make the skill not feel terrible when there's no players there for it to proc off.

Then fix the mechanic rather than throwing out any and all tools it invalidates. As with Forms, we know the ARR version of the fundamental mechanic is pretty damn awful. So why, apart from the extended duration and the ability to completely invalidate it, is it still fundamentally the same as it was then? Let's fix the core, then decide what needs to go.

The mechanic has been fixed, Monk has always suffered disproportionate loss if the boss jumps. The Formshift change lets Monk not experience that loss, and other jobs exist on the same ground now that they have mechanics that can punish them for those jumps if they don't upkeep their buffs with similarly powerful buffs.

The problem is now that there's a bunch of tools that we don't need and arguably didn't need in the first place because they didn't solve those problems effectively.