Controversioal Changes to Monk

[dezzmont]

This is actually a good point imo and I think that maybe we could get a big hitter that you build up to through landing positionals.
So you build up to it with positionals instead of crits.

Or just do it for Forbidden Chakra, it'd make it less RNG too.

One of the number one things I hear when a new player takes up monk among my friend group is "I don't feel like I am doing any damage" despite how Monk has pretty extreme potencies. One of the things I pitched to a friend who decided to quit the Monk class when they realized it was fun enough but just didn't 'feel good', that they ended up liking a lot, was just making every positional hit offer Chakra, and making every attack that lands on a target with the DOT while you have your buff up have a slightly better animation.

This would fix a lot of the 'feedback' problems with Monk, which are pretty severe, and actually give you something to work towards in your rotation, which was literally the only thing GL offered, even if it did so fairly poorly. That wouldn't fix all of Monk's problems (it probably needs like... an entirely new mechanic layered on top of what it has now that so much room has been cleared up in its abilities in terms of GL management), but it would certainly do a LOT to make the job better, because now that mental effort to hit those positional abilities and maintain uptime to keep both buffs up correctly rewards you with some flair. More mechanical stuff is needed (Monk definitely feels like a job missing an entire second set of mechanics, it feels very much like Blackmage pre-Enochian now) but I don't think the job will ever be fixed until there is something more visible than potency on the line for doing well with it.

Of course, as IruruCece said, there is a question of if positional abilities are something they want to emphasize, because much like GL they emphasize a lot about fight design and they were always sorta.... weird to have as part of Monk's identity. I can kiiiiiiiiinda see the connection to the idea of a martial artist flipping around, but if I were to name a melee DPS job that should actually care the LEAST about positionals on a thematic level, it would be the martial artist who's lore is literally that they are trained as head to head fighters. Between that and the fact that, ironically, Monk has the least impactful positional abilities (Just sitting behind a target only removes about 5% of your potency, which while not nothing doesn't matter compared to say... losing out on Kenki in terms of noticeability) I wouldn't hold my breath for that becoming Monk's identity.

Which is sort of the problem, a lot of the things Monk rests its hat on aren't actually that interesting or healthy as identities. Which is why I think they are going to get the MCH treatment of 'This is actually just an entirely new job now.'