The problem with Monk isn't positionals (opinion piece)

[Shurrikhan]

It's not a perfect rework as I haven't put much thought into it and just have it as a baseline suggestion on how I would like for MNK's systems to work.

Fair enough.

I could see returning the positional requirements on Dragon Kick/Bootshine and leaving off Twin Snakes and True Strike so as to reel in the amount of Blitz we accumulate to a more reasonable level, or even just having Bootshine/True Strike/Snap Punch being the positional skills for Chakra while Dragon Kick/Twin Snakes/Demolish remain as they are, minus the Demolish positional.

I think that much is a must. If you left MNK at only 2 positionals, then Blitz would be on a 30s CD and any missed positional would delay Blitz by 6 seconds, which would feel devastating macro-rotationally.

For our AoE rotation, there was a time when Rockbreaker had a positional

There was not. Not in ARR. Not in HW. Never. There was a time when True Strike's positional was miniscule (a 5% bonus crit chance), when Twin Snakes had only a 12 second duration, when Bootshine fell short of True Strike if one had even 35% crit chance under buffs, when Demolish's DoT didn't scale with Greased Lightning, when Impulse Drive was Monk's optimal filler attack (though limited to short fights due to its TP drain), when ToD wouldn't wake sleeping enemies, and when One-Ilm-Punch ruined Summoner's days by stealing every stack of their Aetherflow, but there was never a time when Rockbreaker, an AoE, had a positional.

As for SSS, I was just trying to make it useful really. It could be as simple as adding 1 Chakra if that is more balanced so long as it worked with the systems in some way.

This is where we're going to have to agree to disagree then. To me, the best thing about your SSS rework is actually its anti-synergy, since at least that stops it from being empty apm in a context that can't naturally turn that into something interesting (i.e., unlike when it was better to get an extra True Strike in and let Twin Snakes fall off just before DK unless you had oGCDs coming up or the 4.3 TK rotations), but I imagine most players would pop a brain-leak over it. In either case, I don't see how a button that simply offers a free Blitz per minute, especially to go alongside a button that just offers a free Blitz reward every other minute, would be superior to an SSS that's simply had its potency increased.

The overall goal is just to make MNK's toolkit work together towards something rather than just having a skill for the sake of having them.

To me, the rough suggestion for SSS and Celestial Rotation feel like the latter. I'd rather have situational skills than just "more of the same, for free, per x minutes". But again, that's just where our preferences diverge. I like having a more even distribution of obligatory button presses, little convolution (added steps that don't ultimately increase depth), and decisions to be made between competing paths of action.

To give a simple example, I preferred when Guren/Senei cost 50 gauge and Ikishoten was on half as long a cooldown so they, together, actually made the Kenki gauge an element worth being mindful of, as compared to the current version of Ikishoten's simply directly affording every Guren/Senei and unlocking a further skill (that takes up its own button despite being otherwise unusable) while Guren/Senei cost no more than the standard 25 Kenki of Shinten/Kyuten.

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EDIT: Ran out of posts:

You're right, it used to be a conal attack and I misremembered that as a positional cause I would always go to rear to make sure it hit everything.

Ahh, that actually makes a lot of sense. Yes, it did certainly take some positioning before, just not... target-relative positioning. Also, I miss that cone and its extra range. It was weirdly relevant back in T9 when GL was only 10s long, and the animation makes far less sense without it.

Technicality aside though, it could still work in relation to being the AoE Chakra accumulator or we could just leave Shadow of the Destroyer to do that, either or.

If you're thinking of bringing positionals back to DK and Bootshine, then I'd just slap into onto Opo-opo and Coeurl skills in general (though only on successful hit on AoEs or successful positional on STs, ofc). Prior to Form Shift, it'd feel like 2 GCD to ramp up to contributing to Blitz, then 2 GCDs contributing, then 1 GCD off for every 2 on, etc.

The feel of downtime (and, heck, in-combat Meditation) feel would still be super wonky, though, so long as Meditation recharges Chakra (and fully so, outside of combat) which in turn unlocks Blitz...