I'm just going to chime in that you honestly are better off punching someone from behind. Its safer for you, more lethal to them, and its not just the skull. The spine, kidneys, and knee's are all far more vulnerable when attacked from behind. And that's just striking blindly. Grapples and both joint locks and breaks are also easier to do from someone's back and flank.

In regards to PVP... if you removed the positionals from MNK it would be on the absurd side. Crit is king in PVP and MNK's can do that once every three hits, plus have higher potency from flank and rear. So in PVP getting those positionals are just as much a reward in game as they are in a real match.

I'm also going to add in that I personally don't care for positionals and have had far more fun with my MNK in PotD because nothing has positionals in it.