Thread: How should Monk 4.0 have been done?

Alright, my own two cents.

Rationale:

1. What makes a Monk a Monk?

The portion of mindset, ultimately, shared between skills Monks. I realize this sounds vague, but it can still be broken down into more concrete indicators.
1. The attack speed of a Monk lends a heightened sense of immediacy and pre-planning that likewise gradually comes to feel spontaneous. Each action is the start of the next's positioning. Decisions cannot be pondered between GCDs.
2. The versatility lent by the Fists stances can make it just barely possible for a Monk to do things that one would think, by all rights, they should not. Wounded, they may barely survive what others were topped off for with Fists of Earth; Fists of Wind can allow one to stay in a growing AoE for that one global more than the non-NINs; the last is the default stance. The advantages are relatively tiny. And yet when the result is simply whether one made it or not when pushing some other string of decisions to its edge, Fists have saved me more times than I could every tally. This creates an awkward self-confidence, wise or not, that it seems many skilled Monks share. After all, if we can survive off a 10% mitigation buff, what could really kill us?
3. The Monk rotation, over varying attack speeds and downtime durations, has more viable rotational options than any of job, be that ideal or situational. It also has the least space between viable rotation-changing Skill Speed plateaus. (Seconded by NIN, in my experience, though a 2.22 DRG takes the cake as far as rotational complexity goes.) Because the Monk is far better able to slip skills into his rotation to extend (or thereby shave) modulars, there is far more freedom to adapt to varying uptime and make the best of the situation. This makes Monk surprisingly deep in practical gameplay, but without much increased fixation on pre-planned rotations (at least until timing a particular fight down to the second), preferring instead to be guided by intuition and many, many balances and guidelines.

2. What did you enjoy most about Monk gameplay?

Pretty much the same as above. I enjoy being the "Imma punch it" job whose capable of more than one would assume. That tiny bit of extra, albeit non-simultaneous strength, and the smooth ability to adapt to the given situation, just feels so good.

3. In what way were 3.x designs and improvement over 2.x. Which design ideas should have been extended in 4.x?

Though I don't feel as awkward in returning to synced dungeons as many other Monks, I feel that Heavensward's contributions were important, though I feel like some were less directly necessary or less fully implemented than others. Heavensward brought with it increased front-loading, massively increased burst potential (especially in AoE through Elixir Field), viably held abilities (resource skills TFC and Purification), a player-controlled extender for GL duration, greater cyclical/mechanical control, additional options (some of the time) in the form of TK and Purification, and artificial uptime whether for during jumps or between fights.

Of these, I'd say that Form Shift was the best designed ability. It integrates almost perfectly with all prior Monk concepts. Elixir Field by comparison was functional, gave more buttons to press or fill out the opener and spice up its interim, and brought Monk up to a lead AoE competitor, but was otherwise a redundancy for Howling Fist. I enjoy it, and would likely mourn its loss, but it's nothing particularly great from a design perspective.

Tornado Kick and Meditation were both great concepts but shied away from conditional rotational viability, which is problematic to me. No skill should solely be mitigation for a core mechanic or specifically designed absence (e.g. of a ranged attack). If they are to be added to gameplay, they should also stand on their own to some regard. In Meditation, this would have meant another option for controlling the Form cycles' modulars (such as if one would have otherwise clipped their Demolish by exactly a Meditation's length). To do this, it would need to grant more potency per second, however, near-directly through TFC or less directly through Purification. Since TFC already introduces a very large boost to frontloaded DPS and Purification already grants a neatly sized sum of TP, it would make the most sense either to reduce the Chakra count necessary and/or reduce the GCD-recast time Meditation causes. Most of all it needed to fix one obvious issue—unlike the GCD itself, Meditation doesn't scale with attack speed. What begins as 60% of the GCD without GL ends up 70%. It should probably be a scaling 50% of GCD at all times if remaining at 5 stacks needed. Tornado Kick, on the other hand needed just two things: a CD decrease as not to prevent rotational usage shortly before situational usage, and a slight potency increase enough to make rotational use conditionally viable (e.g. for TP efficiency at the tail of maximized CD windows). Again, the point is not to add an obligatory skill here, but to at least give an option both situationally and rotationally.

Should those fixes have been made, however, I don't feel as if there's much left to extend. The additions would then have been essentially complete. Instead, we'd have to look to other areas we've since got used to to flesh out more engagingly.

4. What significant issues did Monk still face in 3.x? To what degree or under what conditions, were they acceptable?

While most will argue that Monk's core flaw was its lack of raid support, I find this argument a bit concerning. Short of x party DPS, any personal DPS advantage y will exceed the product of multiplier z. Given equal skill and gear across all members, a job that allocates that same value that others gain from raid support unto itself can still contribute identical raid DPS. It's simply a numbers game. The only actual imbalance inherent in not having raid support is that to be balanced in full party content, one must be overpowered in Light Party content. This difference however may be minuscule, and as of yet there is no cutting edge Light Party content by which the Monk would receive a guaranteed slot. At that point, the Monk's DPS would need to be allocated party into raid DPS, just as any other DD job's, as to face the same disadvantage of decreased manpower.

5. How could these issues have been solved, if necessary?

As above, balancing simply needed to be more tightly built around cutting edge content. Should that be Full Party content alone, then numbers simply needed to be rebalanced to allow Monks of equal skill to their party equal competitive value for a melee slot. Should Light Party content also join the cutting edge, the Monk's personal DPS would need to be exchanged for raid support in the same proportion as the nearest DPS job (e.g. DRG).

6. How could the overall experience of Monk gameplay have been improved in 4.0?

There are a few options here.
1. We've yet to significantly play with the concept of Light and Dark Chakra.
2. We've yet to have to meaningfully consider the weight of personal DPS vs. raid support. We're always the prior. A shared resource system could make these considerations a part of gameplay.
3. We've yet to really flesh out the concept of Fist stances.
4. Chakra as "Chakra Gates" (e.g. Rock Lee)???
5. Mana usage??? Converting mana into stuff? Granular resources, maybe via converting mana into stuff???
6. We haven't really diversified the cycle of Forms (Opo-opo, Raptor, Coeurl) themselves. (Though, I can't imagine that'd be as lucrative as the previous paths. The Forms are after all just a glorified 3x3 combo system.)

To be continued.

Changes (in progress):

Background Changes:

TP now refreshes at 50 TP per GCD. Enhanced attack speeds no longer increase TP drain. To compensate, certain weaponskills' TP costs have been increased, as to cause players, regardless of gear or buffs received, to drain to their first Invigorate in the same time as would one of the same class operating at the most efficient rotation at the slowest acceptable Skill Speed plateau.

Additionally, all jobs now have at least some use for MP, even if exhausting the resource only in extreme scenarios.

[I would intend eventually to replace the current concept of TP in order to make it a universal resource as "Tactics Points", used for skill-chains, minor LB-like functions, and the like. This would allow both MP and TP to both be applicable to all jobs, but also to be distinct from one another—the first primarily front-loaded and the latter primarily ramping. To do this I'd have to balance high to low TP cost abilities in some other way. (Some such ideas are sampled in the Monk suggestions below.) I'd like to create a tapering formula for AoE damage, such as by making total AoE potency equal to a modifier of (n + √n)/2 as to devalue those somewhat, introduce new effects to AoE skills that may allow them situationally in single-target, and introduce more priority targets and other focusing concerns by which to limit AoE pull sizes by more than just the inclusion of gates or other artificial barriers.]

Focus Points:

1. A more granular version of Chakra usable as a shared resource for either personal DPS or raid DPS bonuses.
2. Revising Fists for far more significance on situational adaptation, macro-rotation, and rotational strings.
3. Light and Dark Chakra for additional banking options and macro-rotation.

Summaries:

1. Dealing, healing, absorbing, or buffing others' damage now converts their relative potency value's worth of Mana into Chakra, which can be consumed through a variety of skills. Rather than capping merely at 5 stacks or 7.5 seconds' time, Chakra converts in a tapered but otherwise unlimited fashion, generally allowing about twice the time or potency values bankable as the current system. As conversion is done on a percentage of overall mana, the more one has already converted, the less converts, applying a slow but exponential taper to encourage spending or discourage banking beyond what one's own arsenal can make efficient (e.g. rather than saving without cost for DPS checks).

2. Your Stances, of Wind, Earth, or Fire, now vary the effects of your Greased Lighting and the majority of your abilities (Steel Peak, Howling Fist, Shoulder Tackle, Meditation, Tornado Kick, and (new) The Soul Convenes). UI has been adjusted from showing your 5 Chakra stacks, which no longer exist as such, to showing your last six Elements applied (or "Seals"). 3 most recent are shown in distinguishing circles to represent your latest Greased Lightning stacks, clockwise from top to bottom-right to bottom-left; the remaining 3 are shown between them in smaller font. All 6 Elemental applications are spendable, starting from the first applied. (If an element applied to a Greased Lightning stack is consumed, it converts to the generic Greased Lightning icon, which has a fourth effect.) All three stances now support long-term DPS in some way, and should be swapped through for reasons of both macro-rotation (e.g. CD alignment and maximization) and situational adaptation or preparedness. Internal Release now enhances theses difference.

:: Greased Lightning itself has also undergone some revisions. Greased Lightning now times out more quickly, duration decreasing per stack, but only drops at one stack at a time. This has a sizable effect on one's ability to actually have 6 Seals active at a time. Normally, this would require at least one third use of Fists of Wind and/or increased Skill Speed.

3. Starting at level 52, one becomes able to embed or instill Chakra into others, be they ally or enemy, as an additional form of banking and the basis for certain raid support functions. As of level 62, these two functions start to take on additional advantages of Dark or Light Chakra. These act as source and center of powerful spenders for raid support or personal attacks, some comparable to minor Limit Breaks. (If TP were to become a skill-chain resource, Monk would serve as your most versatile center for advanced chains through Light and Dark Chakra mechanics and skills.) They also have the side-benefit of instilling a second effect into Twin Snakes and One-Ilm Punch; the latter now implodes embedded Chakra for a DoT, shut-down, or AoE damage depending on Stance.

Stormblood Skills:

The skills added in Stormblood are the Riddles, double-edged mechanics that further flesh out the playstyles of the three Stances, Dark and Light Chakra, and the new especially Monk-ish cooldown ability, Open the Gates. These consume only two ability slots, the rest being given through traits. Their goal is to further macro-rotation and long-term complexity, further bring out the intricacies of Stances, and to do what Monks do best—dauntlessly attack at exponentially increasing speeds. They stand after additions as the DPS most often worth padding or focus-buffing, but also one of the most versatile and thereby applicable across varying comps. Their new cooldown, Open the Gates, may as well be a Limit Break, allowing them to exceed the 3-stack limit for Greased Lightning, but decreasing the duration of Greased Lightning with each extended stack and consuming increasing amounts of Chakra per second. Lasts until out of Chakra.

[Still in progress]
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1. Granular Chakra values...

Toss out the gauge, toss out the five stacks. Instead, when you deal, heal, embonus, or absorb damage you convert Mana into Chakra, which can then be consumed on a variety of abilities.

Some of these use a proportion of current Chakra as their potency, others consume a set amount for a set potency. This resource, Chakra, is shared between:

Open The Gates - Removes the limit from GL stacks, but drains your Chakra and Mana by an increasing rate and shortens the duration of GL for each stack. Effect ends when Chakra runs out. Grants the GL bonuses of all three Fists simultaneously. (GL now applies 5% attack rate and 5% damage per stack. Fists of Wind adds yet another 4% attack rate per stack, Fire grants 4% critical rate and damage per stack, and Earth adds 3% mitigation per stack. See section #2.)

This is your ballsy move. It's also difficult af to master. To make the most of this, ideally one needs to be gaining as much Chakra as they're consuming; in other words, they should run out of Mana (not yet converted resource) before running out of Chakra (converted resource), as to totally consume all possible resources. However, if you actually do that, you're kind of ****ed, because you need Mana to quickly get back on pace, because Fists are now significant and also consume mana. It's basically an LB2 that you pay for out of your smoldering wallet, but more risky.

**I haven't yet decided whether to make Tornado Kick scale with the number of stacks (allowing it to crit for some 25k at GL7), cost only 3 stacks so you can use it rein yourself in, or leave it an unscaled "I give up" move for when you still need some damned Mana.

The Soul Convenes - This buffs you, using your and drawing in nearby accessible Light/Dark Chakra (embedded in allies or enemies) to provide Mana, TP, or Health. Reduces the cooldowns on certain other skills.
Impart - A variable oGCD shaped by your previous weaponskill that allows you to imbue an enemy with Dark Chakra or an ally with Light Chakra which can then be used in variety of ways, making Mantra seem pathetically inflexible by comparison.
Riddle of <Wind/Earth/Fire> - Slot changes based on current Fist stance. Assigns a new, double-edged mechanic to your current Fist, complete with some pretty beast effects and animations. (E.g. Being able to Shoulder Tackle an enemy from every Light-embued ally in succession at the end of a Fists of Fire. Hidden skill name: "<n> Flights."

In this way, Chakra generation in itself does become indistinguishable from normal rotation, and the job may scale a bit more exponentially than most through this mechanic; however, it does allow incredible versatility and freedom over additional effects without having overwhelming simultaneous output.

>> I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do with Meditation itself. Most likely I'll be wrapping it into some other half-GCD damageless weaponskill as used by Fists. Out of combat, though, I'll probably just have up to a certain amount/percentage of Mana convert automatically to Chakra, giving the same front-loading as before. (Not sure how best to link Fists with this concept. At present, Fists of Earth decreases the Chakra deconversion/degeneration rate for during downtime, and Fists of Fire increases mana conversion rates (build applicable resource faster, but run out of total resource faster, too) as to bask in DoT / embonused HoT glory, but Fists of Wind just gets you back into the action faster...)

:: Can anyone give me some good, preferably historical, riddles concerning Wind, Earth, or Fire, especially something... double-edged? I want each of the Riddles to introduce a new compensatory mechanic, but I don't want it to be something that simply undoes earlier bonuses like the current RoF side-effect or something that a group could easily just compensate for like a damage taken over time (as awesome as any sort of word-play between Pyretic and Pyhrric victory would be).

2. Revising Fists to be more significant...