Anyone who thinks Monk hasn't been ignored for a good while is in proper denial. 2.1 was the only time the class received any huge changes to its kit or how it performed. Everything else that has been added (or removed) afterward has been nothing but incomplete ideas and utter nonsense. I keep thinking I want to play the class seriously until I remember that I can play any of the other melee counterparts and have a kit that isn't a mess that was regurgitated from the minds of whoever works on the class in the first place. The class is incredibly stale, and many of the changes made to it add absolutely zero incentive to enjoy playing it. The kit has so many holes in it that have been constantly mentioned that at this point Monk players are getting tired of talking about it. I had faith in Square Enix that seeing as this would be the "Monk" expansion the same way HW was Dragoon's, that they would take extra care with the class. After seeing the mess called Tackle Mastery and the literal deconstruction of Monk's playstyle in Riddle of Fire, as well as ToD/Fracture being removed, it just feels sluggish. Brotherhood is simply a personal cooldown disguised as raid utility.

Monk does plenty of DPS and does DPS quite well, but if a class isn't fun then there's no point in playing it. It will always be one of the least popular jobs because of that.