On the Nature of Monk

[Mahrze]

Hello! I'd like to start by asking to please focus on the goal and not arguing over who did what wrong. We can all learn and go forward to reaching what we all want: a job that is fun to play and builds upon its flaws to make it better. One thing we all agree on is that MNK has flaws, many many flaws. And it's not a small minority that thinks this.

• http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...82%B9%E3%83%AC
• http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...gnored-for-4.1
• http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/s...rchid=60280284

This MNK thread on the Japanese forums has almost 400k views and around 1k posts. And while I know nothing regarding Japanese language, google translate does give me a general idea that they aren't exactly satisfied. I also link a thread where I have seen and been participant of proposals regarding MNK being ignored in x.1 and I dread but realistically believe the ignoring will continue if things don't get properly exposed.

MNK's status seems as confusing as its current design philosophy: It performs nominally like a DPS. And that is exactly all you can say about MNKs right now. Yes there are outliers and yes there are amazing players out there but MNK is still just MNK. players both rookies and veterans of the class notice immediately the polarizing choices you have regarding the jobs skills.

Veterans themselves have pointed out many issues only to see updates not happening. Now, like I said, I am not opening this topic to witch hunt the development team, but to communally brainstorm things that need work, change, update or flat out replace/remove to improve MNK as a job.

We all play the job and we all like this job and play it because its what we like, but we are all aware that these changes and the lack of reasoning behind them is something we need to address in a civilized manner. I posted a link regarding MNK threads and many are of the same nature since this expansion launched. So I tried to pull a quick list of the things I can generally see are the topic regarding it:


Laundry List of Issues: Yes, there are that many.

1. Greased Lightning:
   1. Clunky.
   2. Has a lot of ways to "manage" it but low effectiveness of each.
   3. Risk vs Reward is very uneven.
2. Fist Stances:
   1. "there is literally no reason to not be in Fire, ever" - MNK Community.
   2. Tackle Mastery (more on Useless Abilities) makes no sense.
3. Forms:
   1. Hamstrung x Infinity.
   2. Limits utility of skills locked behind a form.
4. Riddles:
   1. Riddle of Earth vs Tornado Kick <<< Zero Synergy.
   2. Riddle of Wind + Shoulder tackle = Shoulder tackle in Fist of Fire.
   3. Riddle of Fire Power increase and gimping speed causes knee jerk reaction every time.
5. Chakras:
   1. RNG behind it is quite the layered cake.
   2. Deep Meditation has very low proc to make TFC worthwhile at times.
   3. Brotherhood is not as rewarding as it should be.
6. Perfect balance:
   1. Cool down on it is too damn high.
7. Mobility:
   1. Shoulder tackle is our only venue and with stun and damage attached to it, limits mobility usage.
8. Useless Actions:
   1. MNK still has way too many abilities and weapon-skills that need rework.
   2. Here's a sub-list:
      1. Fist of Earth
      2. Fist of Wind
      3. Arm of the Destroyer
      4. Purification
      5. Riddle of Earth
      6. Riddle of Wind (This attempts to fix mobility but still limited)
      7. Tornado Kick (Still an issue since 3.0)
      8. One Ilm Punch (Oldest issue, In-game joke)
      9. Tackle Mastery

Assorted solutions: these will follow a clean up to better suit the general opinion.

Greased Lightning:

• Resource is a depleting gauge with tier levels (Credit to Shurrikhan on this idea)
• Inherits GL scaling + Movement Speed + Defense Buff from FoW and FoE
• Unlocks usage of skills relating to the gauge as a resource (skills that use a unit rather then use the whole resource)
• Better forms of sustainability or faster reach of max output.

Fist Stances:

• Stances could Customize Combos
• Develop own Resource
• Could make use of GL as addtl resource
• Could make use of Chakra as addtl resource
• Fist of Wind increases Movement Speed and Skill Speed

Forms:

• Scrap gimmick and match animal to element. Each form+"element" maps 1 unique combo
  • Opo = Earth / Raptor = Wind / Coeurl = Fire
• One standard pure damage combo that is consistent through the forms

Riddles:

• Fist Stance Finishers, linked to unique resource of said fist.
• Each finisher can be something that boosts MNKs DPS, Raid Utility or Defensive
• Riddle of Wind - Grant Double Auto attacks for 10s / 120s CD - Sora_Oathkeeper
• Riddle of Earth - Raid Wide shield for 6s / 120s CD - Sora_Oathkeeper
• Riddle of Fire - Raid wide damage buff (5%) for 10s / 60s CD - Sora_Oathkeeper

Chakras:

• Increased resource to 7
• Have defensive and offensive skills tied to them

Mobility:

• We could be using this a speed opening strike like Widargelt does
• Example: https://imgur.com/WLbnP2z

Laundry List

• Perfect Balance: Cooldown reduced to 60s to 80s- Sora_Oathkeeper, Wintersandman, Silver-Strider
• Form Shift: Going from Coeurl(III) to Opo-opo(I) can refresh GL3 - Wintersandman, Silver-Strider
• One Ilm Punch: Taken off GCD and forms. Grants 5 Chakras / 120s CD - Sora_Oathkeeper
• One Ilm Punch: Remove stun, change to Line AoE with 100 potency - Silver-Strider
• Brotherhood: Removed - Sora_Oathkeeper
• Deep Meditation: changed to 'Enhanced Bootshine' > Grants a Chakra every Bootshine crit. - Sora_Oathkeeper, Silver-Strider
• Steel Peak: Gains a silence effect.
• Riddle of Earth: Altered to provide a 8% damage mitigation to the group. - Silver-Strider, KanameYuuki
• Riddle of Wind: weak party refresh MP or and TP that just like Tactitian and Refresh would reduce enmity by half if not added on disengage skill. - KanameYuuki
• Purification: Removed from Chakra system. Changed to reduce enmity and restore TP.
• Tackle Mastery: Grants an extra tackle at 0 potency after using shoulder tackle. 15-20s duration buff. (would help with mobility) - Sora_Oathkeeper, Silver-Strider
• Arm of the Destroyer: Potency buffed to 100. TP reduced to 100. Silence Removed. - Sora_Oathkeeper, Silver-Strider
• Tornado Kick: No longer removes GL3. Instead uses 5 chakras to deal AoE damage in a frontal cone. Potency reduced to 250 - Sora_Oathkeeper, Silver-Strider.

Potential Quality of Life Items

• Greased Lightning and Form timers. Increased to 30s - Sora_Oathkeeper
• All Potency nerfs going into SB reverted back. Including the Forbidden Chakra - Sora_Oathkeeper
• Disengage skill: Something to help reduce aggro to MNK and adds to mobility. - KanameYuuki
• Greased Lightning loss is gradual: 3, 2, 1... - KanameYuuki
• One Fist Button that does all the three effects as a toggle-able skill. - RisaStoleMyHeart
• Greased Lightning gets refreshed even if the attack lands on an invulnerable target.

Overall, we can see that there can be much to be worked on that could push MNK to something that the community would appreciate since it comes to be form a community viewpoint, I could be wrong and many of these things don't need an update, or I could be missing other points that others can point out and we can build upon. Hopefully this can remain civil.

P.S: items in the list of example are a summary of things I noticed and credit is owed and due to those who mentioned them in the past.

Edit: Updated to make the laundry list more specific along with suggestions or proposals from different corners.