Monk rework/dmg nerf idea.

[Vendalwind]

I can respect your attempts to try and keep the Fists and the insistence having Monks weave them in their opener more actively, but honestly, this still just adds more things to worry about while trying to retain buttons that historically haven't meant much to the identity of the job outside of inertia.

What has bothered me for a very long time about the changes Monk HAS received is the loss of damage OGCDs because of button bloat, while three particular buttons survive from expansion to expansion, buttons that we have historically used in extremely limited ways.

I can't accept the slow, even for the damage increase. You've got to remember that Monk was in a pretty similar position in Stormblood. I came into the game somewhere in the middle of Heavensward, but I can not remember a time when Monk's damage was ever horrible. Even before patches gave us the Tornado Kick rotation, it's not like our damage was so terrible that we were where NIN was at the start of ShB. Riddle of Fire + Brohood was still incredibly potent. But Monks HATED the slow it brought us, because it was antithetical to everything our job has been. The devs were telling the kings and queens of speed to slow down for a sec. In terms of gameplay, it was incredibly jarring, and even the developers were forced to recognize that the majority of Monks vocal about issues in the game were decidedly against it. And honestly, it wasn't the first time that Monks were given an ability that slowed us down, we got that with TK. But at least TK could be relegated to "the boss is gonna leave hit em one more time". RoF was a jarring thing were expected to regularly put up with.

I don't want to go really fast, have to slow down a bit to do something else, then go fast again. That's not where my enjoyment for Monk has ever been. My enjoyment has been the pure aggression it demands from the player to stick to the mob, make the positionals, and maintain our buffs. There is not a single other DPS in the game that replicates that gameplay for me. Muddling it up with additional technicalities just doesn't appeal.

The problem with the kit right now isn't that Fists are sucking up space and need to be made better, its that Fists exist, and we have a glut of ways to maintain GL and ignore core mechanics of the job. I would much rather trade the Fists for damage OGCDs that interacted with our primary combos in some way. THAT is something that would give me more buttons to push, while maintaining the speed and aggression I enjoy.

Just responding to let you know I respect your above post and am one of the people that thumbed up it.