Monk Needs a Complete Rework

[Mahrze]

Also here's a fun check in that everyone loves to hear, now that the clear rates for jobs week to week for Savage have normalized, Monk is once again the least played job in everything other than TEA. Not because it's weak, but because its design in Shadowbringers kept its problems and pleased basically no one.

Which is no surprise from the census back in feb from Lucky bancho? Isn't MNK the least played overall barring BLU? And even then not by much in difference?

[Sora_Oathkeeper]

I'm never surprised that MNK is the least played in all content (barring some Ultimates). I'm certain MNK has been the least played DPS job since HW minus a brief moment in SB where it was slightly above MCH. The job's become stale since HW as no interesting mechanic has been introduced. DRG got BotD upkeep which is rewarded with LotD, while not much of a mechanic is at least a gauge that ramps up and allows a decent burst phase. NIN has Ninki management and while not the most intuitive at least has some decent skills attached to it. Ninjutsu feels engaging and is super nice when you can chain Ninjutsu together when out of melee range. I haven't played SAM since SB but my wife has it leveled and even that seems somewhat improved rotationally.

There's nothing engaging about GL or Chakra stacks 6 years (4 for chakras) after their inception. To me personally neither feel like a mechanic, I have no control over chakras and GL is so easy to maintain now that there's no thought needed. If you lose GL it's because 1) The fight forces you too. 2) You died. Or 3) you fell into the trap of using TK when you shouldn't have. Neither 'mechanics' have evolved in the slightest. Keeping GL has been made easier but outside of that there's almost no interaction with the gauge itself. The job is just boring now which pains me to say because I love martial artists in other games because the aesthetics resonate with me. It almost feels like they've palmed all 'engagement' into the same positionals we've been doing for 6 years and given up on any other form of engagement. I think MNK's numbers are as high as they are currently because they're at least still really good DPS wise. Just a shame that after 6 years MNK has had next to 0 evolution.

Rework when please SE?

[Ultimatecalibur]

It almost feels like they've palmed all 'engagement' into the same positionals we've been doing for 6 years and given up on any other form of engagement. I think MNK's numbers are as high as they are currently because they're at least still really good DPS wise. Just a shame that after 6 years MNK has had next to 0 evolution.

Monk has been doing the same 6 postional weaponskill rotaion since ARR and lost 2 of its single target alternate weaponsskills. Monk has kind of devolved in its rotation rather than evolved.

[Sora_Oathkeeper]

Monk has been doing the same 6 postional weaponskill rotaion since ARR and lost 2 of its single target alternate weaponsskills. Monk has kind of devolved in its rotation rather than evolved.

100% agree. Rotationally we have devolved and while everyone had at least one thing gutted from their pre-existing moveset except cross class skills MNK has lost the most; Howling Fist, ToD, Fracture (though a CC skill was still valuable on MNK) and Internal Release are the big ones. And then we lost minor skills like Featherfoot, Haymaker and OIP and while I don't miss them as such because they were bad, there was no reason not to rework Haymaker/OIP into something that COULD have been useful and relevant for more than a handful's worth of content. 7 skills total gutted from MNK, 4 of which saw use in every fight. Definitely a de-evolution in terms of rotation. Wonder what we'll lose next.