Monk Needs a Complete Rework

[Sqwall]

A smallish bit of news from a recent interview with Yoshi

https://massivelyop.com/2020/09/22/i...-in-patch-5-3/

"As for how where we’ll land with Monk, I don’t think I can say what the player impression will be in terms of scale just yet. I don’t want speculations to go too far from anything I say here and cause any problems down the line, but what I can say for now is that we are significantly changing internal processing for the job, and the work that the development team is putting in is no small order. They’re working hard towards a finished product, if you could please be patient for just a while longer!"

I get he doesn't want to say much yet and he's clearly playing this alot closer to his chest than when he was talking about Monk prior to SHB releasing but boy do I not feel confident about the rework that awaits us. As of late I decided to pick up Ninja again after not really feeling it post rework and now I love it... if Monk gets reworked this well, then I'd be willing to sweep the past under the rug and move on but if it's bad then I'm afraid I might end up ditching it for Ninja which feels bad but there's no point trying to push through on a job that just gets the short end of the stick constantly.

All I got from that direct quote was that Yoshi-p doesn't want to divulge any information as of yet to prevent slowing down his team with further backlash. I would do the same thing until it's done, but to speculate on the changes? They have to be RADICAL from the current form, and the job will be a huge departure from what we know. I believe he's downplaying it considering the amounts of time and work that are going into this single job.

All that said...Bring it on. I'm ready for a change on Monk, and there is nothing stopping them now in giving us something that is nowhere near what we have now. Or like you said, could be a complete let down. I have confidence though that Monk will be even more unique and combat flow will "be like water".

[Shurrikhan]

I have confidence though that Monk will be even more unique and combat flow will "be like water".

Outside of the objectively beautiful Ten-Chi-Jin change, the only commonality I've seen between the SMN, WAR, DRK, and most notably the NIN and MCH reworks or massive reiterations have been a loss in depth more so than any increase in flow, but as you've said it's all up in the air for now.

I'd say "it can't get worse", but then... I need only look at how much was unnecessarily sacrificed for 'fluidity' before. Here's just hoping we don't go down that path again where rotational depth, core mechanics, or core playflow are needlessly removed in accommodating a 'streamlined' take on the job.

[Irisdina_Wiloh]

@Sqwall - Yeah absolutely, he's definitely not saying anything else now until it's ready but that doesn't fill me with confidence either. I hope they're not too radical, the core loop of Monk is very enjoyable and doesn't really need touching, it's everything else that is the problem and if they go too far down the rework route it could end up feeling totally foreign, sort of how MCH feels to me now. The Ninja rework imo was good, before then, SHB NIN felt like a mess but I won't deny that they did simplify the job a lot, Shadow Fang basically being a button you only press during trick etc.

Basically I echo what Shurrikhan is saying, I know they have the ability to do reworks well, but depending on at what cost, it could be fantastic or a disaster.