Monk Needs a Complete Rework

[Ramura_Sono]

So that LL huh? My thoughts on the changes:

Tornado Kick - pretty much turned into Steel Peak.

Form Shift - gives "Formless Fist" which allows you to use any move without having to cycle forms, cool QoL I guess, no more screwed up openers in casual content because the tank is impatient and pulls immediately.

Six Sided Star - The same, except it now gives a speed boost. ...OK? I'm not sure why they did this, but if I had to guess it's probably because we're defaulting back to Fists of Fire now so we don't have the passive speed boost from Fists of Wind. It apparently has a "very high potency" but I'll wager it's still worth 2 weaponskills like it is now. We'll see how this changes once we have the potencies.

Perfect Balance - I really enjoy this change, no more skill speed melding hell.

Anatman probably just exists to freeze the timer for Formless Fist if I had to guess. It'll probably still be useless no matter what change they give it though to be honest. At least we no longer have that disgusting opener to worry about.

I need time to mull over these changes but I'm disappointed that this was apparently worth waiting until 5.4 for? Was figuring out the potency changes really that hard?

The worst part is they wanted us to wait until 6.0 for this.

[SpeckledBurd]

The worst part is they wanted us to wait until 6.0 for this.

No matter how you swing it, for something they’d called a rework what they showed is profoundly disappointing. Altering Greased Lightning in this way by simply eliminating it is unnecessarily heavy handed when Monk’s issue with mid fight cutscenes could be solved by giving Monk a 30 second cooldown to build GL to maximum and the Tornado Kick change. That way Monk's recovery is equivalent to other jobs and that recovery isn't automatically a DPS gain to burn for more damage. What’s worse is it seems our many other issues with the job such as RNG chakra, Fist Stances, lack of mobility, and the excess of lackluster niche actions haven’t been addressed.

However, whether this was what they intended for 6.0 or if this is them throwing together something they can call a rework beforehand to try and placate our three expansions worth of built up frustration is still a mystery and we won’t know for a few months yet. If it’s a stalling tactic, then they still ultimately made us wait until 6.0 for changes which frankly should be expected but still reflects very poorly on the devs since many of these issues date back to Heavensward.

If this is actually what they were going to deliver in 6.0 though and nothing else is heading down the pipe then I imagine this thread will reach 200 pages.

[Sqwall]

No matter how you swing it, for something they’d called a rework what they showed is profoundly disappointing. Altering Greased Lightning in this way and eliminating it is unnecessarily heavy handed when Monk’s issue with mid fight cutscenes could be solved by giving Monk a 30 second cooldown to build GL to maximum and the Tornado Kick change. What’s worse is it seems our many other issues with the job such as RNG chakra, Fist Stances, and lackluster niche actions haven’t been addressed.

However, whether this was what they intended for 6.0 or if this is them throwing together something they can call a rework beforehand is still a mystery and we won’t know for a few months yet. If it’s a stalling tactic, then they still ultimately made us wait until 6.0 for changes which frankly should be expected.

If this is actually what they were going to deliver in 6.0 though then I imagine this thread will reach 200 pages.

I agree with you here. While the changes fix the GL headaches and endgame content not being held back class restrictions (which was never something they looked at anyway). It does raise some concerns in the regard of 6.0 onward. What is the end result with this heavy handed change? While I welcome this change to release monk from the shackles of GL, I do wonder how the job will evolve from this. Mostly which skills will be removed, implemented, replaced, reworked. More importantly what do they want Monk to ultimately be with these changes prior to an expansion.

I agree that there is MORE to come in 6.0 and we will see something to the likes of MCH or DRK, a complete new direction of the job that has yet to be announced. I like the changes for 5.4 and is finally a new direction for monk, but remain optimistic (while skeptical) leading into 6.0 launch as we will more then likely see another major change. Skeptically is moderate due to the fact that monk has always been ignored every expansion and changed later in every expansions downhill trend.

My belief is that SE had the roadmap for 6.0 monk laid out back near the end of 4.0, and community backlash is ruining that roadmap. Which is why 5.0 monk was so lackluster and the cost is so high with monk as all the work prior is effectively being thrown out and needed to start over.

I agree this is the tip of the iceberg for monk and 6.0 launch will really start to see the ultimate NEW direction for monk. All that said I'm already getting my monk ready for 5.4 and testing it out to see what the new monk can really do.