MNK Rework is a great start

[Drakanous]

I talk about this a lot on other platforms but they always ask people to post to the forums so, here goes:

I love this MNK rework in 5.4, not because it's a perfect fix, but because it cut out what I think was really holding MNK back. GL is a great concept and I like the notion that we attack faster than most melee jobs. How we got there compared to other melee jobs like NIN and SAM (who got the increased speed and damage with far less effort) was tedious. Not difficult, nor interesting, but tedious.

GL and Chakra never complimented each other. There were GL-centered skills and abilities, and Chakra-centered skills and abilities, but they worked separately and never intersected. Now, with GL as a trait (where I believe it rightfully belongs), the devs can focus on focusing on a more cohesive kit centered around Chakra. I think it's a far more interesting and satisfying concept to explore and expand on.

There's plenty more I'd like to see (including a bit more complexity for sure), but I'm very optimistic about the new direction because of these point.

[Irisdina_Wiloh]

I agree with what you're saying and I feel like we have a solid groundwork now for them to really improve on. I hope with 6.0 we really get to see some job identity given back to Monk as it was sorely lacking this expac. They've got a lot of work to do and this is really only the beginning but I am happy with where we're at right now (minus a few nitpicks).

[Valvadrix]

Definitely agreed. It felt like half of the abilities they've been adding in each expansion were different ways to upkeep GL. Now that they're not limited by it, hopefully they can experiment more and add more interesting abilities. GL was also very frustrating, even with being able to keep it on outside of combat because you'd run into situations where it's literally impossible anyway (a prime example would be the flying pods in the Copied Factory, most if not all of which lock you in an animation that's longer than GL's duration). And I'm glad to always be at full speed, as one of the reasons I dropped Monk in Stormblood was the speed inconsistency, both from Riddle of Fire slowing down your GCD and from dumping your stacks with Tornado Kick being implemented into your rotation. Here's hoping they can finally figure something out with the Fist stances.

[VentVanitas]

It was nice to see this thread after a near week of nothing but vitriol for the rework. Even if they still don't know what to do with the job, they're going to have to force themselves to finally think of something substantial in 6.0 since they can no longer churn out boring GL skills. A lot of people want to see Tifa inspiration, but in my opinion I think they should look to the OGs, I want to see Sabin skills personally and no, not just because of a suplex. It would be nice to get some actual iconic, traditional Final Fantasy Monk attacks like Aura Bolt, Rising Pheonix or Bum Rush.

Speaking of, I'm 100% certain there's a way Blitz can be introduced into the game without working as a copy of Mudras or forcing a pause in damage/rotation.

[Jirah]

Formless Fist and the PB stacks were justification enough to make MNK better. Tornado kick being Ogcd is kinda bland and I get where the hatred stems from without sounding like a complete idiot and saying they aren’t unjus

Let’s see what this leads to in 6.0

[HeulGDarian]

Hi drak

[Ruiknao]

Just want to say that I agree with you. Although it looks like people are split on the changes, I personally think it gives the developers an opportunity to add something new to Monk's kit, or expand on what it has, like Chakra, and hopefully make something that's both cohesive and fun.

To tell you the truth, I made a document a while ago that presented my thoughts and some ideas about what they could do with a Monk rework. Now, this was made in July before the live letter where they first announced the rework, so it is quite outdated. But, I would like to at least share these ideas for anyone that's interested and with some luck maybe the developers will see it. So if it's no trouble, I'll leave the link here:

https://imgur.com/a/MNKeu1E

I don't know if the developers will ever see this, or if the ideas presented can work for the benefit of Monk, but I would like to at least share it. Hopefully we'll see more improvements to Monk's gameplay in the future.

[MurosArt]

I also agree with what you said. Monk has needed a Rework so badly for a long time and I think that these changes in 5.4 are a good starting point to that change. Greased Lighting as a concept has always been really interesting to me but as a mechanic I found it very tedious and annoying to keep up in fights. A good idea I think is if they focus on the Chakra system more and implement more changes and features that make that system more interesting, I think that would make the class even better to play. My hope in 6.0 is that the class gets some more identity for itself and that they continue to make these positive changes into improving the class and making more dynamic of a class to play.

I really like these new changes we have gotten and I am very excited to see where Monk is going for the next expansion and hope that these positive changes make it more enjoyable to play.

[Riderage]

I still feel like there can be more done with Monk these recent changes have made Monk feel better to play. I do miss some of the jobs old skills that it had during Heavensward and early Stormblood content but considering the changes they made to Machinist for Shadowbringers. I think this is a good first step towards giving Monk more of its own identity and a more suitable mechanic to manage.

[Edafosavra]

Complete agreement on my part. Previously, MNK kit was a bit erratic and not really tied together. Some abilities felt like they were going against how MNK worked by forcing you to dump your GL stacks. and you said it yourself, the pugilist and the monk kit where really decorrelated from each other. Most of the jobs have a least one ability that ties it's ressources together, even if it's just "convert the first one into the second one", for MNK there was none.

Now that GL is a trait, Chakras can become the main ressource. Even more so, there now is a possibility to have dark chakras as the second ressource. Because both the ressources would be Chakras, they could be tied in quite easily. Cherry on top, this would finally make MNK coherent with its job quest. Until now, there was really two different world around MNK : the story one and the kit one. This resulted in an experience all over the place, a bastard ability kit not even matching what monk is supposed to be in the lore.

Anyway, I love those changes and am super exited to see what's next