Monk has too many Positionals

[Vespar]

Admittedly, I dont play monk, but not because I dont want to... But rather because their positional requirements throw me off of the job so much! Ive tried to play it so many times now and I just wind up like a chicken with its head cutt off trying to hit the positionals for better dmg output. I love the way it looks but does dang near every action have to have a positional requirement tied to it?

It's a bit ridiculous considering every other melee job in the game only has 1-2 positionals.
DRG: Fang and Claw OR Wheeling Thrust (depends on which procs)
SAM: Gekko, Kasha
NIN: Aeolian Edge OR Armor Crush, Trick Attack (though this one is used only at the start of fights really)

then there's monk with 6 positionals that you use ALOT and they arent just used one or the other like DRG or SAM, but rather every action of their combos is basically a positional.

MNK: Bootshine, True Strike, Snap Punch, Twin Snakes, Demolish, Dragon Kick

This is confusing to learn and I feel like Im constantly screwing it up because the positionals in between the individual combos change every action I do! Can it not just be 2 different combo rotations that END IN A POSITIONAL?
Why does each individual action have a positional?

I know you Monk mains out there will likely flame me for wanting to see it changed, but for ease of access for everyone shouldn't it be?

[Mavrias]

you could play dragoon, ninja or samurai if monk's positional requirements are too much for you, even with multiple stacks riddle of earth and true north.

[ItMe]

It's a bit ridiculous considering every other melee job in the game only has 1-2 positionals.

And is Monk being different... bad?
It sounds like a positional heavy class isn't working for you, and I'm sorry to hear that, but if every other melee job in the game only has 1-2 positionals but if your main concern is

ease of access for everyone

then you should have nothing to worry about.
Only 1 melee job is a little more difficult to access.
Not every job needs to be super easy for everyone to access, and having only 1 melee job with a higher barrier to entry isn't bad. If anything, instead of being brought into line with the others, the fact that it's the only one like this means the positional focus should probably remain intact, if not expanded on.

[Sophie_Lo]

A lower level pugilist/monk I can see having these frustrations, but as you get higher in level and gain your full range of combo attacks, you can just set up your rotations to one combo string on the flank, the other at the rear. Trust me, the positionals at that point aren't even complaint-worthy. Indeed, it gains a rather nice, flowing feel to it then.

[Kolsykol]

I already posted a response to this basically in the other thread.

But basically, Monk just isn't meant for your playstyle and there are other Jobs available for you.
People criticizing you isn't flaming either, you're essentially asking for the fundamental basis of the Job and how it plays and feels to play to change.
You'd get a similar response if people wanted BLM to become more like RDM and be a mobile caster.

Sometimes I play games where I really like something on an aesthetical and thematic level too but it just doesn't click for me, and that's totally fine.
That doesn't mean that it needs to change to fit what I want.

A lower level pugilist/monk I can see having these frustrations, but as you get higher in level and gain your full range of combo attacks, you can just set up your rotations to one combo string on the flank, the other at the rear. Trust me, the positionals at that point aren't even complaint-worthy. Indeed, it gains a rather nice, flowing feel to it then.

Not even at lower levels imo, you're eased into it over a long time very slowly.
Unless you boost the Job I guess.

Bootshine and True Strike are both Rear attacks, then Snap Punch is Flank.
Then you get Twin Snakes at 18 and Demolish at 30.
You have A LOT of time to get used to it before you even get your next one.

Edit: Not to mention, that I almost don't even count Rear attacks because in most cases you should be standing behind the boss to begin with even if you don't have combos.
The main difference with Monk is that you move to the Flank more often.

[KDSilver]

I know you Monk mains out there will likely flame me for wanting to see it changed, but for ease of access for everyone shouldn't it be?

I'm not a monk main.
No one will flame at you but you but you need to realize that classes can't adapt each time someone doesn't like one particular element of its toolkit.
Either you like it the way it is, or it's just not for you and the game has a lot of other classes to pick up. That's how it is

[Haventale]

Not every job should be simple to play. To be very clear, simple isn't bad, but complex isn't bad either. A well designed mmo should have simpler and complex jobs both. It's actually important to have both, so that the most amount of people can play together, depending on what kind of gameplay experience they like or prefer.

For people who prefer a simpler job, you have WAR for tanking, WHM for healing, SAM for melee dps, DNC for ranged and RDM for casters. There's a simpler option in every role, allowing anyone to play every role. Other jobs are more complex for people who prefer that gameplay.

One of the things long term players have been strongly critical of in Shadowbringers was how drastically they over simplifed more complex jobs and the entire tanking and healing roles. We're actually very unhappy with what they've done to so many jobs this expansion, over simplifying everything, when we already had simpler jobs for people to play.

[Drakanous]

I won't flame you, but I will give some insight as a MNK player because positionals have been a topic of conversation in my friend group for a while. Overall, it's not that bad once you get used to it. You start to understand the rhythm and flow, especially if you find a comfortable way to lay out your skills on your hotbar. 2 charges of True North and 3 charges of Riddle of Earth, however, almost trivialize the requirements. Again, this is after playing for a long time, no shame is struggling when starting out. That being said, I'm lukewarm about them. I don't think it's an interesting mechanic, but it's also not unpleasant. I think the goal was to show how a martial artist has to bob and weave to get their opponent's weak points, but outside of an action-combat game, it's meh for me. I wouldn't feel much if they removed them outright, but as far as how you're feeling, it's normal and you will get used to it if you give it the time. But if you don't, that's OK too. Some jobs just don't mesh with people for various reasons.

[ssunny2008]

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post5518320 This is my latest answer to such a topic. I made much more but i´m too lazy to collect them and too tired of this topic. MNK positionals are fine as they are and a lot of players got used to them and perform very well. And it´s a fact that everyone can get used to them too.
If you´ve issues to get used to MNK, you should either try another class and take your time to practice on a dummy instead of complaining about them in a forum. It´s not an insult, just my personal opinion since nothing is unplayable or whatever in this game. A lot of stuff on different classes (MCH; MNK; tanks; healers next) got dumbed down already.

At last here is my hotbar for keyboard: https://imgur.com/QDBqIqp
Just ignore the overlapping caused by the resolution change for this picture. Put the back / side positionals in the order like i did on 123 / C1C2C3 and it´s pretty easy to get used to them. All what´s left is to check out to use twinsnakes each 2nd rotation and demolish in every 3rd one. Practice and you´ll get used to it, i promise.
If you´ve any other questions feel free to ask. Just please stop that "positionals are bad" thing. We´ve nothing left on MNK and positionals should never go, never be changed since they´re more fun to play for a lot of players. Please don´t give SE more reasons to rework more classes into a lazy and static borderness. This game needs more challenging aspects with a decent learning curve where players can grow with and not more dumb-downs.

(Tbh the reason why MNK seems too hard for so many is SE. They force nothing anymore on the players side, not via leveling, not in the MSQ, maybe only in savage / ultimate mechanicely wise. It´s a big mistake. You play 80 levels lefthanded and get a facepunch once you reach the real endgame.)

[Beddict]

NIN: Aeolian Edge OR Armor Crush, Trick Attack (though this one is used only at the start of fights really)

Wait, what? Trick Attack gets used on cooldown every minute, with Suiton providing the Hidden buff so NIN can TA.

Anyways, MNK positionals are fine. It's supposed to be fast and mobile, positionals allow for that by making the player move to get that optimal DPS. And again, if you're looking for a simpler Melee DPS then there are other options.