MNK Fists Removal

[SelahWavedancer]

So, I'm seeing a bit of conversation regarding MNK in EW and the changes being made. But, one conversation I haven't seen a lot of is the conversation regarding the removal of the three fists.

I will put in my disclaimer here, I'm still new to the game. I've wrapped up all the MSQ and finishing up all the outstanding unlocks, but I am by no means a long time player with an intimate knowledge of the game. I'm still learning a lot.

That said, MNK being my main job I have spent a really solid amount of time with it and one thing I've come to love is the fists and their applications. Sure, they're not the most "fun" to press, that's true. However, their niche applications are really nice. Knowing a heavy damage phase is coming and swapping into fists of earth to make the healer's job easier is really nice, maybe even paring it with riddle of earth if it's a really nasty big hit that way the healers can prioritize the BLM who really got hammered instead of the MNK who popped some defensive. Of course, there's all the open world content where having that extra bit of survivability is helpful.

Having fists of wind is extremely useful, and it's applications are widespread, but that's always kind of a given with any sort of movement bonus. It's also nice to have while sprint is on CD.

Fists of fire is just boring. I'll give you that, it is just "DPS mode" and it definitely is just there to make sure people don't end up with FoW or FoE on all the time. Truthfully though, that's totally fine. It lends to the idea of fist weaving in combat as the need arises. If we were really worried about making it "fun" then what we could do is it could grant a passive buff to auto-attacks that applied a small fire DoT to the target that stacks 3 times and lasts for 12 seconds and refreshes with each successful auto-attack made while under FoF. But, I feel that is unnecessary as it's current iteration is fine.

My thought is here, the uses of the fists will lend more usefulness to individuals who crave that extra little bit of mastery over the job where it's nothing astonishing but does speak to a higher skill level and is still useful.

Don't know, just my thoughts. I'm curious to hear other's thoughts on fists and their removal.

[Aelin_Ashryver]

The thing is swapping to FoE to help your healer is also gimping your dmg and taking up weaving space you could be putting a dmg ogcd into. Fists of winds movement bonus is totally not needed as all mechanics are made in mind with people's normal ol move speed. And again you gimp your damage. Your extra lil bit of mastery others will argue is just you not playing the job correctly as you are lowering your dps output without much gain from doing so. Not trying to be mean here in saying that.

Don't get me wrong when I was new and leveling monk I really liked the fist stances as well! But I soon realised just how useless the others really are and that they had not been well implemented at all. It was just set and forget fof and then ShB pre GL removal was open in FoF then swap to FoW in opener. That was as interactive as it ever got for me having started in laaate stormblood.

As it is now for endwalker see it like this I spose, your enjoyment of the wind stance can come from your new very snazzy blink. You still have RoE for the free true north and dmg reduction as well. And you now get to think a bit more about combo rotation with your PB being on a shorter cd. I think it will be in better shape now than before, but it seems like you enjoy more utility so maybe for you not as nice, I do hope you enjoy the new MNK tho.

[Morzy]

When FoF was 5% it might not have been that big of a deal, but switching off FoF for anything and losing 10% damage isn't good at all. FoW is nice especially for solo content or when you just want to run long distances. Riddle of Earth appears to be living through EW changes so there's that.

[Xeahanort]

I personally think that fists are fine. I'm indifferent to them all things considered. I don't really care if they're there or not But I think the fists are something that gives flavor to the job and I don't really think they should be removed. They don't really do anything bad since you just have hit one button at the beginning of the duty then forget it even is a thing. And if you decide to use them say in a dungeon to get around faster or solo'ing for extra defense it's fine. I think they do what they are suppose to do. I don't think that every job in the game needs to be sterile and only have skills you use religiously in a rotation. I think Every class should have some flavor to it. And for mnk that flavor comes from the fists to a certain extent. That's just my take on it though.

[VentVanitas]

They aren't needed, they were pure button bloat and SE never made any good (intentional) reasons to swap between them. Good riddance to the fist stances.

[Bhearil]

They were a remnant of 1.0 were they actually were useful. Originally they changed your element, because there was an elemental system that was scrapped from 2.0 onwards.

2.0 simplified the system dividing atacks between physical and magical without caring for the element. Thats the reason why today you can have headscratcher moments like Ifrit a being of fire receiving full damage of a BLM fire atacks instead of reducing/nullifying that element probably to make it easier to balance jobs

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Fists of Fire was the issue, no Fist stance shouldve had a damage increase but instead be different levels of defensive utility.

Rip Wind and Earth.

[Iscah]

I like Wind's movement speed boost for questing. I'm going to miss that, regardless of battle changes.

[Kahnom]

Fist of Fire should be trait, to be honest.
Fist of Earth should bundle up with Riddle of Earth since makes it a trait might not be fair for other melees.
Fist of wind is fine, we can use it in open-world.

[Xeahanort]

They are not button bloat if you don't need to use them on the fly. Not everything is just combat and rigid rotations. There's content aside from high end raiding in the game. Many ways that skills are used that go beyond how you play the game that others enjoy. Button bloat is when you have a 30 button rotation where every button uses a different skill or effect. Not skills that are meant to give flavor to the game.