I've mained monk ever since 3.0. I'm sure there are some older monks too who can attest to how it was in ARR. The job has gone through a lot of different identities and changes throughout its life and I think the current iteration of monk is probably my least favorite. I know this is an unpopular opinion because I've heard so many people talking about it's high damage and "flexibility". Despite the praise I've heard, and spending nearly two months with the job now I'm still not convinced. I'd argue that new monk is much more restrictive than it was previously.

We have done the "build then spend" job design to death. That is literally how every job in the game is built. Every job is a nuker. I think monk was much more fun when it broke that mold and did something different. I like the built in low GCD. Rather than having monk build up in order to use the one or two skills that actually deal any significant damage, it should focus in on the fantasy of attacking lighter but faster. Give it more consistent damage across the whole fight rather than waiting every 60s before it's allowed to do any real damage.

Blitz right now is too clunky. The basic rotation may seem easy to me, but for someone learning the job brand new it must be a nightmare to learn on top of trying to figure out how they're suppose to use then during perfect balance. I don't know why we don't just have one blitz that's single target and one that is for aoe. I would rather see Riddle of Fire gone and replaced with maybe a reworked riddle of wind that further increases all attack speed.

I know I'm the minority here but I really don't like the direction monk is going. Honestly I thought ShB was fine. It wasn't perfect, but I think we're causing more problems for the job by trying to reinvent the wheel every single expansion.