MNK and DRG: How are they?

[Travel]

Haven't seen any threads about these two jobs; seen plenty for SAM, RPR, and NIN, but none for MNK and DRG. So, I'll bite.

How are these jobs doing this patch? What problems do they have? What should be changed?

[Zarkovitch]

I do not main them. But, they are still solid picks overall.

[Absurdity]

Monk is probably in the best spot it's been for years, both in terms of gameplay and performance (so much so that I almost think the design was an accident on SE's part), and dragoon is doing really well too, probably why every dragoon is dreading the supposed rework in 7.0

[Mithron]

MNK is currently 1st in rDPS and 3rd in aDPS, making it the second best job in the game currently (the best being SAM, which SAM beats MNK in 50th percentile rDPS). It's a lot more accessible and easier to play now, which for the hardcore mains isn't so much a good thing in their opinion. I find it a lot more fun than its ever been, but it's true that its skill cap has been lowered significantly since HW.

DRG is 4th in rDPS and 6th in aDPS. It's still pretty solid. I don't have any outstanding complaints about the job, but I never really found it that fun to play. SE is planning to completely rework it (and AST) in 7.0, while PLD is getting a rework next patch.

Play what you want and play it well. That's the meta now that P8s was nerfed.

[Petite]

It's my first savage tier playing a melee DPS and I chose DRG as it has my favorite job aesthetic.

I feel it's smooth to play until you get to your 2 min burst window. Having to press 5 "jump" oGCDs that each immobilize you for at least 1s feels very clunky. (High Jump, 2x Spineshatter Dive, Dragonfire Dive, Star Diver).

Outright, they should replace Spineshatter Dive with another, move fun, OGCD. Elusive Jump is already a better movement tool anyway.

[pympcakes]

I don't raid, so I can't address performance, but I obsess over class design and feel in FFXIV and many other MMOs.

but monk is probably one of the best designed dps jobs. It's not perfect (could use more oGCDs perhaps, a way to pool chakra, and for the love of Eorzea a single ranged ability just for solo play if not dungeons/raiding). Great flow through the stances, decision making that matters, ability to burst during burst windows without feeling bored the rest of the time. It reminds me of Black Mage a bit in how the kit flows through its loop and allows for seamless transition from single target to AOE. Thunderclap is my favorite gap closer or movement ability in the game. It's perfect (gap closers also should not have potency bc this game is 1000% obsessed with damage, making them just another oGCD damage ability to cram into burst windows).

Dragoon... let's just say I am looking forward to the rework. It's the job I want to play (lore, ascetic, weapon), but the rigid combo system combined with jarring < 1 second jumps and no truly hard hitting abilities just doesn't do it for me. And that's fine; I know most dragoon mains seem happy with the claas and I hope they get to keep it. Frankly, dragoon taking over monk's rotation (roughly) - with jumps being big GCD abilities that are built up to - would fit the class fantasy so much better. Jumps were iconic, and having them be piddling small hits with little animation weight (due to weaving/clipping concerns) feels like an utter waste of a great concept. Jumps should be on the GCD.

[fulminating]

The monk rework surgically removed everything I liked about shadowbringers monk and didn't really fill the void with anything I can appreciate - although the ability to swap between st and aoe mid rotation is still there which is good. I can see why people like the rework so it's got that over summoner at least. It would have been nice if they'd incorporated fists of wind/fire/earth into the rework, or just prevented GL from deteriorating while afflicted by whatever watching a cutscene debuff the fight gives. The addition of finishers to the burst is interesting at the least.

Dragoon is hands down the best designed job in endwalker which can be taken in a positive or a negative way. For lack of a better descriptor it's the oGCD dps, with a figure-of-eight rotation lacking any extremely hard singular hits, but keeping up a constant stream of damage. I'm fairly sure the lancer guy introduced lancer the same way, so it seems a pretty established niche for it. GCD jumps would be a terrible move for a job as busy as DRG, assuming things like chaotic spring and other attacks where the character jumps during the animation aren't counted. Primal rend is essentially a GCD jump, and it has every issue that DRG's oGCD jumps have had fixed (long animation lock, better used for damage not utility, hits like a wet noodle and so on).

[Foinhas]

I'd say monk is in a good spot. the only problem i have with monk is that (and SMN has the same problem) the dev team forgot that the lvl cap in endwalker is 90 and not 60

[VentVanitas]

Monk has never really had a problem with viability unless you're talking about ARR or HW MNK. Purely in terms of numbers or damage, it has never been something the job has really lacked the past few years. When it comes to its design however, I cannot call EW MNK "the best it has ever been" in this regard. Every version of MNK has had their own batch of problems, it's simply part of the job at this point to have some strange jank- but similar to the case of ShB MNK, I feel like there are too many little issues steeped into the job's design that I don't think it is better than the sum of its parts. EW MNK especially has disappointed me because it's almost good, it's very close to doing something special but so many strange decisions on behalf of SE's whimsy makes it fall short.

I lack the energy to rant about the specifics, but if you don't care about the nitty gritty of the job then Monk is fine.

[echo78]

Monk has never really had a problem with viability unless you're talking about ARR or HW MNK.

ARR monk was basically required because of dragon kick and running double monk was common. Monk was completely viable throughout all of HW, it just wasn't optimal.

Anyway, I think EW monk is horrible (gameplay wise) and it really has nothing in common with the old monk gameplay that I loved (monk being a fast paced sustained DPS with an emphasis on positionals, OCGDs and keeping up GL. Also the dots before they got taken away in SB) so oh well I guess. To me, monk got deleted from the game and replaced with something completely different but it happens to have weaponskills that share the same name. How unfortunate.