Vanguard Monks

 Howdy folks,

  I am a level 39 almost 40 Dragon monk. I dou almost alays with my wife a druid of same level. Occasionally we have a disc friend that joins us. I ask this because reading varies threads here on the forums it seems like the majority have a very poor take on dragon monks. I have never played the other two styles so I dont know how they play. I know my wife and I can dou 4 dot mobs 1-3 levels above us with me tanking. I am normally always in DPS stance. Though I am an Orc so when things start going really bad i do have the extra heal form racial ability. When we hit 50 we will most likely start raiding with our guild in APW.

  I havent really seen much said about the three styles though since GU4. So i am wondering if Dragon monks are bad or if they are considered decent now. If  they truely are considered a bad choice thenwhat would be preferred? I need to be able  to tank some for douing with my wife, but to be honest I like being able to dish out some dps. Obvious conflict there. And what kind of gear should i really be aiming for? Evasion gear or Melee and crit gear?

 Like i said right now I am always either dou or sometimes trio, but do plan to raid with guild before much longer. Playing VG is the first time i have ever truly played a dps class. Have always been a tank in past MMO's. So I apprecaite all dvice. Thank you all for your time.

Dragon monks are okay,  i probably give off the impression that they are really horrible, but truth be told they arent that bad.  The major problems with the dragon style are:

1) Ae's: they have to many, and most of them are severly under powered and worthless (dragon breath, defensive ae, etc)
2) The mitigation penalty in offensive stance: Its way to severe and unjustified.  Theres no good reason why it needs to take 90% of dragon monks to 0% mitigation. 
3) They feel unfinished:  Stuff like dragon breath doing 2k dmg and sundragons corona being a damage shield seem under thought.  In reality theres no reason for a monk to have 7 ae, and for the most offensive monk to have a damage shield instead of a dmg buff.  That and each of the other 2 forms has an invulnerability. 

All things being said and done dragons dps is okay, its not where it should be and levels 15-49, they will probably be the highest dps tied with harmonious.  At 50 a well played drunken SHOULD top the list if EXCEPTIONALLY well geaed, where as a harmonious at 50 tends to take a lead over the AVERAGE dragon/drunken.

Once you start talking fully raid geared, its a different story.  This is 1% of the population and as such i dont think it should be adjusted but its funny to see.  Drunken>dragon> harmonious.    With full raid gear and raid buffs, Drunken monks will break 5-6k dps, which is more then rogues.  this is 100% due to refresh haste and their lvl 50 finisher.  4x thousand fists every 30 seconds is rediculously over powered.  Add in armor proc from fist of celerity and and 2 self dps buffs and drunkens really shine.   The thing is their regular attacks do squat for dps, and its not till 50 with max gear that they start to overtake the other 2 styles.... so 49 levels of being lowest dps seems fair. 

All things said and done, i think all 3 styles should have invuln buff.  All 3 styles should have at least 3 hits in the thousand fist chain (and drunkens get the 4th at 50).  This would raise the bar quite a bit for harmonious and dragon and probably let them over take drunken. 

But... I like being uber as a drunken.  ::)

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if ur almost lvl 40 in dragon style i would say stick with it go to lvl 50 with it run apw for a little while get the feel of that type of contnet with a dragon style.

then switch styles and test n tune diff styles then u will be able to see how the other styles work

i did and i like switching styles it was cool to see what the other styles do ect and im currently drunken and yes im comparing it to dragon.

so far im happy with it its a change from the like fuji said 7 aoe dps to a more evasive class with little more abilty for the grp

oh n p.s..... now i just heard this thru the grape vine ..well actually  it was written on the wall at the khal tavern restroom,

but the guys at the harmonious dojo wear girly pants :o

any monks on seradon server wanna /duel  no not pvp i understand the philosphy behind that for some peeps i just need get my monk arse kicked few times get my rythem up to par ect.

Basically yes they are bad :P
I really really couldn't switch to dragon again without some changes to the form....which apparently are not coming.
Least utility, least dps, worst tank, worst for pulling, worst solo, worst for groups, worst for raid, sigh :(
Sure sounds like Dragon form is a "self-nerf" buff.
No-one can deny that OBJECTIVELY and all circumstances considered...dragon is the worst form. Same for rakurr/wolf with shamans.

*shrug* I do great damage as drunken, have tried harmonious, and I still say I did more damage as Dragon.  Dragon also  has the best chains by far with enraged, no one cares about drunken's and harm's solo chains in raids. I switched due to needing a perfect dodge ability for corpse dragging, getting to summoning room as dragon is a pain  :tickedoff:.

I wouldn't mind having a dragon monk in my raid again, and if our monks would just stop taking "breaks from the game" I could have one maybe.

Well for me i have been Dragon for 50 levels now and no other style.  From what I read though, if i was to change i would go drunken.  My groups are usually impressed with my character though, through dps and even tanking abilities.  However to my surprise I wear DPS gear instead of tank gear.  This is mostly in small groups and such, and the AoE's are useful in this situation.  I can see how a drunken would outshine dragon in raids though.  The offensive stance does increase dps quite a bit though, with the 15% lightning proc but only 2% extra damage over drunken.  I just wish I had the 4x fists chain!

Well ... i switched from Dragon to Harmo some weeks ago after a long time of refusing and holding onto the once chosen class. Have to say i didn't regret up to now. With exactly same gear and skills i can solo much easier (did all 4 Graystone Blessings solo) and the raidgroup i'm in surely appreciates the Debuffs more than any AE of my former Dragonstyle.