I find it completely amazing how much work they put into rangers while monks get minor baindaids.  Enjoy............

- Ranger – Added upgrades to Nature’s remedy every 10 levels
- Ranger – Nature’s Remedy now takes 2 seconds to cast, is usable in combat and removes a set poison magnitude, rather than all poison/ disease.
- Ranger – Ferocity is now percentage based and increases endurance regeneration. It lasts for 50 seconds and has a 15 minute refresh timer.
- Ranger – Wind Talisman no longer increases melee haste. It now lowers refresh rate by 10% and endurance costs by 25%. It also makes Windsong better when activated (similarly to Whisper of the Wind).
- Ranger – Panther Talisman no longer increases evasion. It now increases your endurance by 20, increases HP regeneration and max HP.
- Ranger – Destructive Swarm is now instant cast and has an 8 second refresh timer.
- Ranger – Rancor now increases the damage of your group members every time it is used, rather than increasing the damage of every group member attacking your target.
- Ranger – Shocking Arrow now has a chance to stun.
- Ranger – Deadeye is now available as a secret chain.
- Ranger- Increased the damage on Foraged arrows.
- Ranger – Foraged Arrow Shafts can now be converted into Shortened Bolt Shafts and vice versa.
- Ranger – Added a chance to get more than 1 foraged arrow piece per forage.
- Ranger – Increased foraged arrow assembly to produce 15 arrows at a time.
- Ranger – Summer Cloak now grants a 50% proc on attack to give you strength. This is on top of your chance to proc when you get hit.
- Ranger – Thorn Cloak now has a chance to proc damage over time when you are hit.
- Ranger – The Maelstrom ability line has been added to your trainers. This is a 3rd step in your AE attack chain.
- Ranger – Splitting Arrow now only hits up to 6 targets.

Its a clicky item.  You get it as the final reward of the wardship armor/weapon line of quests

I dunno... When someone else in my group pulls I only enter combat when I perform an action.  Unless of course the mob hits me with an aoe or for some reason comes after me instead of the puller.  Other then that I am out of combat untill I do something.

When I was talking there, I was talking of 2 dot mobs.  I dont feel they give that much xp that it is a big deal that a well geared monk can take 2 of them with minimal downtime. Cash loot at that level you are talking maby 20 copper per.  They dont always dont drop something at all.  Id say 25% of them were empty, but lets say they all had loot that averaged 20 copper.  5 kills would equal 1 silver. So you would have to kill 500 mobs just to make 1 gold.  Thats IF they all dropped loot, which they dont AND it is a 20 copper value which isnt always the case either.  I dont think that is gambreaking.

As far as the xp goes.  To give an example at lvl 21 killing lvl 25 and 26 2 dot mobs...1 at a time but in alot of cases 2 at a time...didnt always do 2 at a time because I didnt always have the attention span for it..For 3 hours...I made half of a level.  At lvl 21 I dont think this is gamebreaking either.  <---- that was almost non stop too...just a couple breaks for quick bathroom or grabbing food.  I know these as facts...it is fresh in my mind and not just some average that I am comming up with from past experience..I did this 2 days ago.

Dude.  I think you completely missed my point.  You gave a story and I happend to have one of the same situation.  Secondly I was not resisted hardly at all.  Thirdly Im not sure what you think but you put yourself side by side with me and I will own you in kills.  Maby the first kill will be about even ..but while you are killing 1 mob I am killing 2 or 3...even level hands down I can do 5 easy.  This has nothing to do with AE's , at this point I have 1 AE and it requires a corpse and the mobs to be within 10 meters of a corpse so it is useless almost while I am soloing.  While you are doing downtime with food I am killing more and more.  Within a half hours time I will have WAAAY more then double your kills.  Don't care if the sorceror did not have FD.  I didn't need to use mine at all.  So FD is a moot point.

Now do I think a monk should be able to do that? No.  Do I think the monk should be able to handle a couple 2 dot mobs without having to FD and without it being a down to the wire thing and without his heal...Yes.  I also think a monk that is well geared should be able to handle a 3 dot mob without much of a problem.  I think its sad that gear is that insignificant that it doesnt make that much of an overall difference.  As a necro I can solo 4 and 5 dot mobs with ease.  From what I read 6 dot mobs are not that much different.  Do I think a necro should be able to solo better then a melee class? Most definately but not by this incredible margin.

You are not out dpsing a ranger of the same skill level and gear as you. No you are not.  Are these 90% of encounters skellies?  No you are not out dpsing a ranger in 90% of your fights.  No you are not.  Especially in the first 30 seconds.
I would even go so far to say that you are not all that far ahead of an defensive fighter in offensive form.  You are probably just barely ahead of a bard.

Where does the monk lack?  They lack in DPS apposed to other offensive fighters.  They lack in an ability that another offensive fighter cannot do better. They are lacking in utility as apposed to other offensive fighters that doesnt justify our mediocre DPS.  They are too micro managed...short term buffs that if you want to keep up with any sort of dps you have to constantly make sure you are clicking them.  I could give you a big list....however they are all over these forums and I am not about to rehash them.

I played EQ1 from beta to just after PoP era.  While my primary was a wizard I had an alt monk that I worked up next.  Sorry but that monk rocked compared to the monk here. Its broken because it is not balanced correctly in our archetype.  I do not wish to play a class that is both needing and going through changes for months.  Alot of those changes that break us further for a few days or weeks.  In the case of FD a few months.

"You can answer that while I solo my quests in Ruin Falls"  <-- Do I detect a litlle elitist there.

You can play your monk in its broken state.  While you are 50, I will wait for the class to be fixed and enjoy his levels afterwards.  I never said I couldnt solo.  However it is very inefficient as apposed to almost every other class. 

Ever stop to think about why you are 1 of maby 5 monks that post that think the class is ok?  Ever stop to wonder why post 30 there are only a handful of monks and it is the second least played class...Second only to the Disciple?

Just adding on the things I may have not been totally clear on because I was in a rush this morning.

"So I guess I ask you the same question, is your thought of where a monk is suppose to be, killing 4 mobs 3 levels higher at a time with no down time? And when they can, that won't trivialize encounters across the board, how?"

Killing 4 mobs 3 levels higher then him no.  Killing a couple 2 dots 3 levels higher then him with not much downtime if he has excellent gear yes.  Killing 1 equal level 3 dot with excellent gear and comming out quite a bit ahead yes.  Does it trivialize the encounters? No it doesnt.  For one post 20 those mobs really don't give that much xp.  You are really not getting anything of real value of loot in them.  You cant trivialize an already trivial encounter.  Last but not least.  Every other class can. Speaking of trivialized encounters...in a group situation there are not many that are not trivial.  IOW this game is pretty easy mode.

Bottom line is this.  Either the monk needs some serious work OR alot of classes need to get the nerf bat.

Thats a very nice story.  Now let me tell you mine.  I got my monk to 35 before I gave up on it.  Not because it was unplayable but because they fail to meet the description of the monk.  After many patches of comlete half ass baindaids and pratically breaking those as well... I decided to roll an alt until it was straightened out.  Why?  Not because I could not make it to 50 but because I wanted to level to 50 as a monk the way it is SUPPOSED to be designed.  Not the half cracked implementation we see today.

The alt I am currently playing is a necro.  I am glad you told the story you did.  Because I fought those same turtles you are talking about.  They were not mere even cons or 1 or 2 levels higher either.  I was level 21 and those turtles are level 25 and 26.  Did I die alot? NO.  I died ONE time and I have killed enough of them to make a full level off of them.  If you know how slow grinding xp is then you know I killed 100's of them with 1 death. The players you see dying alot are merely lacking in skill or over achieving to their skill. Here is the best part.  I was killing 2 to 3 of them at a time NON STOP until I ran out of spawns.  Running out of spawns was my ONLY downtime.  Why?  because it only took maby 30%  mana to kill 1.  With 2 corpses at level 21 I was able to go from empty mana to full mana in the matter of a couple seconds.  If I got hit a couple times it was no big deal.  I not only have a direct health tap that gives me the health from the mobs but I also have a dot that ticks and gives me health as well.  Sure some classes are able to solo better then others and some classes can solo what is impossible than others.  You yourself had downtime at even con and was killing 1 mob at a time.  I was killing 2 or 3 of them with the mobs 4 and 5 levels higher then me with no downtime.

Thats not even a night and day difference....thats the difference of standing IN the sun and having NO sun at all.

Oh I forgot to mention...it wasnt a slow kill process either.  I could probably kill 2 of them faster then you were killing 1 even with the level difference.  Now if I was even con to them.  Id have the whole camp pulled and mostly dead by the time you though about killing 2 of them.

Vinjin...yes I see your point and I cannot say one way or the other whether the game would have gotten atleast 250k subscribers.  No way to know for sure.  What I do think though is that it probably would have. IF it was released as people thought it was going to be given all the hype AND if the performance was way better and less buggy.  You have to remember alot of people don't play on the simple fact that their computers cant handle it and they dont want to deal with all the bugs.

Thats pretty much what I am trying to say.  To top that off....They targeted, for the most part, a certain demographic in gaming.  They then later decided to target every demographic possible.  Personally I think they should have stuck with a certain style and STUCK with it.  Now its like they are trying to please everyone but mostlly they are pleasing noone.  If someone likes long levels and tough content they will not be pleased by quick xp and easy encounters...and vice verce.  Sure you may half please each crowd but its not enough to keep either side for very long.  They need to find out who the hell it is that they want to attract and design that game.  Enough of the "I think we can please everyone" bullSNARF...Its obvious at this point that you cant.

Vinjin...You have alot of good points in that post and cover alot of what people feel.


This part though, I disagree with.  They never implemented the game like they said they were going to.  That drove alot of people away.  Alot of the problem is they figured because of the low people playing it was the game mechanics..when it was in actuality the game performance that suffered the people.

They never implemented the games original vision so drove even more players away.

They cant really do that without redesigning the stances completely with us.  The difference is that lets take a warrior for example.  He has a defensive stance and an offensive stance.  The ways there's work is that offensive stance can only use offensive abilities and defensive stance can only use defensive abilities.  So really they only get portions of their skills in each stance.  While in defensive stance they really do not have alot of abilities that do much damage.. So there is still a trade off.  If they removed the penalties from our stances there currently would not really be much of a tradeoff.

I endured the pain of the monk for 3 months before finally saying screw it.  It had nothing to do with the grind.  It had everything to do with Sigil not being able to deliver even close to what the description of the monk is or any of its forms.  Each patch makes the monk worse and worse with the exception of one patch that barely brought us back to where we were.

I have rolled 6 alts and each of them smoked the monk in early levels.  Currently I am playing a necro and is now almost lvl 23.  Ive never had so much fun.

nah just thought it was funny...the movie was actually on tv the other day.

THE MIGHTY QUINN (QUINN THE ESKIMO)
Manfred Mann

- words and music by Bob Dylan
- Manfred Mann's cover reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968
- lyrics as recorded by Manfred Mann and included on the 1996 compilation
album "Rock Almanac, Volume Three - The 1960s" (Sony DMK 81024)

Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn

Everybody's building ships and boats
Some are building monuments, others are jotting down notes
Everybody's in despair, every girl and boy
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
Everybody's gonna jump for joy

Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn

I like to go just like the rest, I like my sugar sweet
But jumping queues and makin' haste, just ain't my cup of meat
Everyone's beneath the trees, feedin' pigeons on a limb
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
All the pigeons gonna run to him

Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn

Let me do what I wanna do, I can't decide 'em all
Just tell me where to put 'em and I'll tell you who to call
Nobody can get no sleep, there's someone on everyone's toes
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
Everybody's gonna wanna doze

Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn

Sounds like they are getting some of the bugs worked out.  Told ya FD will be practically useless when they do.

That pretty much was the big fix you just got the other day.  Not saying there are done but it took 3 months to get that pass...how long do you think it will be for the next pass?

Woooptie doooooo..............

Vanguard Build 1815 Patch Notes 4/19/2007 – TEST SERVER

ADVENTURING NOTES
- Disciple – All bonds now last 2 minutes
- Disciple – Lao’Jin Flare is no longer affected by global recovery.
- Disciple – Cyclone Kick now has an increased chance to score a critical hit.
- Disciple – Added Endowment of Enmity.
- Monk - Many monk abilities will now display new particles.
- Monk – Wave Hand in Cloud no longer has an energy cost
- Necromancers - Many necromancer abilities will now display new particles.
- Necromancer – Crippling Blight’s Tooltip has been updated to be less ambiguous
- Rogue – You should no longer be resistant to using Scroll of Wolf’s Legs.

CRAFTING NOTES
- Bows/Crossbows should have their continental effects and procs in the correct slots now
- Dark venom should give the proper feedback now
- Harvesting – Bloodwood Sap should no longer make you unable to die.

DIPLOMACY NOTES
- Travel journals have been updated for the web quest “Gather Information Check” to correctly display Roofrunner Firuz’s location.
- A travel journal location for Erdur has been added to “A Horselord’s Force.”
- The cards “Simple Allusion”, “Absolution”, and “Breakthrough” will now successfully teach their abilities.

WORLD POPULATION NOTES
- Frostshard Lake - Ancestral Reverents will now appear more often in Frostshard Lake.
- Quests - The quest Ancient Knowledge is now marked as Small Group.
- Quests – By Night – The Large Stalking Wolf will now drop the necessary quest component for all members of a party that are on that step of the quest. The Large Stalking Wolf is also locked to a group, so that when one group spawns him, no other groups can engage him until either he is killed or despawns. If you cannot hit the wolf, then return in a few minutes and try again.
- Quests – By Night - The mechanic for completion of Sona’s escort has been changed. This should prevent players from not being able to finish the quest, provided they escort Sona to her uncle. Also, Sona is now able to be attacked by the wolves that are hunting her (which means that she is susceptible to attack from players as well – watch where you swing!).
- Quests – By Night - The final battle with Grelrin has been made easier. While it is still difficult, the fight should be more manageable for a level-appropriate group.
- Quests – By Night - The reward for completing the By Night quest line has been bumped up slightly.
- Shrine of the Flame - Canyon lizards in Shrine of the Flame are now less stuck.
- Southern Thestra - Celestial Captains and Matrons of Gloriann will now be more frequently seen in southern Thestra.
- Spider Bluffs - Spider Bluffs locations are now categorized under Western Northern Plains.
- Tiberian Wildwood - The shadowhound camp in the Tiberian Wildwood has been expanded.
- Trengal Keep - The Heart of Karujin Gulgrethor is no longer attached to the quest "Slime Siphoning".

CODING NOTES
- There is a new programmable shader caching system to reduce hitching. You will hitch a bit more than usual while programmable shaders are cached the very first time you see a different material type in game. This is the last time *all* shaders will need to be recompiled. Hitching should be greatly reduced afterwards.