Well for one, spamming specials too often minimizes the impact of a good weapon with a low delay. Aluul's Claws and it's 1.85 delay is a perfect example of this. I'd wager that at least in some instances while using that, relying more on auto-attack damage and less on spamming specials might actually produce a higher overall DPS. Finishers are probably always worthy of use when they're available but I'm not certain that spamming everything you got otherwise is the most effective way to use them otherwise.

Not to mention the side effect of always waiting for endurance to regen when spamming as well. That's not to imply that it takes a long time to regen endurance to full but it could potentially allow you to be more tactical with your specials.

Well, you're making several assumptions here though, such as the rate of endurance depletion using specials versus simple crits, which happen on both auto-attack and special attacks. And while specials arguably have more bang for the buck than auto-attack does (finishers certainly do), there are several factors that could sway the impact of those crits one way or another in a fight, including the RNG.

I've actually been working to develop this very project as a tool for monks. It's still a work in progress though, at least for what I had visions of for it. However, it's also my understanding that the folks at Curse Gaming have plans to expand their database to include additional information that I've been compiling as well, which is exclusive to Monks only.

Not certain when mine will be ready for general use, but given the plans at Curse Gaming, I'll probably hold off a bit until we see more on that front. Plus, there's the added issue that a good percentage of Monk weapons need to be tweaked anyway, which means any work I do now could change drastically at some point anyway. 

I've read this twice and I still can't figure out what you're trying to say. Can you perhaps clarify?

You missed the point entirely. I'm not stating that Tiger makes harmonious monks overpowered. In fact, I was stating that given our current deficiencies, Tiger is one of the few bright spots that even keep us close to where we should be in the DPS pecking order today.

The point being made here is that when the devs eventually improve our other abilities and attacks such that we're not tied almost exclusively to just one stance to deal damage, the cumulative effect of those changes might be such that Tiger in its current form with a high crit rate gives monks too much of an edge in the other direction. I'm not saying it definitely will have this effect. I'm simply saying I could potentially see it happening depending on the changes to the other abilities.

As I said before, I'm clearly not in favor of any changes to Tiger until 1) we know for certain what improvements the devs intend to make for our other abilities and for the class overall, and 2) what the actual end-result and impact to DPS those changes have on us.

I personally hope this does not go live.

http://www.vanguardspheres.com/forums/test-server/9287-death-mechanic-changes-feedback-thread.html#post33713

I find the current death system fine. It gives death a meaning but isn't overly penalyzing since you can always just summon at an altar if you died in a really bad place. Perhaps the amount of lost XP should be tweaked but I'm opposed to overhauling the system altogether like this.

I wonder if they think this is necessary since a decent portion of the playerbase apparently isn't even aware that you can summon at an altar. 

People are looking at the same issue with different viewpoints, which is completely valid (and thus why the discussion is good for the class). On the one hand, you could look at monks and say we have many abilities that need to be improved but only a few that work well enough to make us a worthwhile class to play. Based on numerous posts here, I think many players probably fall into this category, and rightfully so. After all, it's perfectly understandable to want to hold on to those few abilities that work well because there's little else to fall back on.

Another way to look at it though is from a more utopic perspective. If, and I stress that word again IF, monks get some of their issues resolved and other abilities improved such that players feel they bring a diverse set of functionality and benefit to the table without solely relying on one or two abilities alone, then the argument could be made that something like Tiger is probably a little overpowered with the high crit rate. I think this is probably the point that Leishiu is trying to make. Given that most harmonious monks seem to use Tiger stance almost exclusively, that alone should give at least some credence to the point too.

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here. I think it's simply a matter of perspective. If (there's that word again  ) we get word from the devs/QTM that they have specific items planned to improve us as a class, improvements that will actually make a difference, than I suspect less folks will have a problem with them touching Tiger. But until that time occurs, I'm inclined to agree that adjusting Tiger (read nerfing) is just not a wise idea at the moment by Sigil.

Given the fact that we now know there will eventually be an AA system implemented in VG, I could see monks getting a snare through an AA skill. Even from a PvE perspective, there's uses for it. For example, group is deep inside a dungeon and a runner gets away and begins pathing towards a pack of mobs that haven't aggroed yet. Even a 20 snare could be a life-saver there.

Like many of you I'm sure, my monk is my main character. He's currently 33 and quite fun to me even with the shortcomings the class currently has. However, I still tinker with alts on occassion to try out the other classes, primarily to see how fun they are but to also get a better understanding for what the class can do for my monk when grouped with one.

The class I've enjoyed playing the most thus far is a shaman, who is currently level 8. Admittedly, I haven't tried any other healer classes yet and while I'm sure they are fun (and powerful), I like what my shammy can do thus far. Great buffs, strong DoTs. and solid heals it seems, although I'm sure some of this may taper off as he levels. It probably helps that I two-boxed a shaman with my monk for years back in EQ but I'm trying to be somewhat objective since this is a new game after all.

I actually have 10 warrior too but it hasn't really captured me the way I thought it might. And as for a light armor class, playing a caster is such a completely different experience for me than what I usually prefer (which is up close and personal  ) that I get torn as to what I think I would like best.

Having said that, I'm curious to see what classes other folks enjoy playing outside of their monk and why.

- you realize that the joy of dinging a new level is quickly replaced by the depression of seeing a now completely empty XP bar

Why exactly do people need Talisker to post each week that he's been reading our posts and concerns? This is exactly why Sigil has reps assigned within the community, such as our own Quinn the Mighty. As our rep, Quinn is responsible for going through all of these posts and consolidating them into a single message back to the devs to respond back to him to so he can then convey that message back to us. I personally feel that QTM has been doing a tremendous job thus far but some of these responses seem to imply that some of you do not.

Also, realize what you're asking for here. Talisker isn't exclusively responsible for monks. Expecting him to post here a set amount of times means every one of the other 12 or so classes deserves the same expectation. If he lived up to that expectation of simply reading and posting, where exactly does he find the time to actually make any game changes to address them? He doesn't.

Seeing Talisker or any dev post here is great but I certainly would not want the devs taking precious time away from actually fixing our issues just to come post on our board letting us know how they actually feel about those issues. That communication between dev and player is still happening. It's just through a middle channel: the class rep. And ours is doing a great job of it too.

AA = Alternate Advancement. It's simply a mechanism that allows the player to continue improving their character without actually leveling.

It's actually a solid concept because of the issue that max level has on the game. Players always want to feel like they can advance or improve but simply raising the level cap means essentially means adding new content, which must be planned, conceptualized, designed, implemented and supported, all of which obviously takes quite a bit of time to do correctly. Additionally, new content and levels have a tendency to make previous content outdated or even obsolete.

To give you an idea, the way it was implemented in EQ was you would be able to earn XP toward a separate AA bar that once you leveled, would earn you 1 AA point, not a new level. Once you accrue enough AA points, you could then use those points to "purchase" new AA skills, such as increasing your in-combat regeneration rate, or mana regen rate, or run speed, etc.

Personally, I'm glad they're looking to incorporate the AA system into the game, but I would agree with most of the folks above in that it's way too early to be actually delving too deep into at the moment. Fixing the core game should be everything until it's fixed.

Personally, I'd rather us come together on not just the issues but the prioty of said issues as well. Simply giving a laundry list makes it harder for the devs to identify critical needs or even a starting point. I suppose at least some of this has already been done in other threads though.

And while I don't necessarily subscribe to some of the suggestions you've recommended to fix our issues, they aren't anything too significant. Aside from that, I would mostly agree with your assessment of the harm monk issues.

Personally, I don't lay too much blame on the devs for failing to communicate with the player base as well as needed. Communication is absolutely vital in a successful MMO but at the same time, time spent communicating also means time away from fixing issues and addressing problems. I'm certain guys like Talisker, Nino, and Cylus are working their butts off to improve the game as best as they can but they're handed their assignments from above and there are just only so many hours a day.

Sigil has clearly lacked in some key areas regarding this game, namely project management, resource management, helpdesk support and advertising among others. At the end of the day, the blame fundamentally falls on Brad for that.

While not totally disagreeing with you, I would counter with the following points:

- While you might characterize Jin as second rate energy, actually comparing Jin to Energy is like comparing apples to oranges. If you want to make a fair comparison to Energy, use Endurance, not Jin.
- Endurance regens exponentially faster than Energy. To compensate, it must be balanced by some other factor. In our case, it's Jin.
- While we may need to build Jin initially, once it's there, it's significantly easier to maintain than Energy. This may however, be easier for Harm monks than others due to Harmonious Body but it's still fairly easy to get Jin up quickly in non-HB stances as well.

The buffs part I largely agree with you on. I suspect the devs feel our "buffs" as a whole can overpower us with no "maintenance" to keep them active, so to speak. I'm not exactly sure why they would feel this way given our current issues but the fact that they have not given any indication that a change is on the way regarding our buff durations leads me to believe that they feel it's where it needs to be. Thus, I'm relugating myself to the notion that they're here to stay.

My point is not to say the design is working well in it's current state. But with the right amount of time and attention, I think it could work very well. Certainly unique if nothing else.