Ok, here's the real question i'm trying to solve...

Does anybody know how much % based difference +10 critical Melee hit chance  (for example)  have over your total chance of scoring a critial hit? Before, gear would say 1% Crit melee hit chance, that gear has now changed to +10 or so.

I'm basically trying to figure out if +10 critical melee hit chance is superior to +10 DEX STRICTLY for scoring a critical hit. It really would help me decide the right gear to have for my monk.

Before, when you would equip something with a 1% increase, you would see the change on your character take place under your stats screen that shows your crit chance (my current is 12.6%, and the change would show up instantly when i equip my gear). Now, nothing changes when you equip +critical melee hit chance gear so its impossible to figure out the exact benefit of it.

Any ideas?

Any idea how it stacks up based on a percentage? is +10 critical melee hit chance, for example, equal to 0.5%?

Managing your Jin by balancing it with your KICK moves that restore it would also make the class more entertaining because it would allow for more "skill" aside from kick clicking buttons.

I guess i'll keep dreaming 

Ok, it's nice. Really Nice. But the timer is rather long for it to really impact the monk as a killer DPSer. It's as if they don't really want to give us ANYTHING to really set us apart. And as I level higher (currently 35) it's becoming more and more difficult to match a ranger in damage over the course of an hour grind session.

Anybody think a 5 minute timer would make it a little more useful? I know this probably wont happen, but i'm just throwing it out there.... It's more less an emergency thing like our race specfic abilties, and requires 8 jin so it won't always be available in sticky situations when we need it anyways unless we are harmonious.

Reminds me of this group I was in last week:

We had 5 members, looking for 1 more. I got in because I was a package with the healer.

The big choice:

Warrior LFG
Monk LFG

Group Leader:
"Well, warriors can do some sweet damage if they need to, but at least the monk can FD. Ya, grab the monk if we have to but try to find a bard or ranger i'll brb"

2 minutes later a ranger joins the group.

The moral of this story: Monks will sometimes be chosen to DPS before protector classes mainly because they have FD which doesn't always work properly. But ssssh don't tell anybody, they might pick the warrior instead. 

hah, assumming they fix FD so that it actually works, we will at least be able to brag about that...

A nice bonus would be for SOE to bring our class up to par with the masses so that FD isn't our only selling point into a group. And if they can't do that, again, just fix FD.

at least they are fixing Bard and Cleric, the 2 classes that need the most help 

but in all seriousness, nobody plays Monk. You would think that's a reason to want to fix the class, but maybe they are trying to cater to the subscribed members. They do, after all, have clear records who's playing which class and they know a lot more people are playing awesome classes like bard and cleric. They MUST be trying to cater to the masses who are already subscibed? Seems stupid if you ask me.

Yeah, same guy. And the sad truth is they are making the game ready for release with their people. Sure, it's been released, but it's still not 100% ready for release 

I'm using the same weapons on my 32 Monk. It was the best I could find, although keep in mind its almost impossible to find weapons for monks. Just curious what you paid on your server?

1) We should bring the most MELEE DMG to the table aside from a ROGUE who's damage is situational (and for that reason, won't always be up to par with ours)
2) We should have the ability to take some pressure off the tank and dodge the mob if needed. (NOT tank, just take some pressure off the TANK and handle ADDS)
3) We should have an INV spell at an earlier level, we're suppose to be like freakin's ninja's arn't we? Although, we shouldnt get additional attack bonus's while hidden.
4)MOST IMPORTANTLY we should bring SOMETHING special to the group no other class does. Weather it's some sort of group buff (we need at least 1 buff regardless thats group based and jin surge doesnt counts), or, IF I had my say, an INSANE move that the monk can do with a rather long timer (5min+) that does an extremely high amount of damage and finishes the mob off fast (a chain that hits 5 times in a row for very decent dmg). This could also help in sticky situations to prevent party wipeout. Personally, i'd rather have a monk bring some sort of special DPS related ADV to the table. But i'll settle with a group buff. I'll settle for anything that gives other party members a reason to group with a monk other then filling in space.

BOTTOMLINE:  MONKS are benchwarmers. They will only ever find a place in a group when the party NEEDS to fill the group. Sure, we find groups. But we are rarely, if ever, called apon.

The worst part is, we arn't trying to complain. We just have one simple question....

Why.....make a pointless class?

Can't say that i'm usually outdamaged by a DK. Usually if i'm grouping with a DK who isn't tanking, the mob is either on the TANK, myself, or the caster. I also frequently pull hate off DK tanks my same level. They do a lot of damage for a defensive class and are definitely a better all around class, but I have my doubts that they outdamage a well equipped monk with his stats in the right place on a regular basis.

Yeah, I'm not going to switch though just yet. I'm too affraid of what sigil might have in mind for monks upcomming. I want them to finish "playing" with the class before I do anything drastic.

although, it would be nice to spam ashen with harmonious

I have my doubts that it actually explodes the heart. It should be called "Palm slightly bruises the chest"

it really comes down to how much you're actually enjoying playing your broken monk. I understand why anybody would leave the monk class, since it's broken in so many different ways it's almost stressful. I've always played a monk in every MMO, and I dont intend on giving up in vanguard either despite the fact our class is quite far from perfect . I will bring my monk to 50 and try to enjoy it, but im also re-rolling other classes to find a more stable class that might keep my attention. I wont give up on my monk, though. Monks are always under-dogs, it makes it interesting.

"Whow, the MONK pulled aggro!!?!? WTF??"

or the best was my convesration with a cleric the other day after we parted a great party...

sybrant: "It's always good to group with a good cleric, ill look you up if I ever need a healer which is basically always "

cleric: "it's always good to group with a good monk, i'll look you up if i ever need a monk which is basically never "

It's sad, though, that the changes required to make our class balanced are so simple and logical, yet our class continues to suffer as it levels....unlike other classes that get stronger, we just get newer, weaker, redundant skills....

the patch note should've read:

Monk - Reed in the Wind actually turned out to be a fairly useful for the Monk class and brings them up to par solo wise with other classes, so we've added the intended Monk nerf to make sure they continue to suck.

reed the wind was basically just a really great soloing ability monk had that helped up become up to par with other classes for soloing, that most of us will just remove off our bar now (along with SEVERAL other useless monk abilities) OR keep in that out of the way spot incase we take too much aggro in a party (hah, if thats ever even a problem considering our classes state...)

a 30 second refresh I could deal with. maybe 1 minute I guess I might keep it on my bar. 2 minute timer to dodge 1-3 attacks and maybe counter attack 1-3 times max? lol. as if that will be any good for any particular purpose anymore....

Why don't the dev's just remove these abilities to save memory in the games code?