Marsh of Peril = Celestial Ward

http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=17721

As far as faction, if you evil, do the kill 50 blood  howlers quest, it turns into kill 100, and just do that up till your 2k.  You CAN just get a list of whats needed for your armor, go farm them.  Then when you finally get the faction go turn them in.
Drane armor : http://vg.curse.com/database/items/?q=Drane%27s&level_min=&level_max=40&race=&class=15&s=&st=1&sv=0

Personally i never did the Celestial ward and i regret it.   I did the cragwind legendary weapon quest (which at 30 was best weapon in the game till 48) but i felt gyped armor wise.  If you go full out celestial ward till you have the full suit of armor + the celestial throwing stars you will not regret it, that armor will last well till 45+ At which point you should just start replacing it with either t5 crafted or gorgalok armor.


PS.  XETH monks represent.   Name is fujitsu - look me up.
PSS  I AM doing the the throwing star quest now because of the upgrades promised.  290 dmg, 40 range, +5 crit hit.  They will actualy be better then uncommon t5 finally.   

Just a heads up.   The pain crystal armor is going to be rare and expensive, and i think you can only get t4 and t5 versions of it. 

Just look for armor that says +melee critical hit chance

Although until 30ish chances are you will be like me and just end up wearing random trash, and then get the celestial ward armor.  That armor will last till 40+ and you can slowly replace it with + crit armor.

You COULD do gorgalok swamp armor as it adds nice crit, however i feel atm the armor is just as hard to get as player made (aka not that hard) and as such neither is that good

Few tips for ya!

Dex increases Crits. but there is a cap of +18% crit rate from dex. (i think the actual number may be different)
Also player made armor with "pain" crystals will make Jagged armor which all adds + crit rate.  I would recomend Jagged (Pariah/Cavalers) Breastplate with assassins mark, and jagged legs with a mightly proc.
Also, hand to hand weapons all have a bonus to crit rate.

If all you are interested in is Crits, then i would go harmonious.  However I am bias and i prefer over all high dmg and ass such i went dragon.  We dont get as high a crit rate, but all of our attacks do an addition 25% (i think) dmg at 50.  As is i crit enough that i can burn all 5 offensive chains before they refresh.  Besides flying kick, I can consistantly keep them all used up even with our level 50 aum that decreases refresh time.

Also, do yourself a favor, and focus  str over dex.  You can put 4 into each, each lvl so they will both get pretty high.  Str adds perm. damage to each attack and the dmg added doesnt decrease when you lvl.  AKA 400 str at 30 adds the same dmg as 400 str at 50.   However, dex does decrease.  400 dex at 30 may cap your crit percent, but at 50 you need 900 to get the same crit percent.

At 50 i have 600 str 550 dex.  I could easily have 750 str, but i chose a more balanced set of gear at 50 due to the fact that i reach the stat cap for str in most groups so id rather reach the str AND dex cap instead of just one.

Fujitsu ----Xeth server...

There is also yavlp.  Its run on a website though so im not too found of it.  areyoureadyforpain.org ---- in the links section

Its great for windows xp but vist 64 tends to snag and crash a lot and since you cant download it, it makes runing in compatability mode hard....o and you have to use IE7+ another pet peave of mine.

Overal the parser is good.  Ive contacted the developer and tried to see if i cant get a downloadable copy of it to be released.

Monks dont get block, people with shields do, its fubar.  A cleric with 12% block will block about 50% of my attacks.

Thats where the statement "block is more powerful then dodge/parry"

Few notes about crafting.

1) The base stats on any item you can pick
---Str>dex> vit  (13 - 9 - 4)
---Dex>con>str (11 -7-4)
These are the two most common ones for monks.  These are the stats for fistwraps but they change slightly depending on the other crystals u add.

2) style Kojan, thestran, qalia determine the worn effect
kojan - +mana and atk
thetrans - +ac and accuracy
qalian - +hp and hp proc

3) Next you can add a focus crystal:  This is the part im less sure on, but i beleive this is the "jagged" part in the name.  Flawless (t5 ur) pariahas (qalian style) jagged (focus crystal) handwraps of striking (resonating crystal).  Jagged specificly means it adds + chance to crit proc.

4) Finaly a resonating crystal: Again, i beleive this is the proc you chose and its name is displayed at the very end.... of Health, of striking etc.
Heres where you would add snare proc, hp buff worn effect, str proc etc.

5) The overall dps of t5 ur is 64.44.

http://vg.curse.com/database/items/details/1325787/
http://vg.curse.com/database/items/details/1326602/

etc

What kills me, is they used to be 1252 dmg - 30 rng, now they are about 200 dmg 30 rng.
1 peace of mithril makes 600 x  shuri, that are 250 dmg 35 rng.

So the ancient weapon is officaly worse then 1 piece of mithril ore.

Dont get me wrong, it would be rediculously over powered if left at 1200 dmg.  However, being far worse then mithril now, makes it totaly worthless, infinite or not, the dmg is pathetic for the work.  I think bare minimum they should be equal to the mithril shuri.  The legendary upgraded weapon should be better.  For the work involved its a slap in the face to have 1 mithril ore make 600 shuri at a time that are far better

So now that throwing dmg is fixed, they nerf the dmg. Fair enough cause we would be averageing 2k+ a star.

However they are now 200-200 dmg. 5-30 range.  Seems way to harsh since mithril is 250 with 35 range (the ones i use)

Anyone have the upgraded version of CW stars, let me know how their stats are now please.

List of Bugs from the original list that are fixed

General Monk Bugs
    * Bug: FD Wierdness: Occasionally mobs will camp the supposed "corpse" of a player who has successfully FD. This keeps the player in combat sometimes thus lowering health regen. This does lead to the death of the monk on occasion as they can’t escape combat.
    * Bug: The ability to split pull using FD has mysteriously been removed. Was this a fix / nerf? Should this ability exist? (Bug acknowledged by Talisker and the pause prior to moving back to spawn spot will be reintroduced)
These are being fixed atm for gu3

    * Bug: Players are still reporting getting skill ups in weapons that they don’t have equipped anymore.
    * Bug: Ranged attacks are not taking into account the damage of the object used when making a ranged attack (e.g. a crude shuriken will do as much damage as using a balanced shuriken)
    * Bug: Storm stride doesnt teleport you behind the enemy if the enemy does not have aggro on anyone.
    * Bug: Storm Stride when it does teleport you doesnt change the camera position with you if in 3rd person
    * Bug: Secret of celerity does not work on auto attack - not supposed to anymore
    * Bug: UI does not always display finishers properly. Advanced finishers do not always make thier way to the reactions hotbar. Also sometimes Advanced Finishers get "stuck" in the reaction hotbar.
    * Bug: Quasi Exploit: Aum Lait - Currently gives 2 buff icons, one for the penalties and one for the enhancments, if you click off the penalty you can have aum lait speed buff with no penalties  (Dont do it!... Dont be that guy!)
    * Bug: Three Finger Strike, Hammer Fist hits for about 40 dmg. Damage seems way too low
    * Bug: Aum Kor doesn't work or do anything at all.
    * Bug: Unable to learn Reed in the Wind via mobs.


General Monk Issues / Concerns

    * Issue: Secrets of Ice / Flame dont proc enough and it's effects are negligible and not long lasting.
    * Issue: Legendary Weapon Quests are Bugged or non-exsistant as compared to other classes
    * Issue: Swaying Step:  Appears to not apply the dodge bonus, or the tooltip is incorectly displaying the real dodge bonus.
    * Issue: Monk dodge abilities are on a refresh timer where as a Ranger' are not. Either remove our refresh timer or add one to thiers. Level the playing field.
    * Issue: You can't use food and meditate at the same time. A minor issue, but it would be nice if we could meditate and rest up using food at the same time, considering that as a monk you're probably resting after each fight when soloing. eat then meditate - has worked for a while
 

Dragon Monk Bugs

    * Bug: Dragon Stance: it says it regenerates HP's but it has no effect at all.
    * Bug: Magnificant/Storm Dragon Stance:  Currently does not drain Jin over time as per description
    * Bug: Storm Dragon Stance: Secrets of Ice and Flame do not stack with this stance
    * Bug:  The icon is just a red X for the neutral stance icon.  When clicked on nothing happens.
    * Bug: Sundering Dragon's Claw tool tip says: Savagely tears through your opponent, inflicting a massive 891 to 941 damage over 6 seconds. Increases Jin by 1. It's listed as a finisher but is actually an advanced finisher and it doesnt work at all. 0 initial damage and 0 DoT
   



Dragon Monk Issues / Concerns

    * Issue: Storm Dragon Stance / Magnificant Storm Dragon: The style is listed as adding lightning damage in return for draining 1 jin every 4 seconds (think its 6 seconds on magnificant, cant log in to check atm) Jin currently isnt being lost, however the damage add on lightning is also very small, The style needs to add a lot more lightning damage and add the jin drain, OR take off the jin drain from tool tip and improve the damage just a bit. description has changed a while ago to show we no longer are supposed to be using jin cost
   
     *Sundering dragon 2 is now better then 1
     *Sun dragons corona 2 is now properly labled and doesnt cast the level 1 version

Updated With GU2----Work in progress


General Monk Bugs
    * Bug: Weapon Specializations do absolutely nothing.
    * Bug: Nerve Strike Currently this ability is broken by Psionicist AoE mez as well as many other minor AoE debuffs. With a 30 second cooldown, these make monks less dependable as a crowd control option in groups. This ability should be broken upon damage, to keep it in line with other classes mezmerize capabilities, or atleast make it less sensitive to certain debuffs.
    * Bug: Aum Kor: weirdness, if i let the buff fade i lose 40 int/wis/vit doesnt happen when i drop it just when it fades... had 0 int wis and vit last night , was back to normal when i loged.
    * Bug: Aum of the XXXX: The aum that teaches new skills currently makes the finishers vanish from the hotbar.  reloging fixes this.
    * Bug: Default stances have their icon up until we die, even if we change stances.

General Monk Issues / Concerns

    * Issue: The monk is supposed to have the highest DPS baseline of all offensive fighters. This is not the case. Some of this may be tied to itemization or lack of it at lower levels.
    * Issue: Evasion: Parry is nowhere near as powerful as block, 33% parry goes off about 1/10 as much as 15% block.  Overall evasion needs to be looked at.
    * Issue: Secrets of Ice / Flame are being modified by int. 
    * Issue: Ignore Pain is being modified by vitality
    * Issue: Swaying Step:  The tooltip doesnt display the dodge %, however the skill works
   * Issue: Reed in the wind may be on to long of a refresh timer for 10-13 seconds of buff.
    * Issue: Claws / Ulak and knuckles should be represented visually on the character's hands. Fist wraps, however, should continue to look like the monk is bare handed. -id rather them fix somethinig more important
    * Issue: Originally monks were supposed to be the masters of creating weaknesses that their group members could exploit. I think it wouldnt hurt to apply more weaknesses/weakness exploit tags to more mastery style specific attacks
    * Issue: Aum Liat - After the horse movement buff speed changes, monks should be granted a Five percent increase to mounted speed while chanting to keep in line with other classes movement buffs.
    * Issue: Jin Surge should not count for auto attacks, because it's very easy to have it "wasted" if you don't time it right - And you can't expect your teammates to time their attacks for it either.
    * Concern: Our abilities are not scaling well enough for us to maintain our role as the highest base DPS offensive fighter. Perhaps more upgrades more often would eliminate part of the DPS issue as well.  The is largely due to attacks that are just dmg + 100, instead of % * melee dmg (or weapon dmg) which makes the 30 point dmg increase in a weapon not do much other then add .. well 30 dmg.


Dragon Monk Bugs
    * Bug: When you use a 2h weapon and do  your AOE, Lightning damage is not added from our offensive stance.



Dragon Monk Issues / Concerns

    * Concern: Dragon Stance - 72 hp/4 sec at 50, way to low to be useful for anything
    * Concern: Stone Dragon - Improves the monks armor scaling in level and adding resistances, while reducing attack speed. The armor gained has very little impact on the reduction in damage taken and is a set ammount, the penalty for attack speed has little or no affect on the damage output of the monk. This stance doesn't seem to have much impact either way. Possibly reduce a flat percentage of incoming damage, or provide a percentage of resist to stuns, roots, snares and change the penalty to a reduction in run speed or percentage of outbound damage.  Additionaly, the mitigation of fire/ice isnt working.
    * Dragon Breath: 10 min, 8 jin, 1k dmg.....Needs a complete overhaul, dmg based on something instead of a flat number, and way less then 10 min timer
    * Dragon Rage: LOW dmg, chance to miss, 5 min recast, none of which are appealing for the cost.

Drunken Monk Bugs

    * Bug: Drunken Fist Stance does not have/give a buff icon.
    * Bug: Foolhardy Swagger II is a cloned version of I version down to the tooltip.


Drunken Monk Issues / Concerns

    * Issue: Drunken Mastery Stance did not get upgraded at level 30, The other two did.
    * Concern: Drunken Fist Stance - 10% damage increase, while generating 25% more aggro. This stance is clearly for soloing or tanking in groups as you will compete with tanks for aggro if used. Right now this stance collects dust. A possible fix to this stance would be switching the damage modifier with a damage reduction or avoidance modifier, allowing drunken monks to perform the role of off-tank once again.
    * Concern: Drunken Master Stance - 10% attack speed increase and 5% dodge increase. This stance provides monks with the least amount of penalty for using the stance, but provides no real benefit other then 5% dodge. A fix for this would be adding a set amount of damage to all abilities rather then haste (or making haste affect monk abilites) and increasing the percentage of avoidance gained.
    * Concern: Drunken Sway Stance - 10% to dodge, but 10% less accurate. This stance has seen perhaps the most extreme effect from the evasion changes. Almost everyone can agree that 10% is not worth a 10% reduction to accuracy simply because the two do not scale equally. A mob will gain more benefit from you missing 10% of the time, then you will see from +10% to dodge (once again 10% increase is usually not completely obtained). A possible fix for this stance would be to increase the evasion provided, possibly add a percentage boost to all damage dealt while in this stance, and significantly reduce the accuracy penalty as well as scaling it down as the monk levels.



Harmonious Monk Bugs

    * Bug: Harmonious Monks who use Deadly Adder Hand Line and then FD will garner aggro once again (even if still FD) when the damage portion of this ability hits the mob.
    * Bug: Crane Stance:  mouse over description says it adds +20% to parry, but the buff tool tip says 8%, i'm inclined to believe the buff tool tip.


Harmonious Monk Issues / Concerns

    * Issue: Eternal Crane end reduction components are not stacking with Aum Ti's end reduction components  -- need to check with a second developer, but one said he thinks its not supposed to
    * Issue: There is a problem with the crit bonus stacking with buffs, gear, and weapon types. It appears to have the 25% added before other crit rating modifiers are factored in. With heavy +% crit and dex gear, along with buffs almost no benefit is noticable from switching to this stance. A suggestion for this stance would be fix the stacking issues, remove or reduce the cooldown on stance stepping, and scale the endurance cost penalty down minorly as the monk levels.
    * Concern: Tiger Stance the end cost penalty for this stance may be too harsh


PVP General Monk Bugs

    * Pushing Hands does not work in PvP

throwing dmg is fixed...however our celestial ward stars now do 250 dmg instead of 1400

I dont know his real name, ill pm you his test name.

His exact words when he put both on "hm nope they dont stack, but im not sure if they are supposed to"
However it does counter immoral crane, so the aum works with stance, but atm only the higher % is taking affect.

I only had his ear for about 15 min, and i just went straight down the bug lists from this site....WHICH need to be updated after today because alot of those bugs are no longer around.  We didnt go in depth on drunk/harmonious sadly because i am not one and had to go buy the 2-3 bugs listed here.

the aums STILL will remove you atk chains (hes looking into it)
you will still have your nuetral stance icon stuck
and yes, drunk and dragon both get one stance that doesnt get upgraded at 30 and 50...the dragon one scales from 1 to 50 though, he couldnt comment on the drunken one

Also, the low level storm dragon stance is working as intended, you will go to 0% mitigation with it if u have less then 20%

We couldnt test the mitigation of the stone dragon stance (fire/ice)

First off im a dragon monk, just got 50 and this is what ive noticed.  ***** I went to the test and was lucky enough to talk to one of the lead developers who happeend to be on a monk at the time.  We went through as much of the bug lists for all types of monk as we could, we didnt finish but i did cover a good amount with him*****


1) Sun dragons corona - (its actually sun dragons corona II, but its got the exact same name as the first one)
**** They are now labled 1 and 2 on test, and u can use the higher lvl version


2) Sundering Dragon Claw II does 500 less dmg then sundering dragon claw I

SDC - 2.4 to 2.5k dmg over 6 second
SDC II - 2.1 to 2.2k dmg over 6 second
*****
Fixed on test - sdc does 3k-3.2k


3) Aspect of the cloud dragon - it invis'es your defensive target and levitates you (you will look invis, but only your defensive target will actualy be invis, its supposed to be self only invis + levi...
****
No longer invis's defensive target



4) Aum of the roaring dragon - removes half the chain attacks until you log out and come back in.
*****
Still removes all the atk chains, developer noted it and is working on it

5) Dragon stance's icon is ALWAYS up unless you die.
****
Still there, developer noted it, and tested it with all 3 styles, confirmed its a visual bug only and will work on it

6) Storm stride messes up badly in combat, not only does it not always work, but if we get it off, then the healers say our name is blacked out and we are 2k away and cannot heal us.
*****
no longer makes u unhealable/2k away



7) Dragon breath is on a 10 minute timer.  The only reason i assume this is a bug, is because 8 jin for 1k dmg and a 10 min reuse timer cant be right.  I auto atk for 1k
******
this is a dmg tweak issue, the skill remains as is but could change when they measure dps

Not specific to monks:
If you get an error saying "cannot see target from here" and you had a finisher open, it cancles the finisher and eats the endurance cost anyways. 

Some spells will "cast" before they are ready, which resets their blackout timer.  The spell if moused over still says the correct recast timer, but the black shadow is incorrect.




5) Not a bug, but quivering palm should read "on a succesful parry" so people know what triggers it




Drunk stances no longer adds the buff to the target

Legendary drunken fist now has an icon


As far as harmonious---
aum ti wont stack with eternal crane, they arent ment to
aum ti WILL counter immoral crane

The actualy mechanics of what they are giving us, IS a tool to fd and split mobs.

That being said, if mobs are truely LINKED then they will agro no matter what.  Theres a few examples of this in game at the moment... Xenn and the island of madness come to mind.