I think you took it differently than I intended Fuj.  I'm looking at it as the dragon monk creating the elemental weakness via melee attacks/thrown attacks etc. that add debuffs.  So no need to program in anything on a mob by mob basis.  Granted mobs that have predefined weaknesses will be able to be more heavily exploited by a dragon monk, and elemental casters/attackers (sorcer/ranger etc.) will also be able to capitolize on the elemental weaknesses/debuffs a dragon monk creates in groups/on raids thus the utility aspect, but damage oriented utility.

In addition to the dragon monk being able to buff his/her own elemental damage output one way or another.

In the long run I don't think it would be that tricky, but then again I've never had to program for this game and it would involve making new abilities instead of adjusting old ones.  But I don't really see a way around that.  If dragon is ditching AOE, then new abilities are going to have to come into play.  I'd prefer they were unique instead of copy cats of other abilities.  But you may be right in thinking that's hoping for too much.  Hard to say.



I like the idea of a dragon hps saccing damage boost, that's a neat concept and would hopefully capitolize on their balanced stance hp regen very well.



In regards to the adjustments to dragon defense.
The trade off was made with APW in mind more than anything else, 35% spell resistance vs. all is a pretty damn powerful thing in practice.  50% fire and ice is great, but also more than what you actually need in most scenarios.  35% spell mit vs. all is useful in a larger range of scenarios and still very very functional.  I would prefer 35% all instead of 50%cold/heat in a heartbeat.  Also goes with the theme of being an elemental master.

And 5% more slow is a drop in the hat in practice.  Considering how little of our damage comes from auto attack, especially if you have any kind of endurance regen running, the difference might be too small to show beyond regular error and variance even on good parses.

But 10% physcial mit is pretty darn good and fits with the theme of a stone dragon well.  Very resistant to the elements and more durrable to physical blows.  Perhaps could add a touch of parry but realistically 15% slow is a pretty trivial penalty (just like 15% melee haste is a pretty pathetic boost in practice).  You'd have to make it much worse or figure on a different additional pentalty to go much further imo. 


I guess in my mind the harmonious damage redux wouldn't change from level to level.  Just be a flat 20% from 15 on.  It keeps them from stepping on drunken toes for tanking as their reactive damage will never compare when going all out defense, and while they will have similar overall defense when in defensive stance, drunk will still be higher, more reliable and hold aggro much better.  I don't feel based on playing that 25% end redux cost will fully compensate for the damage reduction, nor do I think it should...it is afterall a defensive stance and harmonious are not supposed to be the tanking style.  But I certainly could be wrong about the endurance cost reduction being too high it wouldn't be the first time. 

Yeah I think you're right about parry for drunk defense > dodge.  I was thinking dodge initially in terms of higher damage output = better aggro holding, but taking less damage = requiring less heals = less healer aggro so that definitely works too.  Went back and adjusted the bonus.

Anyway its what I would want from stances in the different styles.  But I'm only one person. 

Sorry in advance for the longish responce, just trying to explain where I'm coming from in my thoughts.   

Neat concepts.  I particularly like the offhand scaling damage idea.  Fun stuff there. 

My only concern with the mob position thing is that mob position is kind of glitchy in game periodically and while it LOOKS like you're standing x distance behind a mob according to the server you are facing the wrong way etc. etc.  So it could be frustrating to capitolize on it in practice.

For an offensive stance for Dragons, I would go with either:
- higher proc damage
- replace +damage with a significant amount of +haste
- off-hand bonus as described by Fujitsu
with an evasion penalty instead of a mitigation penalty.

QFT


In regards to the damage vs. distance bit I have visions of a tank shifting position causing the mob to move and the monks REAMING him for it.  "Could you hold the friggin mobs still?!  We were in PERFECT position!!"

Like some crazy artists telling their subject "Don't move an inch!  Just hold that position..."

You're right though, it could very well be worth it, especially on long fights where the mob doesn't shift much (doesn't knock around the tank, stays in one place and just summons, etc. etc.).  Of course, using shadowstep we'd (in theory) be at pretty much the right spot too so we'd prolly end up using that a ton more. 

I just love it when the server tells me "you have no line of sight" and I'm like "but...but....the mobs right there!  He's right in front of me!"

*shift around and adjust position some more*

"you have no line of sight"

/cry

Why does everyone seem to think Harmonious offensive stance is so great?  It is the worst offensive stance in game.  With a 40% crit cap, it is absolutely useless.  There is so much crit gear in the game, any lvl50 can max their crit chance.  However, there is no where near enough +dmg gear for a player to max his melee dmg except for maybe a dragon monk who gets +25% or whatever melee dmg.  I would take dmg over crit any day of the week.  Sure, harmonious is probably the best monk for solo and leveling.  But there is no way we can match the dmg of a drunken or dragon monk, especially in raids.  We just can not make up for the dmg bonuses that those styles receive in offensive stance.  And that doesn't even include the endurance penalty we get for this useless stance.  So go ahead and reduce my crit chance and up my dmg bonus, would make me extremely happy.  For those that think Tiger stance is the best offensive stance at 50, I would really love to see that argument.  Show me some numbers and make me a believer.

What kind of accuracy bonus do you have?

I too think the harmo offensive stance is pretty unbalanced and excessive, but that said I wouldn't call it the weakest.  Even with a crap finisher extension on the kick line in practice harmo has quite good dps and is pretty consistant with it.

You have to consider, it not only makes your regular skills likely to crit and trigger finishers...it also makes your finishers likely to crit regularly as well.  Aaaaand since you really don't need the crit bonus from dex you can spec hard into str/int. 

You're right that there isn't much in the way of +damage% gear, not even crafted.  Only can boost crit on armor.  Can boost damage on crafted rings and weapons.  But there is still a fair amount of things you can do to capitolize.  Of course chances are you will have excessive %crit anyway.

Maybe a good rebalance would be 17%crit, 8%damage  25% endurance cost increase.  That way a harmo monk wouldn't feel shafted on getting APW gear, swamp gear and loading up with crit they can't even use etc.?

I am no where near the crit cap as a drunken monk.

1) I use a martial staff so no+7% there  (MIGHT be +5% dont remember off hand)
2) I put 0 points into dex (at 10% there)
3) I dont have crit gear on at raids, i just wear my hp gear i have the molds for 7 pieces of armor but havent gotten the ore yet so no + crit on my armor

Im probably at a good 13-15% crit rate as a drunken, no where near 40%