There has been talks on the vanguard beta board that monks are RELATIVELY less welcome in groups (compared to Rangers and Bards) not because we lack DPS (we dont), but because we monks do not have alot to offer to a group other than our baseline DPS.

Rangers do about 20% more DPS than us, and they have stealth, powerful ranged attacks, heals, snares, etc
Bards do about 10% more DPS than monks, and they have SONGS that do ALOT of great group buffs and utilities.

What do monks excel at? We do baseline 100% DPS, we ... "opens up weaknesses" (which BTW just about every single class do as well), drunken monks offer a little bit of tanking capabilities through a couple of taunts, harmonious monks offer a -15%mob mitigation debuff... and that's about it.  Oh one thing we're really good at is play dead (feign death), but that doesnt really offer a group that much.

Rogues are a different story because rogues are far more gimped than us with half of their skills not working properly so I'm not going to compare monks to rogues.

Monks are fun to play.  But what made monks unwanted is because we seriously lack something to offer in a group setting.  It doesnt really feel fair that Rangers and Bards get more damage than us AND offer much more utilities to groups.

I suggest that monks be given some kind of utilities to offer to groups. 
For example, maybe a jin-based heal WITHOUT a 5-minute timer, just so we can be a back-up healer if needed (sort of like druid heal, but maybe less powerful)
Or, a REZ spell (this goes well with our feign death)
Or, a group evasion bonus.

What do you guys think?

I slightly agree about that, however, I think that in terms of melee only dps, the monk should out dps a ranger, the ranger should be able to not fall far behind though in terms of dps melee wise, but have more dps at range. Rangers should be more utility almost then monks too I think but my question is this since I havent played beta...

How is pulling with feign death? Is that a viable form of splitting creatures as it was in EQ? If so, that should make up some grounds of usefulness.

lol Wait untill you can land Deadly Adder hand on top of the Northwind series. Watching a mob that used to hit for over 1k hit for 200 is the best thing in the world.

To me it just seems like monks come into our own later in the game. Which really IMO isnt the best thing in the world for MMORPG class to do.

At ny rate I can say there is actually something to look forward to.

-Ample

I wouldnt worry.  Monks apear to be a bit later bloomers.  The talk about not wanting monks in groups isnt something i would worry about.  The couple people on the beta boards who spew those comments are those parse everything types.  When you actually get in game the difference of a few dps isnt visible, and isnt important at low levels.  Things move around too much, what class gets what skill when and that whole mess. 

The thing I will worry about is given how complex this class is to get the most from all the abilites, there will be a vast gulf between good monks and bad monks.  I worry about the bad monks giving all monks a bad name.

I believe at some point during beta a dev stated he wanted monk damage to be 100% (ie a base dmg where all other offensive fighter is compared to), while the bard being 110% and ranger 120%.  The number may be a little off since I dont remember exactly what he said.

oh yeah i forgot to say. someone said there will be good monks and bad monks.  This is VERY true.  Monks require ALOT of micro managing to play the class really well.  So if you are just a button masher or lazy or dont really understand your class abilities and how they are used correctly, then you will probably be a bad monk.  If you can do all of the above very well, then you will probably be a really good monk and will be sought after when people want to dungeon hunt =)