Ok, so Im taking my firsts steps into the world of overly complicated MMOs (I skipped the whole "Second generation" and stuck with Anarchy Online)

So it seems that now theres all these percentages, and numbers involved in pretty much everything (Instead of the good ol...this shoots fast and this hits harder).

Ive been reading around and people are saying that bare handed is better than using wraps or stave's or anything. Why exactly is going bare handed any better than going with wraps? Im assuming it has something to do with stats, but I cant exactly see what the stats are of my bare fists to compare.

So what is better, and please, explain to me how you figured it out.

well how exactly can you figure bare fists vs. weapons. Unless I video tape several battles and compare Fisted dmg to weapon damage...i wouldnt know how....or am i over reacting

I've got your back on this Dojo. I'm sure it's not intended to be this way, but my monk is also doing more damage with his bare fists than with nuckles or claws.  I have not compared it to sword or staff, but generally dual wielding is higher damage all around.

Hey, now that's weird.  When I was level 7, I landed a kick for 611.  Since reaching 10, I haven't even come close to doing that much damage.  I think that it was either a bug that was fixed a day or two ago, or it's a level 7 glitch.  That's crazy!

I'm new at this monk thing and still working through my ignorance, but I kept hearing "Use your bare hands!"  Once I did, I came here and found this post through a search.  I checked the "attack" and "off hand" values by hovering (as pointed out earlier = THX)  Here is what I found for my character:

Level 13 Monk with awesome hair!
With Sharptooth Shanker equipped (2H, speed 3.15, dps 9.52)
attack hover reads = 43.50

With no weapon equipped
attack hover reads = 29.50
off hand hover reads = 14.75
Total = 44.25

With one Dread Wind's Claws equipped (speed 2.20, dps 7.73)
attack hover reads = 26.82
off hand hover reads = 14.75
Total = 41.57

With Dread Wind's Claws and Dusty Claws equipped (speed 2.25, dps 5.33)
attack hover reads = 28.64 (yes, different than above?)
off hand hover reads = 10.44
Total  = 39.08

So it appears to me, and I am by no means good with all these stats, that the bare hands have it right now for my guy.  I'm curious if I'm looking at this correctly, please let me know if I'm missing something obvious (other than great gear  )  You can also throw in the obligatory "Everyone already knows this, why are you posting it?" - but I'll just ask the question again; I want to make sure I'm checking this out properly.

Eug

Great question Az, and I have no idea.  I would guess that ultimately stats will win out by driving up crits/etc. but I don't know the math.  I was only looking at the straight dps for starters - the other wild card is what "crit" effects weapons will ultimately have, x2, x3 etc.

Eug

true there is also the possibility of doing insane crits: like in all games vanguard have used this as well. u have the chance to crit upto 10x more than the tool tip. even though when u crit the damage is ussually doubled there are also times when the damage can be 5x the tool tip. after trying on friends account i got some hits that were not epic crits for + 3x the tool tip... although they were really rare. i think i got 3 in like 12 hours straight or something stupid .... but they do happen and its awsome when they do. seeing the mob's hp at 50% and then instantaneously drop to 0% is always a cool feeling.

13 monk here.  I use claws, handwraps, or knuckles.  The crit rate boost is just so significant in my opinion.  That 7.5% crit rate increase is definitely more than a 7.5% boost to my dps considering I can use my finisher more as well.  Even if bare fists have more base dps, I guarantee knuckles, claws, and handwraps are doing more damage for me as long as they are updated.  I would say the improved crit rate alone gives me 15% more dps easily.  That's not even including any stat boots that may come with the weapons.

Maybe finishers become less of dps later on.  Also, I think a dragon monk get a skill that automatically criticals, so they don't need +crit% as much (I might be wrong about that though).