First off I want to make sure the tone for this post is positive. I'm looking for POSITIVE feedback from people who have played monks to higher levels in beta and into the 20's or better in the release version.
Here's my story. I started a shaman during pre-release and he is lvl 17 now. I wanted to play a healer so that I'd always get a group. Well, I simply miss hitting things way too much and the 'healing class' is not taking off for me. I'm heading back to my roots of the 'light fighter' class. The ranger is way too overplayed and I didn't want to go down that road so I started a monk. I'm currently lvl 11 and I really dig it so far. I'm having a blast watching my fists fly and the animations of the kick.
However, It doesn't seem that the monks have much that sets them apart. So I'm wanting to know what a higher level monk can do that another light fighter cannot give. For example: The ranger has stealth, speed buff, healing spell, snare, ranged attacks, and DPS.
We have DPS and a heal that requires a 5 minute reuse timer. ??
No stealth? No speed? What do we have that sets us apart?
Do we ever get the ability to levitate the way the Master Monks of Tanvu do?
Do we ever get to use the sai's and martial weapons that the monks of the stronghold use?
Thanks in advance for anyone who takes time to encourage me about my abilities in the upper levels !
The beauty of the monk lies in the fact that it is not a gear dependant class. For a class that wears medium armor and largely fights bare-handed, we can do an extreme amount of damage. Along with our high crit rates, high dodge rates and just overall coolness, a monk definitely fills a niche that no other class fills.
For martial weapons, there are many that you can use right from level 1, including staves, swords, knuckles, claws, etc. I am almost L20 (I've spent a significant portion of time exploring, harvesting and crafting) and I can tell you that I am more happy with my monk today then the day I started, and on the day I started I was instantly in love. Monks jest
mesh. You notice how we don't get many changes during updates? Because we rock just as we are

To be completely serious for a moment though, while asking for opinions on what other people think, utlimately the decision about whether you like monk or not is up to you, and none of our experiences and feelings
should have any relevance. You've got to try it for yourself and see how you like it
