Well being somewhat new to monks and more new to being a dragon (lvl 19 now, only 4 levels of experimentation)

The strange thing is, I had a:
Torrid Bladestaff  2H
35-52dmg  Speed 3.25
13.23 dps
100 hp
8 Str
lvl 23
Damage on Char sheet listed with no buffs = 193-217

and when I upgraded to
Indistinct Bladestaff 2h
53-80 Dmg  Speed 3.25
20.31 dps
63 Energy
13 Dex
0 (+13 Dex) <-wtf is this
12 healing focus
Damage on Char sheet listed with no buffs = 207-242



I noticed absolutely NO DMG increase... same 2H Piercing, Bladestaff skill... did +8 str make a 7 DPS difference? Whats going on there.

Also... I'm trying to decide between dual wielding fist type weapons or using a bladestaff. As a dragon monk who's in Storm Dragon most of the time, which would be best? I was guessing a high dmg bladestaff to maximize instant attack damage. However sometimes my far lower dps dual wielding:

Torrid Fistwraps 1h
22-25 dmg   speed 2.15
10.70 dps
29 hp
Character sheet listed dmg (no buffs) = 123-126 MH  64-65 OH... total 187-191

...was hitting harder... sometimes quite regularly...

Am I not understanding some crucial fact with weapons? Specifically something with monks? Also note: all these comparisons were done on the same mobs of the same levels and dot #s (bugbears outside of Three River village). Then tested on other mobs (bear cubs) under the same conditions...

Now I dont have a parse or actual numbers because I'm too lazy to write them down or search this out extensively on my own, aside from browsing the forums. So if anyone could give me a good run down of what TYPE (not specific wep names) of weapons is best for what... especially as a dragon monk... I would really appreciate it. Also, whether certain stats on weapons outweigh a minor dps increase (i.e. 8 str >/= 6 dps? I wouldnt think so but it appears that way) and so on.

Thanks again in advance to whomever responds to this post in any fashion.

Hmmm... was hopin I could get Chunli to post... or another very knowledgable dragon monk

I am mostly in storm dragon too. I am going H2H all they way because I don't really care for the "OMG ROCKSZOR BIG NUMBER CRITS"-burst damage with 2h.

I think in groups it's way better to not have this burst as I think it could totally screw up aggro. I rather have decent constant crits for a nice overall dps without interfering with the tanks aggro. Burst damage aggro in general is super annoying in this game.

I just made sure I have both skills maxed for both blunt and piercing damage and switch according to mob type.

That's just me though..

Well im no street fighter but i'll give it a shot 

I did semi "study" on weapon damage kind of and basically what i discovered is this:
Monk abilities don't seem to register the strength bonus but auto attack does (basically the weapons will hit for about the same using specials)

When i went from a 40DPS bladestaff and 40ish DPS martial staff to a 71 DPS bladestaff, i honestly noticed no major difference in how hard my abilities hit.  I was fighting skeletons in graystone so i was hitting harder than normal, but whether i used the 40 DPS martial staff, the 40 DPS bladestaff, or the 71 DPS bladestaff i still hit the mobs with thousand fists for between 7k-10k consistently with any of the three weapons.  This CLEARLY means something isn't working as intended, because when you nearly double the damage of your weapon (from 40 to 71) and you add about 24 strength, you should see a HUGE difference in your damage output, but sadly i did not.  When i parsed h2h weapons compared to my 2hand weapons, the 2handers usually parsed higher.  I have a 40DPS handwrap and a 37DPS handwrap and it felt like i was doing more damage, i was throwing numbers out all over the place, using secrests etc, but the parse said 2handers were doing more.

Hope this helps.

There's a clear damage diffrence between a 40 dps 2hander and a 70 btw, was doing 1400 hits with the 40 and 1800 with the 70 (the mob had ToF, so diffrence is even more than that, I sold off the bad weapon after returning from trip though).
That said, there's definitly something awry in how damage for specials are made (and our finishers are still way to subpar).

In the  short time i have been playing i have noticed I very rarely have the Auto Attack even go off.  About the only time is does is if for some strange reason I am out of end and jin at the same time which is usualy pretty rare.

Thanks for posting that Quinn now I have a goal to shoot for.  Attack speed for 1.0 or lower.  That is usualy attained by gear correct?

My design plan is for H2H.  I am sure there are better staves/swords out there but for how I see my character its all H2H.  Also planning on going dragon style since I prefer playing the DPS role in parties.