The monk board has been extremely quiet lately.
Here's a post by a cleric, Discuss ^^

Personally I have lost faith in Taliskar's intention of ever fixing the imbalance that exist between classes, both between archtypes and within archtypes.


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Ok, I will be honest:

1) I am a 49 Cleric
2) I choose WAR
3) I have OK gear (not bad, not the best)

I CANNOT tank 5 dots my level, or within my range. (solo)
I CANNOT tank 6 dots " "

I CAN tank 4 dots 2 levels lower. (solo)

I CANNOT TANK 4 dots my level (unless I want to spent 30 minutes to kill 1) (solo)

I AM doing good damage, EQUALLING A RANGER.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
BUT: When I am in WAR mode, doing the same damage as a Ranger, I cannot heal, and I actually take more damage than a Ranger, even though they wear medium armor.
Is it wrong I can do the same damage as a Ranger? I don't think so, considering the Affinity I am talking about is the War affinity, meaning damage. Besides, to be 'good' in it, you have to sacrifice your healing abilities, because you need high Dex + Str. So it is a double edged sword.

Anyway, to recap:

Can we do good damage: Yes
Can we take damage well (4* +): No
Can we rescue well: No
Can we heal wel: Yes. The best? No. Who? BM.

Did Clerics end up being an allround class combing healing with damage?
Yes.

Is it intended?
Dunno.

Are we the strongest class?
No.

Are we the worst class?
No.

Where are we?
Somwhere in the middle.

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Well he said he was a lvl 49 cleric , he isn't 20 something,  I think it is quite believable that what you can take on at lvl 25ish relative to your lvl isn't the same as 49.  He also mentioned he had okay gear not great.

 Windsong is great dmg and all but isn't it on a 30s timer?   Popping big numbers is  great  but that doesn't mean  overall dps can't be on par with someone with 3 smaller attacks that can fire in the same time window.  Clerics of the right affinity also got a VERY good dps boosting stance/buff.    I don't have a 40ish lvl cleric or ranger so can't say for sure bit doesn't seem completely off base given what clerics got in their last uber patch.   There is one other thing to consider,  was he talking ranger dmg solo vs cleric dmg solo, or ranger and cleric in the same group with the ranger getting all the cleric buffs?

Kydan

EXACTLY Ciro.  The balancing in VG is the biggest joke of the year.  Even if what the above mentioned about a cleric DPSing as well as a ranger, (which i still find hard to believe since rangers have ridiculously overpowered DPS to begin with), that fact that he does damage even close to that of a DEFENSIVE fighter is stupid.  Healers should be able to do SOME dps, but it should not even pass defensive tanks, led alone begin to be anywhere NEAR a real DPS class.  It is total BS.  Now i love the cleric, the way he plays and all, but it is not fair to people (especially monks) who choose to play other classes which are in fact, obsolete, even if these so called WAR-clerics dps abilities are exaggerated. 

So if i am to believe this 49 cleric, he can Tank (because he can heal well / because he can DPS as well as a ranger to hold aggro)  he can DPS as well as the best DPS class in the game (which i seriously doubt, even with the stupidity of the class balancers working on VG), AND he has the best buffs in the game and is the best healer in the game.  So Ciro, its like lvling up 3 classes in one if what the 49 cleric says is true.  In this game DPS can also = taunting, but healing pulls aggro too, so if he just tries to heal + DPS he can probably hold aggro and he wears plate and heals (even if it isn't as good in his DPS stance its still heals) which means he can tank basically.  So he can heal/DPS/tank.  All he needs is a PSI/Bard for CC? 

Does anyone else see the total BS this game is becoming?  It's ridiculously pathetic.  And the Rtard in charge (David Gilbertson) says it will take several more months just to polish and fix bugs!
http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?type=wmv&id=19787

Look at the crap in the video that ISN'T IN GAME.  BS! (Riding dragon, riding roc, etc)
Bug fixing and polish for A FEW MORE MONTHS?!?!?!?! We are supposed to wait for more polish and fixes for MONTHS?
Fellowships won't be around for a few more weeks?  (3 or 4)
Raids not in for a COUPLE MONTHS.
We are supposed to pay for this crappy half game for a few more months before it even begins to resemble the reason we all bought it? 
where the HELL are helmets?!

you can tell youself you're still ahving fun playing this game, (i am having fun playing with my friends) but this game has more potential than any other MMO and the stupidity of the people in charge have completely destroyed all of it and all of its potential and it just disgusts me to no end and the only reason i play and am involved is because there is no other MMO worth playing right now and my friends are playing this one and i don't have the cash to switch over to anything else anyway. 

The biggest mistake they made with Clerics in the recent patch was taking away the reuse timer from Rout and Bloodhammer. I gotta be honest, as a 41 War Cleric (my alternate) I feel like I can out damage my 45 Dragon Monk; but I can clearly place the blame solely on the fact they removed the reuse timers from Rout and Bloodhammer (an attack which is basicly like Rout but more damage, with followup finishers). Rout formerly was a 300 percent finisher, with a 1 minute reuse, before the Affinity patch that was Clerics main source of extra damage, which honestly wasnt exactly anything to write home about. Most never even paid mind to Cleric DPS. With War Affinity Clerics gained a 400 percent finisher called Bloodhammer which grants two Advanced Finishers to it; Hammer of Carnage, and Truncheon of Ghlann. It is alot like a Bard's Hewing the Mountain/Cleave the Mountain chain which is also a 400 percent finisher series with no reuse.

At the same time they removed Rout's reuse timer, so if you have a good DEX score you can usually get off several Routs in the time you use to only be able to land a single strike. Since they had just removed Routs timer, and Bloodhammer was basicly an advanced Rout (once you have Bloodhammer, there is no point to waste Rout as a finisher as Bloodhammer is superior- making Rout a redundent attack) it was given a zero reuse timer as well. There in lies the problem. If they added a reuse timer back to Rout and Bloodhammer, somewhere around 30 seconds for Rout and about 30 Second or 1 Minute on Bloodhammer you wouldnt be seeing stories like this since the DPS would be forceably controled by the reuse timer. The above information is correct also, War Clerics who are geared to damage dealing (Statisticly, and Equipment wise) lose alot of healing potential due to lack of Vitality, Wisdom, and Focus gear which results in smaller heals and lower energy pools; so the DPS path shouldnt be nerfed into being an invalid choice for those Clerics but it does need tuning. For what is effectively, an "Offensive Healer" they wouldnt be so out of line if they had the reuses reapplied to the listed skills, not anymore so than Bloodmages, Phoenix Shamans, etc. That said, Monks need a serious DPS revamp, compared to other Offensive Fighters, Defensive Fighters, Offensive Casters, and even some Healers they just are not performing.. Ive played a Monk from Beta > Live and honestly the only people around still playing Monks that I know (myself included) do it cause they love the idea of the Class, the current system just isnt doing them justice though- imho.

I would have to say that this is also why this board has become so stagnant as of late.