1) Senator claws ARE a life tap weapon that LT for up to1k and add jin
http://vanguard.xanadu-community.com/items.php?page=viewItem&id=268

2) We get a fabled weapon that adds lifetap/endurance/energy (to defensive target) when it procs  http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/i1477509_vgclient2007123020270191.jpg


And the weapon your refering to is an  axe which has the best MAX hit but its minimum hit is way lower.  Look at the average hit (min+max/2) if you want to compare them.  Although our fabled fist does need to be uped in dmg and stats, it should be way better then that axe (aka 2-3 more dps, more dmg modifier etc)
http://vanguard.xanadu-community.com/items.php?page=viewItem&id=127

legendary knuckle  - - - Fabled Knuckle - - - Legendary axe
avg dmg         172 - - -                 180   - - -               222

For monks to get the same average dmg hit we would have to litterally add +60 dmg to minimum and maximum dmg hits on the legendary claw, and 50 on the fabled.

1) I know the fist weapons are faster
2) i know they are fixing auto attack so faster weapons and melee haste are "more valuable"
      *However people neglect that 90% of dps comes from skills and the top dmg weapon is the best one 99.9999% of the time.
3) Is 0.55 seconds slower really merit a weapon to be 50 more dps then a same teir weapon?  Even if auto attack and haste worked, wed just be hitting weak and fast. 

The auto attack fix might very well mean more to us than any other class seeing as we get our secret damage per attack. I would not dismiss fast weapons and haste so early. Maybe once we see it in action many views will change.

I honestly did not think a single piece of the legendary was worse than any of the crafted. I was full crafed cavaliers jagged and am now only 2 items short of full Legendary (BP/Legs). Which items specificaly were you reffering to that are better than the legendary class set?

Yeah, the mold armor is the best for monk in APW in most all slots.

The Dragon has atleast 1 slot that is better and is a substantial upgrade to our mold in said slot. But yeah, that's all I have seen.

I like it that way though. I preffer the look of the set gear so I am glad it is the best stats. So i don't have to have such mismatched gear.

The APW Mold arms: http://vanguard.xanadu-community.com/images/items/45.gif

Crafted arms: http://vg.curse.com/database/items/details/934830/  ...granted less ac/hp but a good deal more crit, and "general" crit, not just melee. So melee+secrets+ranged
Flare Totem: http://vg.curse.com/database/items/details/1350849/ ...as harmonious i'd take this over both the others :S

Just thought id add a note

5 pieces = 5% chance to proc fist of celerity (duration 10s)

My test toon has the full suit and i can honestly say 5 pieces is plenty, the 7 piece reward is lame.

Parts you cant really replace cause the class set is the best for that slot, some of them like the helm have alternativse that drop in apw, but for the most part are far inferior to our class set.
Belt, gloves, helm, boots, legs, wrist

slots you can replace without losing anything
arms -- siliasaurus are probably the best imho, although there are 4 droped in apw to pick from
chest -- crafted bp from apw/jagurns droped bp (not that the crafted bp is only slightly better, but id still take it)
shoulder -- kotasoth shoulders (+11 end and +dmg rating)

yeah ill post pictures later tonight, nookie time then ill pop on test and get the ss of the ideal set of monk gear ;-p