UPDATE - August 6th, 2009

As far as PvE, not much changed for me, probably because I play a warrior. Melee hero AI is pretty bad, so I'm not going to start using assassin and dervish heroes. Nerf to Finale of Restoration killed one of my fun gimmick hero setups which had ridiculous amounts of shout spamming. Elementalist damage skills still suck in hard mode because of levels/armor, and necros are still better at applying AOE weakness/cracked armor. Masochism buff is useless.

I was hoping for some interesting new toys to play with to make new hero builds, like we had with the ritualist and paragon skill update (which I really liked), but there just isn't anything interesting this time.

Invoke buff is welcomed, though with chain lightning buffed as well, its still not elite-worthy.
Racway got hit with the arcane orders & finale of restoration nerf.
Conviction kills the only excuse I had to run a R/D scythe over a dervish in PvE.
Might throw Ebon Hawk over enfeebling blood on my earth hero...
Selfless spirit...what?

Although, now I am going to make a new pet team and say I am original. :>

weird, after this update, it seems like the .exe 'double loads' and texmod wont work with it anymore

Yay for Chain Lightning.

Tbh, It's not actually awful. But it is once again ignoring PvP and making PvE easier. Actual areas need to be fixed, not buffing skills to make them lol1hitkill.

I thought this was going to be the PvP love update :(. Anyone know when thats coming along?

Anet is effectively making monks a PvP only class. awesome guys, I mean really?

Divine Boon- I'd rather have the old one back. I actually used this with SMITING PRAYERS guys

Shielding Hands- Ok, good. dartboard, but good.

Seed of Life- Still don't care

Selfless Spirit- Nerfed to hell. This was a fine skill for monks, and was usable better then Divine Spirit. Playing actively doesn't work in most PvE. just, no. I don't want a crappy Air of Enchantment for spells.

[Blah blah]
[Blah blah]
Ranger

* Melandru's Shot: increased recharge to 12 seconds.
[Blah blah]
[Blah blah]

wtf mate.

The ones that cought MY eye..

Selfless Spirit
One step closer to the ER infoozer elem! without needin AP.
<3
Divine Boon
yummy boon prot was always my fave monking era
<3

Comfort Animal!
ABOUT TIMES AYE!!!
+"Pets in PvE take 33% less damage and deal 33% more damage in combat. "
<3

STILL waiting for a Spiritual pain UN-nerf
</3

I'd say it was a buff. It no longer ends if you heal yourself or use a non-target spell like Aegis or Heal Party and can be maintained all of the time now.

so far alot of good things allthough i do see some over used skills comign to pvp that will get a nerf really quick

Hello? Beast mastery has been broken for years now, with the community constantly calling for at least a merging of comfort animal and charm animal. Pets can actually be a viable option in pve now, without being naught but skill-disablers. Pretty necessary buff IMO, and they certainly took their time too. (Dervs have also been improved for PVE, where at times they stank.)
As for nerfs, I don't know which you might be referring to - uwsc, shadow form in general, discord heroes?
edit: I got too excited over the pet buffs; I've missed all the monk buffs. no comments

I KNOW, RIGHT?
Why couldn't they make it 10 seconds? Not that it needed a nerf.

While you're at it nerf Dshot, Savage Shot, Apply Poison, Natural Stride, Lightning Reflexes, Burning Arrow, and Magebane. I hear they're good skills, too.

@ Above Post ^
The buffs to BM in PvE was welcome, but bar compression is still needed in PvP if it ever wants to see serious play. Also, 33% less/more damage taken/given? Pretty mindless if you ask me.

P.S.
-->SHAAADOOOW FOOORM<--

Making something that wasn't useful into something that's overpowered while not doing a thing to the current problems in PvE != addressing real issues.

Invoke Lightning - it's still bad ><

Least we know warriors are still the most (only?) balanced class in the game.

SOOOOO happy for the Tonic noise removal Yetti noises were getting so annoying

Golden Phoenix Strike and jungle strike are bugged atm they dont do eoe dmage

Well, me and some friends used to run Invoke spike in HA, and I gotta say, killing 5 targets with one Invoke spike on an altar; it's amazing.

Sand Shards-> No varesh Earth Vortex animation

Well, is good to see the Pet update at least ^^