Something i've always wondered, and never bothered to ask.

Okay, i've always wondered why monk just don't use a full set of tattooes. Instead, I see just about every monk wear like Sacred Pants+Sandals..and other armor combinations. But with full tats, you get the most bang for your buck, which is energy. Tattooes have the same armor stats as Sacred or any other monk armor if I remember right. Can somebody give me a hand here?

well... full tats is what i've always used... but i guess i could see some uses for some monks wearing say Judges Chest and Legs and then Ascetic Arms and Feet

all a matter of preference i think

because you get hit in chest and legs more, so more armor.

I like fashion . And who wants to stare at a male ass? 'loincloth'

Unless it's female, then its a different story.

i wear all tatoos on my monk beacuse i like how it looks

But tattoes and every other monk armor has the same defense..from what I remember.

Bad memory.

Tattoos have lower AL. If you don't intend to get hit, they're the only option.

While i agree that you do get hit in the chest and legs more,the greatest part of being a monk is being in control of healing. The few extra points damage you would take from having full tats are easily self healed away.

I just checked and they both have 60AL.

I wear judges because male monk ass is unacceptable.

Only tattoo that will ever be on my monk is the head on, dear God those are hideous! As bad as scars on necros (/shudder). I cant stand to look at them, and try to turn camera away from tat or scar covered characters. Really just looks fugly, imo.

My friend told me that you have to look beyond the armor and see if its exposing for instance with tats ur exposng ur body with other monk amor ur not. I dont think thats true but just saying in case no one has mentioned it or wont mention it.

Other sets have additional armor--for example, Wanderer's has +5 vs Elemental attacks.

You could always toggle them off

@ The_Janitor (OP)

And Judge's has +10 vs. Physical. So darkMishkin is right, just not in the way you're looking at it.
Plus, I still think that PvP leggings are bugged and give you -1 energy than what they should. Arguments can go back and forth, as there's not much of a way to calculate objectively which is better (i.e. how much damage you save from wearing x, is that better than the extra energy from armour y)-actually there probably is a way, but it would take a bit of work.

Honestly, I used to care about what I wore (i.e. the judges vs. tats debate) but I can't be bothered nowadays. Whatever I feel like on the day.

Censor's Armor has +10AL against physical attacks.

energy > armor, but style > functionality.

Hooray for Fissure of Woe Ascetic's armor. Style and functionality.

To some people (including myself), tattoos look really ugly so they need something that looks better. 15k saintly's dyed black does the trick for looks.

it's all a matter of nrg management, if you can handle the healing/prot with a full set of judges, why not go for it ? it gives you nice protection against the warriors bashing you.
also surgers will hurt less, as a larger part of your energy comes from an offhand/wand or a staff, which is changeable very fast (nrg hiding)

basically, you wear what you can handle without running out of nrg

I like to compromise by wearing wanderer's/judge's on the chest and legs, but tattoos on the rarely-hit hands and feet. Plus, it looks cooler that way.

I don't quite get the appeal of a slightly higher max energy. I very rarely get back to my max after about fifteen seconds into a match, and if I do that's generally a sign that the enemy team is quite weak.

It all depends how you play; in PvE if you're careful enough you'll rarely get targeted by mobs so a full tattoo set is the best choice.
In PvP instead you'll be one of the high priority target so a little more protection is usually better; chest and legs should be wearing a better armor.