NEWS FLASH! Monks on strike at Thunderhead Keep

The whole thing just started as a joke, I don't think anybody expected it would grow so large.

Probably for abusive behavior and foul language during the strike. There was some mean-spirited stuff too which went beyond the spirit of it.

was a lot of fun earlier today. had entire dists of monks shouting "strike" slogans and stuff. now it's degenerated pretty much into a bunch of swearing and name calling. guess it's back to farming

For ANYONE who took this seriously... I feel very sorry for you. For the people who spammed foul language, racial slurs, etc., your punishment is justified. For those who had fun with many a "LOL".... CONGRATS! You got it!

If anything, I think the people taking it seriously should be looked into.

I thought it was all in good fun. At one point, there was.. I forget her name.. something of Rose?.. I was concerned that she might actually be insulted, so I sent her a whisper to see what was up, and she replied, hey, no biggie, she was just having a little fun with the flaming.

So, yeah.

For everyone commenting "Wow, those monks should be ashamed" or "I hope it backfires" or "This is so utterly childish," take a step back and reexamine the idea of people goofing around for a silly cause.

Some people took it a little too far. I think some people still are.

But I don't see what the big deal is with people pretending to mock-strike. I -know- I'm not the only person here who watches either The Daily Show or The Colbert Report.

I was in THK dis 1 spouting funny 'CNN News' with some other guy from about 4 pm (GMT -6) to 6 pm today. Holy crap did I have a blast, some of the things that guy and I said were just side-splitting. I have screenies, I'm just too lazy to post them.

One of my more clever ones:
<CNN>: Dwayna's avatar dancing in TOA in support of the strike!
(this was when we had a huge synch-dance going)

His most clever one:
<CNN>: Wammos found 'healed to death' outside Drok's. No suspects as of yet.


And then, how annoyed all the silly warriors were, oh lordy it was priceless.

I loved all the fake news people.

Especially that healed to death one.

Sounds like I missed something pointless again. Gee, all the fun stuff happens when I'm gone.

I liked the one about the healing eles and dead whammos.

THK was like Grotto times five with more disorganization and randomness :o

Some people need to take a chill pill, seriously.

monks on strike???? i didnt notice that, then again lina and mhenlo are 100000x better then player monks

See now I think all this," It was all in fun." is just a cop out. It seems to me that everytime someone's stupid idea comes back to bite them in their proverbial asses their characteristic reaction is to immediately say." Hey I was just joking. Can't you take a joke?" It's a redirection tactic and nothing more. It's meant to throw the spotlight off their stupid idea and onto the new "bad guy with no sense of humor." Now while a lot of people did manage to make light of the situation in the form of the fake news reports and some of the more interesting strike slogans I still firmly believe, based simply on my own observations of the American people and in particular those who choose to play this game, that some moron got a burr up their butt about some jerk in a party blaming the failure of the mission on them and so the wannabe Spartacus decides he's going to organize a strike. Now see while the majority of us probably find this laughable when written out our young Rebel leader here no doubt took himself very seriously. What makes matters worse is that in any significantly large group of Americans there will always be those that will cling to any cause just for the sake of getting involved in something which promises to bring them some attention. Whether they believe in the cause or not is immaterial. All that matters is that they get attention. Now if this had been a relatively small group of three or so then it would have been funny. The thing that made it sad, deplorable, and annoying is the scale that it was allowed to grow to. Now I'm not blaming ANet staff on that one. I blame the players themselves. All it usually takes is one well placed jibe to bring little goobers like Spartacus to a crashing halt. In fact a sarcastic Spartacus reference might have done the trick nicely. So who was looking out today in THK? Hmm? Where was that lone voice of contempt to shut down this little movement before it even got started? Now by the time Anet people got there they just made a bad situation worse. They could have either put some soothing PR balm on those poor irritated little monk backsides by promising some updates to affect the balance and so on and so forth or they could have bruised some monk backsides by shutting it down with bans. While admittedly the latter option is a little harsh I'm trying to cover both ends of a broad spectrum of responses. However from everything I read and saw they didn't really do much but agg it on. A clear message should have been sent one way or the other. Admittedly Gaile did try to move it to LA which at least would have kept things moving along in THK , but alas it was too little too late for the beast had grown beyond the abilities of her PR prowess to control. And so it then devolved into name calling flaming and racial slurs at which point they stepped in and started banning. Keep in mind while I think the entire thing was foolish and childish don't get me wrong. The initial act was stupid, but thankfully stupidity isn't a crime otherwise we'd have a prison population explosion based off this incident alone. So if you want to organize goofy strikes and protests in game go right ahead the only problem is those stupid little childish acts will almost always end up just like this one ended up, another name calling fight that only ends when ANet has to lay the smack down. So keep that in mind all you future Sparatacus wannabes before you start your own little revolution.

Monks are pompous, complaining 'zomg nobody loves us' on one hand, and with the other soloing everything in tyria and sporting the highest playerbase population (besides warriors). Monks getting upset makes me despise the class even more.

That said, some of those messages are pretty funny... healed to death zomg!

<CNN>: E/Mos have recently been arrested for practicing healing without a permit!

Watch out! Someone's got their tin-foil hat on again!

Can I arrest monks for countering spells (spell breaker ftw) without a mesmer permit?

Strobo,

You seem utterly convinced in the worst of people about this.

- edit -

Or, as Johnny suggested, someone's got their tin-foil hat on again!

I've been saying the same thing. Well, not quite.

The problem isn't that monks are being respected. The problem isn't that rangers get disrespected (though in my experience, rangers seem to be the most mild mannered, followed by mesmers). The problem isn't that "n00bzorz Whammos aggro everything lolz zomg".

The problem that everyone is complaining about happens to everyone in every class. You're upset over the fact that there are, for lack of a better term, noobs in the game. Noobs that rage quit come in all classes. Noobs that aggro the whole map come in all classes. Noobs that cast backfire on an aatxe (ouch) come in... well not all classes, but that's only because backfire is a mesmer only skill.

I understand that it's a joke, I just hope that more of the monks realize that and start taking it as such.

I had fun today. Reminded me of the halloween event.

this is kind of funny... although most of the monks in THK are just as bad as most of the other people they pug with... Most of them start spamming i have 1 of 40 energy after about 4 seconds into a fight - which is their fault for not bringing any energy management, just look at all the warrior secondaries. This is just as dumb as the wammo who aggros 3 groups at once

haha

*ranger runs up*
Punishing shot, distracting shot, savage shot, concussion shot.

Healed to death . . . hmm . . . I shall have to look into that, possibly something gone wrong with mending?

Can someone summarize this or otherwise make it more attractive? Verbal diarrhea is not something I want to read, but I do want to hear opinions.

omgwtfbbqhax! *collapses*

Anyways, classes are classes. Monks are valued and let into groups, mesmers are not. Monks need to go to their room without dinner, and only come back when they let 2-3 mesmers in EVERY team.

And necros need to give back spiteful spirit!

Mantra of Resolve

Bite me.

./SIGNED

I don't know what the Monks are complaining about. They get in to way more groups than Mesmers ever have.

Warriors runs up

Gale----->Backbreaker----> Hammer Bash---->Gale with irriciatable blows in the middle.

Maybe I was just in a good group or something, but the one time ive done this mission, we did this mission fairly easily with just alesia as a healer.

Funny story I was with my friend stuck on this mission and I started a group making my design that might work. Anyways My friend and I were the only warriors and we would rest and let the monks gain energy back. Funny thing is....one monk on our team kept running ahead and attacking a group of ememies and then Me and my friend would run in and meat shield them and th e other monks would get mad. Apparently he/she thought if her energy was full everyone else's would be too.

Anyways we stayed at king and beat it.

Okay.

I got halfway through page 5 before I grew too disgusted for words. I am now in Rant Mode.

Okay, Monks. You want respect? You want people to cater to your every quirk? You want to run every PuG, hands down, no questions asked, because you feel that's the way to do things?

SCREW YOU TOO!

How's about this: I was/am perfectly willing, in missions I havn't done before or haven't done in a while (yeah, I'm relatively new) to follow someone who knows more about the mission and its objectives than I do. I do my best to encourage a PuG to sit still after battle and let the energy faucets recharge. I do my best to try and attack enemies striking said energy faucets and have even sacrificed myself for the good of a mission.

Do I believe you bald-headed freaks deserve it all anymore? Not a chance in hell.

I have never ONCE played in a PuG where someone brings a character specifically devoted to augmenting my own abilities. If I want to do something, I have to do it myself; if I want to use energy skills, I have to reserve/recharge the Energy for them myself. I play Ranger - a Conjure Frost barrager with great damage, speed, defense, some interruption, and generally most of what makes Rangers cool. Despite this, and despite saying this on open channels, I get into the 'leavings' groups made up of five Rangers, two Mesmers, and one Monk who decides to slum it. We beat the mission anyways, and most of the time that one lone Monk is amazed at how well those Rangers and Mesmers can do things.

And now you're on strike, however serious it is, because every now and then you get hit with nOObs in your groups? Well guess what honey? YOU AIN'T THE ONLY ONES!! At least you can get in a group wothout forty minutes of begging and pleading, and there's always some Blood Necro willing to boost your energy. I have had one group where the battery bothered to help me out, and that was only between fights where he wasn't enslaved to the Monks.

And what about the Warriors? Sure, some of them are combat-happy Immortal Warrior types who need to be taken outside and hit in the head with a shovel, but you know what? I don't see the really good Warriors, the ones who know perfectly well to watch aggro and can tank while attacking enemies and do all sorts of wonderful things charge gold for their services. No, more often they're begging for groups too, though nowhere near as often as Rangers and Mesmers. And if that Warrior just so happens to be a /Mo, he/she's automatically treated as the rankest nOOb. Never mind that the Smiting line seems custom-tailored to support close battles and that some Warriors enjoy using Balthazar's Aura, Strength of Honor, Shield of Judgment, or other high-end SMite skills to augment their attacks. Noo, if you're W/Mo, you're the worst breed of fugly nOOb.

Grow the hell up, healbots of the world. You want respect? Guess what: you've lost mine. Yeah, your job is hard, I get it, but you've also got the most help anyone could ever get since anyone with an ounce of brains in their heads (read: me) is so afraid of their team's Monks sticking their noses in the air and leaving that we have to sacrifice ourselves to make the Monks happy.

"Don't worry about me, just heal the battery and the tank."

"Res me later, I''m fine with waiting."

"I can defend myself, just focus on everyone else."

And even then, if there's even one idiot in a group, you blasted things just up and quit, no matter how much the rest of the group - who in my experience cracks on the idiot harder than the Monks do - need you. I've had more than one PuG where one nOOb has ruined a ruin for five or six pther people, simply because Monks are no longer willing to work around idiots. You feel it's your due to be coddled and shielded and treated like kings and queens, and to never have to deal with the same drek any of the rest of us deal with, because the nOObs blame you for it?

Who said their opinions matter anyways? Shrug it off, leave them dead on the ground, and stick the damn mission/FoW/UW/HoH run out for the people who aren't nOObs and don't deserve to have their healing run out like a scorned housewife on them.

I'll work with the Monks on my team. I'll wait after battles, I'll shield them from as much harm as I can, because doing so is in my own best interest. If you're not able to heal properly, I die faster.

But I'll be DAMNED before I bow down and kiss your tattooed rear just because you're A Monk. Like it or not, 8-Monk THK runs or not, a healer is just as depoendant on their damage dealers as the damage dealers are on their healers. I'll just bet five or so of those eight-Monk THK teams were heavy Smiters, right? Try going through Thunderhead Keep with eight healing/protection Monks. Try it. I dare you.

My point is this: you want respect, EARN IT. And define 'respect'. You guys get 'good jobs' all the time from most players, whether you'll admit it or not, and yet in my four months of playing I have only once experienced a game in which my efforts were noticed, let alone praised, and that was only because I was typically quicker on the Interrupt than the other Ranger and he let me know about it. Warriors, I'll imagine, feel lucky if they receive less than ten complaints about their performance a minute. Mesmers feel lucky if they can snare a group at all.

I can average fifty damage a shot against the foes in Hell's Precipice, support the damage of fellow Rangers using bows, defend myself with both AL and evasion boosts, and interrupt key skills. About the only thing I can't do is heal myself since I dislike Wilderness Survival. And I am willing to stake gold in no small amounts on me being of no more than average performance for my chosen profession. And I have to fight my hardest just to avoid being screeched at.

You people want it better? Figure out how well you've got it first.

Good post, good points.

In case people are scared of the long post:

'Monks have it great, all the bad things that happen to them happen to other clases too, you depend on us for damage much like we need you, and your job is easier than many' summarizes it, sorta.

A sane person at last! Thank you, thank you, thank you From someone who plays a monk, and a mesmer, and an ele..and all those other hated classes, I tip my hat (all 7 of them) to you.

I find playing monk the easiest job in the game. It's just the red bar game (blue bar game if you're a bonder).
Warrior and Ranger for me is probably the more difficult profession as you have to have a global awareness of what's going on.

As do I, and give you a dwarven ale as well. I pray to run into you when I'm looking for a PUG group.

I got curious and went to see if the strike so I took my monk which I didn’t need the mission. The strike was still going on district one and two where full. After a few laughs I got private message asking if I could join her group, I told her I was only on for a short time just wanted to see what the fuss was all about, but then I changed my mind and decided to help anyways. There where also two other monks that joined the group both heal and protect we completed the mission no one died.

Laserlight,

1) You put too much energy into that post.

2) Chill out.

3) If you had read past page five, you would've seen where I clarified the position of the monks involved. While people ask for respect, they're not saying, hey, I'm a monk, so worship me--rather, they're saying, hey, there's a pretty good chance it's not my fault you're dead, so recognize that.

Or they're saying, hey, recognize aggro. Manage it properly.

Iunno.

Anyone who's demanding a polished throne is being a dork.

4) Anyone who's stupid enough to run THK with a party of heal/prot monks is.. well.. stupid--'cause then you wouldn't be able to deal damage. In any case, I don't see what's wrong with five of those monks running the smite line, as if that somehow invalidates the position of the eight monks who -did- do THK.

5) See point 1 and 2.

Everyone else,

Relax, please.

Again, again, again.

No monk is asking for a silver platter.

If they are, they're probably five and enjoy getting a rise out of you.

And be careful about making generalizations. All wammos this or all monks that.

You're bound to lump a lot of innocent people into that.

Well I've slugged through a lot of this thread because my favourite character to play is my Monk. I might as well put out my story for the masses to be critical of.

I was at THK today in district one sync dancing with other protestors. I heard about this a couple hours ago and decided I wanted to see what it was like. On both sides people are taking this thing way too seriously. I'm sure some people were equally pissed at monks while others were monks angry at people. You know what? Who cares about them. If these people are getting seriously annoyed at a game because someone else won't act the way they want, and this goes both ways, do you really want to play with them? I'll tell you why I was there though!

My big problem with Guild Wars has always been that everything is business. People just don't know how to have fun from what I've seen. Everyone tells me that joining a good guild is where to start but unfortunately I've never done that. In all my GW time I've probably met three people who were great to play with. Going to THK today was fun because most of the monks made a team and used team chat to talk about what was going on. Imagine my happiness when I saw social contact and not just buying/selling/tactics for the game. I was in an eight man group sync dancing for about 1/2 hour and we all had a great time coming up with stupid slogans and pretending we were "fighting the power". So, in all honesty, I was able to meet some pretty nice people who were having fun.

My note to monks taking it seriously? Please think. If you are not happy playing as this or that then just don't play as it. If someone isn't treating you well then leave. No one forces you to play and you shouldn't force others to play.

My note to the non-monks taking it seriously? Also think. When I purchased my copy and made a monk I must have missed the disclaimer that said "you must always heal and protect people and never take time out having fun when not in a mission". You see, that little disclaimer isn't for monks or whatever class that is; that disclaimer is for super heroes.

I say if you want to have fun then do it as long as you aren't hurting others in the process. Just because I'm "striking" doesn't mean I'm hurting those who need monks in THK. In all honesty I wouldn't do it with them anyway because I dislike the mission. Just remember it's a game and you play your character the way you want; not in any other way.

^ what he said.

Very good advice, Mogden. People,come on and chill out! It's a freakin' GAME for goodness sake. You know..game..fun..entertainment. This is honestly not a life or death situation like some people are making it out to be. Ya know, I play online to relax and have a good time. If it's really making you THAT stressed, a word of advice..find another hobby

Thank you Mogden!!! I was there with both my necro and a friend's monk and I was having a ball. People, it was a joke on a GAME! I agree with Harmony above. Find something else to do if it stresses you so bad.

*puts her reporter hat and "I support Monk Strike" shirt away for memory's sake.

Friday was one crazy day. O_O



<----Not on strike and wasn't at the protest. I didn't know what was going on today.

yay, one more for what m0gden said. spent several hours in THK, had a lot of fun, but once it started degrading into a shouting/swearing match ...

*still wears his "i survived the monk strike of 2006" t-shirt, but has gone back to farming