"pure" builds?

Hi, I was wondering about "pure" builds. I haven't even played the game yet, so I don't much other then the abundent info here I'm planning on being a "pure"(right name for it?) monk. I'm only going to put points in monk, will this affect or hurt me in the future? Will I die extremely fast in pve? (considering that i'm not tanking, I played SWG and was a medic and could die in one hit...!)

thanks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Divinity~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pure Monks are very common. Should work fine.

Pure monks are fine, however the other classes will do well with secondarys.

But i some builds offer better healing then a pure monk would.

cool, how common are pure monks? I cant stand being the majority ...I'm weird

Most 'pure' class players are created by accident actually, as they didn't know you could dual class early on in the game. As for the number of people who play pure Monk, it's hard to say, since most people are already dual classed, it's only a matter of only using half of your skill library after all.

You won't really be gaining any advantages from being a pure class, other than not feeling compelled into splashing points into your secondary profession's skills. As an example I play a Monk primary, my skill bar is almost exclusively filled with Monk skills, with the only non Monk skill appearing frequently in my skill set up being a Mesmer skill called Channelling (for energy management).

So while you probably won't notice the gimp for being a pure Monk, you should at least look around at professions and see what they could offer (usually in terms of skills that requires no point devotions i.e. the Elementalist's Glyph of Lesser Energy, etc.)

I don't really understand why people want "pure" characters.. other than for the only reason of calling it "pure," or for roleplaying reasons..

With a monk/(insert random secondary), you can be a "pure" monk build all you want, and just ignore your secondary. That is what I'm doing now.. but in case I want to switch it up a bit, I will always have the option of playing around with a secondary, and thus have twice as many skills to choose from. As has been already said, you don't lose anything from adding a secondary. You do lose possible opportunities for not choosing one, however.

Sure, Gaile mentioned that we will be able to change secondary professions later on.. but well, regardless, I'm still getting several skills for free in pre-searing by choosing a secondary, even if I won't ever use those skills.

You can choose to ignore the secondary and be as pure in your skills as you want, but otherwise, there's really no benefit at all to being one profession only.

But, to each his/her own.

Shouldn't this be in The Campfire thread?

Going as just a pure profession is fine, but it is nice to be able to use some of the better skills of another profession to enhance your primary. HotSnack uses Channelling to help with his Monk primary; Rangers could use skills like Armor of Mist to increase your Armor and speed if you get into a tough spot. Having that seconary profession just opens up so many more possibilites for your character, both in how you wish to attack and what types of skills you can utilize. I'd say try out the pure Monk, see how it goes, and then run through it again using a Monk/something else and decide for yourself which you like best.

I guess it all comes down to playing style and tastes.

one word: boring

Always get a secondary profession. Regardless of what your primary is or what your build is going to be ALWAYS get a secondary. It will never get in your way... Ever. And it can at the very least (if you don't change your mind later and use one or two great skills) unlock a few more skills for your PvP characters.

As for going pure monk? Sure... Why not? But I advise you look into some other things from your secondary. I heard monk/ mesmers can be very good using Healing, Divine Favour, and Inspiration. But anyway... You're decision.

So is there any actual difference between having a secondary profession that you ignore and having no secondary at all?

Besides the potential option of using the secondary skills/attributes/items and giving your opponents more confusion on what your build is? No.

All classes are fully capable of taking care of themselves. Monks have a smiting line and all other classes have some form of healing available to them.

Whether you die immediately or not is debatable, but I'm going to tell you that in terms of your own survivability having 2 classes is pretty much always better, namely because you can use the "best of the best" skills when using two classes and get ones that improve the ones you already have. For example, a pure monk will heal wonderfully with all of those healing spells available. However, you might run into mana troubles without a mesmer move that steals energy, and thus be useless.

You also leave yourself wide open for counters. A warrior that has no "shatter hex"-like moves will find himself disabled in a few seconds against a skilled mesmer or necromancer.

Ultimately, GW is a team game... so you're constantly balancing a "pure build" (which does one job really well) vs a "survival build" (which you need to keep alive.) If you get a team that works well together, pure builds become a very powerful force so long as the players are committed to helping each other constantly.

Another interesting option to consider is playing only your secondary profession.
You could choose your primary based on what armour they get, how they look, what their primary attribute is, and then choose the secondary as the class you actually want to play.
For example, a R/Mo so you get to look like a ranger, wear ranger armour, get the ranger's primary attribute but actually play purely as a monk.

Considering the lack of energy and energy regen between a ranger and a monk, it wouldn't be that great of an idea. Plus, if you do this with any primary/secondary, you will miss out on the primary attribute of the secondary which will help out a lot (especially in this case with Divine Favor.)

You are going to be playing the same type of character whether or not you are using skills from one profession or two.