A New Monks Tale: Chapter 1 Through ascention

So, I’ve finished all quests and missions with my E/Mo, and increasingly I’m seeing LF Monk everywhere in the Ring of Fire and Temple of Ages and Southern Shiverpeak missions. So, I went and created a monk. This is my tale of 18 hours through ascention with a monk.

So through ascalon and the surrounding area was great, people were resourceful and kind and worked well…..All the way up to yak’s bend. Now here is where being a monk officially sucks. People non stop ridicule, harass, and insult you to no end if you are not levels above them or keeping everyone including the lvl1 pet at full health. It continues to get worse and worse all the way up to ascention. Its almost unbearable. No one listens to energy calls on screen, people just don’t realize there is a distance to healing. Warriors should all just delete their characters and play monks then they will possibly grow up a bit.

I was kicked from groups, for being a lower level at ascention lvl 15 with 14 in healing and 9 in divine. Now I experienced a lvl 20 monk in one group that was horrible she died no joke 19 times during Thirsty river. I know that lvl has nothing to do with this game as I ascended at 15 and am now sitting at droknar’s forge. Also through all this monk’s get horrible drops through the entire game I got a total of 1 rare and 3 purple drops. Total, while I watched others get tons, maybe just my luck, but staying back out of battle I think changes the outcome on ration on drops.

Now playing my E/mo I was comfortable and confident it was fun. Playing this monk is horrible. You are wanted by everyone ridiculed and harassed by most.

So here is the thing, if someone bashes a monk, unless you have one built up, defend him, verbally in chat, so many jerks make being a monk unbearable. I’ve scraped to get armor due to horrible drops and that’s not a big deal as storage has most of what I need from my other character. But seriously even bad monks need love because its beyond not an easy task. Do you realize we don’t even look at the screen except for the party bar, it just red lines going up and down the whole time. I don’t care what you get attacked by my eyes are fixed on the party bar. So if you get a good holy/healing/smiting staff or rod give it to your monk, he might be saving your ass with it later. Treat them as part of the party and not just a pile of crap. Defend your monk from pricks and the alike from ridicule and maybe people will stop deleting their monk characters. After playing my monk through ascention so far, when I play my other character I will never EVER ask for a heal or res, because I know what its like now to be in a panic when a group runs into chain lighting and 3-6 hydras. So heals will come as soon as the monk can.

Flat out from this experience, Monk is the worst class to play, Warriors frustrate me and hopefully other monks to no end, and I do not know if I’ll play my Monk through the rest of the game or not. I can now see why. Post your thoughts, comments, feelings, similar experiences so that the warriors and other jackasses can see this, and the ones who care know we try. So if you wonder why there are so few monks in the later levels, I hope this gives a clearer picture what that class goes through.

IGN Monk: Maginal Prophet

Thanks to those who were helpful, respectful and worked their ass off to keep me alive in those tough spots, and who worked their ass off not to get killed 
/End Rant

"No one listens to energy calls on screen, people just don’t realize there is a distance to healing. Warriors should all just delete their characters and play monks then they will possibly grow up a bit"

Just let them die. Seriously. They'll whine about their DP, but usually they figure it out for the next fight. If they don't, leave. You should not have to put up with bullsh*t like that.

I once joined a group of six where I was the only monk (I'm an E/mo, kinda split halfway between fire magic and healing, but I'll gladly swap my attributes around to get healing 12 if that's my primary focus).

I tell the party, as soon as the mission starts, when I'm out of energy, you either WAIT, or you DIE. I also tell them, if you run out of range, you DIE. If you fight something while you're standing in POISON, you DIE.

Btw, as a monk yourself, you can do almost every quest / mission in the game with henchies, although a few of the ascension quests can be annoying (because of the horribly irritating inability of the henchies to stay out of random mobs' aggro ranges).

Seriously, don't put up with this. I've left groups because they would not listen, even halfway through a long mission. I'm playing a game for fun, not to be abused by some twelve year old retard who can't even freaking spell right.

To be honest, most of the times I find pretty decent groups, I find it helps to look at people's names. If someone took the effort to make a decent sounding fantasy name, they're generally a better companion than someone called "I Pnw U". I simply avoid imbeciles like that.

Also, if a group refuses to listen to your advice, a lesson usually works well. In Sanctum Cay, two warriors charged headfirst into the poison to fight the boss. I tried to keep up with healing them, but that's just a losing battle. So they died. The rest of the party killed the boss, and I told the warriors that they needed to stop doing that.
One guy said "Sorry... "
the other guy said "Wtf ever n00b, heal me" or something to that effect.
Needless to say, we finished that mission with five people, not six. I simply let him lie there, and nobody else ressed him either.
The idiot even left the mission eventually, when he could have just stayed and we'd have completed it for him.

YOU are the monk, YOU are in charge of healing. If someone has a problem with that, tell them to play a monk themselves.

Btw, if you think it gets bad after Yak's Bend, wait until you get to the desert. It seems that the farther you get into the game, the more idiotic people become. Apparently they feel that because they're level 20 they're badass or something, and thus don't have to abide by normal decorum.

Especially now with the continuing shortage of monks, people will either learn, or they will DIE, often. I rest my case.

Creston

One of the main reasons why I specced all my points into protection prayers, cause I was tired of hearing all the bull. When I join a group I tell them I am specced for protect and to get a healer.

I found a way to get drops if you are a monk. You need to put as much points as you can into smiting and grabbed Zealots Fire and buff yourself with it. It's a 60 sec cast on yourself and when you cast a spell (any spell) on an ally surrounding enemies take anywhere between 30-40 fire dmg, depending on points. I then continuously buff the warriors with all the protections I got and did alot of dmg doing it. In one outing I looted 1 gold item a purp and a bunch of blues. It was the best outing I had in a group.

I pretty much took out all my points in healing and put them all into protects and smites and have some allocated into divine favor. It works awesome. A good protection monk is more fun to play then a healer.

I play a smiter. It's even worse. People that have been dead for 10 minutes bitch at me as I continue to solo whatever mob whiped them out and resurect them. (even though I say I'm a smiter before I enter). "Smiters suck!" "Then why are you dead, and I'm still fighting?"

hahaha good one man.


it just feels like the consensus of people playing think that all monks do is heal.

BTW Aegis in Protection Prayers rocks.

I was never harrassed or ridiculed when I played through on my monk, but that is usually because I quit out on groups that I could see were just plain dimwitted or didn't "get it". Only did that on 2 groups though, and BOTH of them just happened to involve the dreaded dumbasses we all loathe, the "I'm immortal - W/Mo", AND take place in the idiots sand trap (Ascension). They never had a chance to talk back either cause they went on ignore the second I got out of the mission.

Had nothing but good experiences through out the rest of the game. Just avoid groups made up of lots people with stupid names, W/Mo's, Multiple identical classes, and a zillion invites (everyone in the district) queued up on the party screen.

The monk should be the snob of the group. If you don't like the look or sound of a group when you first pick up the invite get out and find a better one.

My E/Mo finally ascended, and so I've gotten access to Linu, the protection monk, as a henchie. Holy CRAP does she rock, and mostly it's because of Aegis.

50% evasion for 10 seconds for your whole party is one HELL of a lot less damage you're taking.

Do you remember where you found it, Wu Shao?

Ofcourse, now with myself, Alesia and Linu in one party, I've yet to lose a single henchie while tromping through the southern shiverpeaks. Three monks in your party rule, especially with Aegis

(okay, actually I lie, Glint ravaged us so badly it wasn't even funny...)

Edit : Btw, I'm currently playing a W/Mo because I'm trying to solo as far as I can. However, I am always VERY appreciative of any player monk, so don't chuck all the W/Mos into the same "idiots" category

Creston

Yeah. I remember where it is: Fisherman's Haven. It's a bit north of Sanctum Cay. Pretty easy to get there.

Thanks

Creston

I got Aegis form the elite boss in one of the ascension trials, I believe. It's not an elite power and I think you may be able to buy it from a skill trader. If I can find more info on it or if someone knows exact location post it up here. I do know I got it during those trials.


edited in : I never got to fisherman's haven. I guess I should have went there before ascension =)

Oh yea. Noobs love to harass the monk. He’s an easy target. They don’t understand how hard it is to play a good monk. I hav a smite monk with a few heal spells. I heal occasionally, but if any 1 givs me any back talk, I stop healin them.

If u do most of the quests u should be lvl 19 by the time u hit crstal desert. I don’t like to rush, I enjoy the scenery & the mid lvl missions.

Lol “I pwn u” for a name.

there is absolutely no reason to be bothered by such people...
as mentioned: who runs out of range, won't wait till energy is recharged or just acts silly can make friends with the hench-healer (if there is one) --- i can always choose not to heal the screaming idiot.
i refused to res too once, some stupid guy constantly got the party into trouble. (someone wanted to use the signet but i said i won't finish the mission when that guy comes back to life ^^ and so he stayed dead)
i even started to refuse playing with people who have non-suiting names.... anyone who hasnt a slightly rpgish name will have a hard time grouping with me - but that way i mostly meet people who appreciate my work / know what it takes to do it right

- dwayna's path was never meant to be easy -

you are a monk. play your edge before you join a group.
if you get an invite, ask them a few questions before joining.
i usually ask a few of the following?
- what is your group set up?
- patient group/ knows how to avoid aggro?

another tactic is setting your own team up, and make them clear you are the leader. if they have a problem with that, kick them. be a bitch before mission. it saved me some assholes. just the simple line: 'if you think you are 'leet' please leave now' does wonders.

other hints:
- people typing in capitals all the time don't understand chatpoilicies and i try to avoid them
- people with teh unimaginable 'group needs monk' is not really convincing, but can pack out well. but on this one i always test the leader with shown interview
- 'looking for elite team' or 'looking for elite monk' is probably the single most turnoff i see around. i never miss one opportunity to taunt the one who asks this. he, i have my flaws also

grtz Makk

Trust me I agree with you all and I know what to do, I just wanted to share my exploits as a calm laid back monk doing nothing but healing through ascention to find out why there are so few monks in the later levels. The shortage is nuts in the ring of fire. I agree with leaving, setting up ground rules, and questioning groups before entering. But I went through this as I'm a new monk: I heal, what can I do to help attitude. While knowing when I went through with my E/mo the attitude people have towards monks.

It was basically an experiment of sorts to see why and how people treat the monks, and how the game is affected. And its a serious issue with PUGS, 99% of people that read these forums have experienced this, and its great to see the monks come out and agree with me on this one.

Monks Union 101 Motto: Less Agro More Thinking!!!

I guess I'm lucky I never ran into those people. I had played the game through on my W/E barely able to get groups by the last few missions, so decided to create a monk. Started ascension trials at 14 and in all the groups that completed the missions, I was the only monk present. The most diverse groups in terms of classes tended to be the ones that were succesful. I never got a complaint or anything, just kept doing my job

One thing I might suggest- unless you have a sup. rune, there's no reason you should have 14 in healing prayers... that's a lot of points that could go into protection so you can bring along aegis/reversal, which help a lot when all your healing skills are recharging.

Maybe it depends on the time you're in there looking for groups to get through, but personally I met a lot of good people doing the ascension trials.

Yes I know thats a lot and i was going healing little in protection and I was just rushing so I didn't stop to grab alot of skills which I'm going back and doing now.

and On the 2nd part, through ascention I did gain 2 new guild mates out of them and they have been a great addition and smart players so I did meet somem good people.

And on that note, The Only mission I had to do more then once was thirsty river. All other missions and quests were done first try. And Times played varied from 8am to 2am and inbetween for a few hours for a week and half. totalling 19 hours through ascention.

Oh, I have met good people doing the ascension trials, I tried each mission once with henchies, failed, then tried all of them with a carefully scanned PUG. We did Elona's in one go, River in one go, and Dunes in two (we got careless and tried to kill the stupid siege worms, who, btw, are the most annoying, irritating critters ever developed by a game developer. Whoo, protect someone for 10 minutes while rocks are doing 50+ damage every ten seconds.. ), so there are definitely great people there.

But, I did scout out my team very carefully beforehand...

I always make sure to thank a monk player for good healing and when they ress me etc. Nothing like a simple thank you to show your appreciation for someone's efforts.

Let's face it, in the end playing a healing monk is hideously boring. Like the OP said, all you do is watch the freaking party screen and see red bars go up and down. It's about as exciting as watching your performance monitor in windows. You don't get to see the actual battle, or what everyone else is doing. All you do is click on a health bar and hit 2 or 3 or whatever for one of your two main healing skills (Breeze and Heal Other for me), while everyone else at least gets to have some marginal fun in actually fighting some critters, launching nukes etc.

Show The Monks Love!

I've actually offered a monk extra shares of the loot, out of my own pocket.

I saw one lvl 20 monk offering to join anyone in Elona's, for 200 gp, and the guy was ridiculed for it...
Why? because he's offering to do a mission he's already done for 200 whole gold pieces?? If he was asking 10 plat, I'd say he's trying to rip people off, but 200 gold, sheesh. People pay 5K for a runner in Beacon's Perch, but that 200 gold for a monk, oh man... Monks should be HAPPY that they let you join them!
I'd have asked him to join me except I had just finished the mission.


Creston

as a monk i'd b nice if i got 200 xtra for grouping , or maybe 50-150 from each player wanting heals...

i say make the last 1/3 of the game less difficult so as to not be so monk dependant

that would stop people complaining about the terrible monks out there, and it would lessen the harrassment people are getting when they are Mo's

no reason why a party of 8 should be sitting in town going...'man we really need to have 3 healers before we leave'...yeah i know, skill, etc, less monks, etc...

partying in this game is inherintly flawed since all you ever see requests for are Nukers and Healers...

That's a problem in a lot of places, not just GW. Its an MMO thing. *coughFFXIcough*

That's because the depth of most people's tactical often never extends beyond: "Taking damage = bad, dealing damage = good". The fact that AoE debuffs like Shadow of Fear and Enfeebling Blood, or things like Aegis (AKA the best damn spell ever) have tremendous usefulness is largely ignored.

Add that to the fact that people like to see health bars dropping, corpses piling up, and big explosions as a sign of stuff being done, and you'll see where this is going. That's why people hate on Curse Necros and Mesmers in PvP (Especially Mesmers), as most of the time, you can't tell exactly what they're doing, which leads some people to believe that they're doing nothing.