Monks need Love!!

Henchmen healers suck because they get themselves killed too easily, especially Alesia...now I noticed she tries to run when she's targeted so they must have tweaked the AI.

She still dies too easily and when she does, the tanks die next and then the whole party collapses...unless ppl are smart enough to rez her fast...still she gets weaker with each death.

And yeah, I agree with Tippy, the really good monks are much better than the henchies...no comparison there. And yes, the poor monks are a lot worse too...at least those that dunno how to heal.

Have you ever been in a group with more than one good warrior and not another healer?

If you have 2 warriors apply the idiot test. Keep the smartest of the 2 alive and abandon the other one.

I'm bumping this thread because no one cares about the servers any more as their back online so...

/bump

I play a monk and I've been pretty lucky so far, though I do play with henchies a lot. Ice Caves of Sorrow is SO much easier with henchmen for instance. Sure I get those groups who insist on rushing and not letting me regain energy. Yesterday was the first day I had actually received something I would consider 'verbal abuse', and I wasn't even on the guys team. I had just completed Iron Mines of Maladune (or whatever). I was at Thunderhead Keep identifying my goodies, selling the crap, storing the good stuff, etc. and this guy kept sending an invite. I rejected a couple times and then started ignoring it. The convo went something like this . .

Punk: I will help you with mission
Me: I don't feel like doing the mission right now.
Punk: THEN ----ING LEAVE
Punk: MONKS ARE NOT WELCOME HERE
Punk: I hate u ----ing uptight monks
Me: Lol, you are funny. If you don't need monks stop inviting me.
Punk: don't come here unless you need to do mission
Me: I just got here from previous mission. Don't be such an ---.
Punk: it's like teasing everyone

There was a little more but I can't remember because I started ignoring him after that. A couple minutes later I changed my mind and decided to do the mission. Needless to say it wasn't his team that I joined, but then we got that error 7. -_-

I finally build a Mo/Me and have her up to lvl19 now. So far I have not experience what most ppl mention here, and when I get to 2-3 Warrior grp I immediately says I only have 40 energy so do not aggro more than one grp. Also one thing I found out about being a monk is you have to be a commander maybe not targeting but constantly monitoring party group for healing. one thing for sure being a monk is a lot of work compare to my other character. Cheers to all you MONK out there.

quoted for truth.

there is no stronger tell-tale then this. avoid at all costs.
anyone typing in caps or spamming 'looking for experienced group', 'looking for leet team', 'team needs 3 monks', 'monk heal me'*, 'teh', '3xc3ll3nt' or other leet talk, 'noobs' or just plain rude language should be avoided and left in the dark corners of their own fuzzy brain.

but it can be difficult to track these before mission.
just some random crap talk usually helps here.
"I suck. Do you to?"
"I can cut a balony in 7 identical pieces. what is your skill?"
if they respond pissed or leave, one ass less.

another approach is the inquiry:
- can you avoid aggro?
- do you understand that you sometimes must wait for casters to recharge before going further?
- do you understand that it isn't a monk's job to save your ass, but only assist in that task?
- are you patient?
- Who (almost) always got to drive on the Dukes of Hazzard?
- etc.

I went to UW yesterday. I used a scroll of hero's insight during the first ten minutes of the game so naturally i wanted everyone to stay alive.

Ignorant SOB's had the cheek to blame the monks for people who died. No thankyou for using the scroll either.

They soon shutup when i asked if they wanted me to leave the mission. Infact, they all said they wanted me to stay.

Strange how one group of people can say "wow great team" or "This monk rocks" (My name gets forgotten and is replaced by monk, heh) but another team can blame everything on you.

Next time i get any abuse, i will just type in the address for a nice "be good to your monk" page on here.

So monks, stay the course and ignore the idiots. If they die and you are the last one alive, it's poetic justice to ask for an apology before ressing them.

All Monks in favour of going on strike, say AYE.

LOL

Creston

Edit : Bo!

This is priceless! What a great idea! I must try this. It may make playing a monk even fun again!
your ass belongs to me....resistance is futile. damn, this appeals to my inner evil mad genius.

Man, you guys got to calm down. I play a heal/smite type Mo/Me and in my experience if you don’t like getting blamed for people dying, then don’t play a monk. As the healer you are going to take an inordinate amount of the blame no matter what, and when you are on top of everything and your party is surviving every mob… you KNOW that nothing like that could happen without your involvement. It’s a good feeling. It’s not a perfect system, but anything that keeps players from sipping on potions endlessly is good in my opinion. Besides if being the central person in every group, and the very glue which holds the game together (you know you are) isn’t enough, I know the Cribbage room at Yahoo Games could use another player.

I really enjoy playing as a monk. I enjoy healing other people thats why I maxed out Healing to 16 and I'm working on getting Devine Favour up as high as I can. I dont ask to be paid to join a group like some people do, that annoys me simply because I cant take on some areas on my own and I need a warrior etc...but I wouldnt pay for a warrior. All classes are needed but people seem to think that monks rank the highest. I've played as a monk and a necro and I prefer the monk more simply because I enjoy the challeneg of keeping others alive.

So far every group I have being in has respected me and I would say I have done a great job in keeping them alive. Some guy gave me a rare staff coz I had him on mending constantly which was very nice of him. If I do a bad job of keeping people alive then I will accept the abuse but I wont hold my tongue when it comes to shouting at people who "think" they can handle 20 mobs simply because they are a "W/Mo" tank who is invincible. I remember one player who persistantly ran off trying to show off, saying "I'll be fine heal these I can solo this area easily" and I couldnt heal in 2 places at once so he ended up dead. He then had the nerve to say "WTF DO I GET A HEAL OR WHAT , REZ ME FFS YOU SUCK AS A MONK". I rezzed him, simply because I didnt want the group to be a man down.

Anyway, gabber over.

I like playing as a monk and looking after people

D Shay

I've said it before and I'll say it again- I have never personally had a problem with a monk. Neither has anyone in my guild or people in a PUG....EXCEPT warriors. They are the ones that seem to bitch 98% of the time in PUG missions. Everyone just got done fighting a bunch of Level 20 enemies, we all stop to power back up and what do the warriors almost ALWAYS do? Run to the next group and start yelling "why didn't you heal me you @!#$%".

Myodato's spot on. I too use tactical errors as my indicators for ranking what order to let people fall when the feces hits the fan, and I don't care if you think I suck; I know I am doing everything in my power to make you stay upright despite your best efforts to commit suicide repeatedly. THAT is the challenge of playing a healing/protection monk. Any noob can play a monk for a well-behaved, communicating, coordinated effort kind of team. Where we really get our monkin' challenges from is making a PUG of lunatic psychos appear like a good team. "oh MAN we pwnz0r!!" - yep, you sure do.

Noobs (as Squirt): That was so cool! Hey dad! Did you see that? Did you see me? Did you see what I did?
Monks (as Crush): You so totally rock, Squirt!

People need to play every class at least once. The ones that think a monk is an endless fountain of energy with instant cast times and instantly recharging spells need to pull their heads from their asses. You'll never get "love" from them, anyway. They think you are an elite healbot, only slightly better than Alesia and hey you remove conditions and hexes. Nontheless, I / we get plenty of love. It's just that the haters are 20:1 louder. Its the nature of things.

So please, those of you who haven't a clue how bad you are as a team player, keep up with the "OMFG this monk sucks!" because we're talking in whispers amongst ourselves deciding if you're intentionally griefing us or if you really are just that clueless. I guess I'll rez you once more. You suck, you're incapable of learning or listening... but you do make for tasty monster bait.

In this case it's more like 'With great responsibility comes great power.' Playing a monk seems to make people more arrogant.

Sure it did. I mean, I never go out on a mission before I am offered at least two virgins(preferably female Elementalists in first armor set) and platinum.

heh, i'm going to need to start taking vengence and a regular rez into UW/Fiss... that sounds like a lot of fun :-)

I'll admit to getting a little bit pissy in UW/FoW when people do stupid ****. Yesterday the entire group (except me) died to some ataxes because the warriors decided to stop holding aggro and the other (healing) monk died and i, as a (protection) monk can only do so much when there are 2 ataxes attacking casters. I managed to get away and rezed about 2/3 of the group before they aggroed the same two ataxes again and got killed - so i made them agree to not do stupid **** like that again before i started rezzing them.

Ok being a monk is rewarding and at the same time makes you think 2 or three times before joining a PUG. Just an example.... So we had waht appeared a great group. One monk (me) 2 rangers 3 eles and 2 wa/mos. We are doing dragons lair. We get in and the whole time all us ranged people are screaming at the tanks .... wait stop slow down please no dont.... etc. The tanks dont get the hint. I rez them but only after they agree to go slow and not agrro anything let the rangers pull.... We get to next zone. Again Wa/mos run off....... again I rez them after they agree not to run off again. They run off and agro and die. ( Keep in mind the entire time they are screaming "wheres the heal stupid monk you suck") So this time I doont rez them and neither do any of the other ranged attackers. We go on slowly and aggron one pulled group at a time Clear the zone get to the next warriors are back up they run off and die.... We take our time and kill all mobs 1 by 1 and clear the zone. Last zone warriors are up they run off die and we clear zone. The point being I kept all the casters and rangers alive in their paper thin armor with no problem. Just becuase we took our time and 1 ranger aggroed everything. Bottom line if tanks start crap in a group leve them dead they arent really needed.

In FoW my guildes and I needed one more person so we allowed this W/N in on probation. There was one condition though and it was great. He had to use Blood is Power until he died. Then one of us used Unyielding Aura to reshim. Whenever he got out of line we just turned it off. He learned quick and we had no problems with people not listening

AYE lol

My first build was a N/E. I got sick of the bad monks we were getting so, I made a Mo/Me too see if i could do better.

I didnt realise how hard it was to be a monk but, I do now. Ive learnt how to be a good healer and protector.

If I get flamed, like i did for the Elona Reach (I think it is) I just refuse to heal them.

This 1 party member found out I am a woman and said "women cant tank" and allsorts of sexist remarks.

So I just said to him "Well Im not healing you or ressing u" he carried on for a little while longer. Mission failed but I got the satisfaction of the Be nice to your monks message put across.

I'd like to let all the good and excellent monks worthy of love who are reading know that this thread is a good example of why I, and many others that I know, have just started taking Alesia and dealing with it.

She doesn't complain or argue.

She doesn't insult, talk down to or abuse inexperienced or new players.

She doesn't think that the whole party revolves around her.

She'll heal anybody, regardless of their ability, personality or attitude.

She won't quit or leave the group when things get difficult.

Rarely do party members ever bitch at or scream at Alesia for not healing or rezzing them, creating a better atmosphere.

I've partied with several high-level so-called "healing monks" as of late in missions, and all of them were either: a) a miserable experience, though we completed the mission; b) a miserable experience, because everyone died repeatedly and it was everyone's fault but the monk's, as he reminded us constantly; or c) the monk either threatened to stop healing, quit and logged out, began healing and rezzing only specific members, or decided the team was too weak for the bonus and refused to help.

However an interesting thing has happened... on many missions in the wee hours of the night, there just aren't that many monks available. So I started getting in the habit of taking Alesia, or suggesting to the group that we could. Alesia used to suck, but something got changed in a patch update because she's really not that bad anymore. And you know what?..

Each of those missions were some of the best groups I've been in, and in every one we completed both the mission and bonus. We had fun... hardly any arguing or complaining... nobody had that "do what I say or else" attitude... everyone got healed well when they needed it. Sure people died, but it was no big deal. Didn't matter which character I used, or class combination we had. Even had a heavy spellcaster group with no tanks, it was great.

Besides my Warrior and Monk characters, I have a Nec/Mo with very high healing prayers that I use ocassionally, and she takes the roll of a backup healer/rezzer in any group when not focusing on death magic... it's actually a really good combo. But the side effect of this is that when there's a monk in the group, I get to see very clearly what and how the monk is doing the healing within the party, as I try to base my strategy around theirs to support them. I've been amazed at how many healers don't heal equally througout the group, or show preferential treatment to certain members at the expense of others. I've watched monks just let people die. If I whisper to ask why, the responses I've gotten are derision, condescension or the healer just up and dropping. It's absurd.

Alesia may not be the best healer, but she has a lot of really great things going for her. I've yet to not complete a mission or quest with her as the only healer. People are getting tired of, and wise to, the whole attitude and racket that's being run by a lot of Monk healers, and if some of you better ones don't do something to turn the favor soon, we may all begin to see lots of "Monk, LFG" messages that get ignored like every other class does.

This sums it up right here. I've read probably a hundred posts over the last several weeks where Monks are proudly sharing how they used their power to manipulate or control the people in their team to bend to their will. I've got a monk character myself, and know what it takes to be an effective healer, as well as the difficulties healers face. Anybody who threatens to not heal or quit if someone won't do what they want is not worthy to wear the monk robes, imho.

Alesia never, ever, ever does that. Something a lot of you could learn from.

Very interesting thread. I have been a healer in three games now; WoW, FFXI, and GW. In all three games the healers faced the same circumstances. My first experience as healer was 2 years ago as a white mage in FFXI. I was scared to death to let somebody die. When it did happen, I took it very hard. In FFXI you actually lost something when you died, unlike GW. Nonetheless, I have learned quite a bit since then.

1. A healer has to be the most calm and attentive player in the group. I once looked away from the screen for about, um... 5 seconds. When I looked back my entire team was dead. Nerves of steel should come standard with plummeting health meters.

2. No healer, that is a good one, is also immature. Define good. They dont speak unless spoken to (too busy spamming heals). They accept all responsibility for their own actions. They are also in control of others game play... thats too much for some "Little Billy's" who cant handle any responsibility in a game.

3. A healer must have very thick skin. So the others dont like you cause you "let" them die. Awe... are your feewings hoted? If a few "Wtfs!" and "n00bs!" bother you... your in the wrong profession. Some play Monk for the attention they get, while others want to be the hero. Either way it comes at a price and you better be willing to pay it.

4. Compliment the hand that feeds you. This goes both ways. Healers heal better when they are openly complimented for their work. Swatters swat harder with the same praise. Nobody is more important than the next. Monks who think they own the world are pathetic losers who need attention and power to feel good about themselves.

Theres many more where that came from.

Pfffff Some people are taking things way too personal here. I think it is a general evolution that more and more people are being rude in multiplayer games (At least I have seen it in numerous games) no matter what class or type of character.
Monks should not complain, at least they are still being invited into parties.
My lvl 20 Necro practically never receives an invitation for a party, even though I can keep alive about 8 minions, which are - needless to say - a good tank in any circumstance. The lvl 16 minions deal crappy dmg, but at least they give my party's offensive characters the chance to choose their targets ideally. When I want to be in a high level party I better start making one myself, or else I have a beard twice the size of Santa's before I venture in any quest. But now I have learned this, I simply act according to it, I feel no need to start threads complaining or whining ...

Personally I think it's just rude people being rude people. I've been playing a
monk since beta and only in the last few weeks have I had to actually leave
a group. I HATE the idea of leaving a group, but there comes a point when a
line in crossed. I can deal with being called a Noob or the annoying little
remarks about how the person needs a heal ( even though the Health bars
are burned into my eyeballs...). But blatant disrepect and personal insults, I
nor anyone else should have to "deal" with in a game or anywhere else.

Just tonight I left a group because some punk decided to call me a ****ing
***ch for "letting" him die. I guess he didn't notice that he ran off into a
horde of IceBreakers etc., without telling the rest of the group right before
he croaked and killed most of the team. Yeah....ToA seems the meeting place
of all evil!

Luckily for me, the very next group was probably one of the BEST
pickup groups I've had yet! We nearly cleared out Underworld!

Anyhow, I don't think it's just monks being abused. I've seen lots of people
being treated badly just because these jerks feel they can. Many say people
need to deal with it and to tough it out. I think that attitude is part of the
problem. This kind of behavior over the net is way too accepted...

Bottom line is, game or not, I won't and don't have to put up with abuse from
anyone. Have tougher skin cause I'm a monk? Screw that. If someone can't
treat me like a person, then they can go to hell. I'm here to have fun and
being treated like crap isn't uncluded in that.

Ferelle Anevay R/E
Elva Marie Mo/(whatever I feel like that day)

I have a monk too but for that character i only party with friends in RL and if they die they just tell me on teamspeak hey i'm dead bring me back and we keep going like it's nothing, that's the way it should be. Yesterday i had my first PUG with my necro/warrior with all necro skills. we started the group with 5 and no monk so it was a good thing i started spamming fountain of blood to keep a 3 fighter and 1 ele team alive, since that was my only heal spell it was good so i had mana to use on killing when they hit up something that took forever to take down. I also used blood is power to pump up the ele so he could cast more spells, that was the first time i've played such a supportive role for my necro, in pvp i'm like "yeah go for damage!" until i hit lions arch arena, GAH!

*bump*

Don't bump this thread. It's gone from "monks have to deal with so many assholes" to "hey, some monks are assholes" to (hopefully) "oh, I guess all classes have their share of assholes and we really can't expect to know everything about a person by the class they play".

Of course, I could have told you that.

This is my absolute favorite trick I've only had to use it 3 times.
I only pull it on someone who's an absolute annoyance to the whole party (you know the ones). When he makes his next rude comment I yank the Aura and he drops. Next thing he says is, "wtf?" And everyone around him starts laughing. In once case everyone decided to pounce on his corpse jumping repeatedly - (Maybe we got carried away there but, trust me, this fella deserved it - everybody thought so).
The cruelest thing I did was (same fella as above) in the UW. A smite dropped and Eternal Shield for him and so I dropped HIM just before he was able to grab it. He lay helplessly dead just a couple of feet from his prize. But I did rez him 20 seconds later so could get it. Sure, I could have waited and taken the shield myself - but that would be just plain wrong.

Indeed. I don't run off after we finish off a group. Not only do the monks need to recharge, but EVERYONE else does to. A warrior, or, hell, any class, that runs off before everyone's health bar is up to max, and all conditions and hexes are gone (At the very least, not counting mana) is an idiot.

Having said that, people who abuse other players because of their monk skill frustrate me. Because they have healing, they can suddenly chose to not heal? In the 10 minute no-res-me group, I actually snapped. Having just been through a mission with a group that left me unrezed for 32 minutes, I was not happy. So, I did what any good [sic] warrior would do. Upon being rezed, I ran into a group of monsters, then lead them straight back to the monk. And then sprinted away from the group to wait until the monk succumbed to the sweet sweet effects of angry dwarves.

Hey, before you flame me, remember, my job as a warrior is to keep the enemy away from you, and soak damage. If you don't do your job, why should I do mine?

^^
HeHe sounds like something I would do. As for stopping heals and leaving you dead I don't do that, my way is better. You can still fight but when you get mean out comes the Unyielding Aura. The plus for you is that no matter how many times you die your DP never decreases cause I remove it right before you die. The plus for us is having a leash to control you with. BTW as Unyielding Aura is an enchantment if you go to far away from the caster it turns off and you die.

That's all well and good, but what if I come across a monk that thinks they know better than me? Like, for example in Hell's Precipice, when I want to go get the bonus, and they won't listen to me, and then refuse to heal or res me? What am I supposed to, (in this case as an elementalist) do then? Luckily, my secondary was a monk, and I could heal better than he/she/it could anyway.

What about the time a monk cast the aura on me (god knows why, I was the only person in my party who hadn't died yet) and then went AFK without telling anyone? Twiddle my thumbs?

I'm just saying, just because people treat you bad at times doesn't mean you have to use unyielding aura to beat them into submission. I get crap all the time as a warrior as it is from people because they don't understand the concept of "Tank stays in FRONT". Especially in the UW vs. the damn smiting spiders. Or they start screaming at me because I "aggroed everything!" when in fact our elementalist had done it because they wanted to run ahead and cast mark of rodgort on the enemy?

Every class gets crap, and every class has their moments of "no one loves me! I should just quit!" But I'm getting side tracked, my main issue is monks thinking it's okay to slap aura on someone like they were a quasi-slave. Sure, people are bad, but, this bothers me on a serious level. I would never, as a warrior, or as an elementalist, or as a necromancer, hold the lives of my party members above their heads. I either just ignore their crap and move on, or ignore their crap and move on. I've got a job to do, the idiocy of my party shouldn't effect that.

I've only mistreated a monk once, and that was because my patience had run out. I've been mistreated by monks far more. If people run on ahead of you, just don't move until you're done regen-ing mana. They'll quickly figure out that when you say "wait, must get energy" that you mean it. No one's making you charge off like a madman into the enemies waiting for you. Sure, that contradicts my earlier statment about doing my job, but part of a monk's job is resurrection.

Personally, if the game would let me, I'd strip it off any time someone put it on me. I don't die often enough to need it. BUT IT WON'T. I don't think....hmm.

Which is funny, because PvE for the beta tests ended right after the searing of Ascalon (there was a quest or two, and then nothing IIRC).

My monk rarely has any problems. I do get peeved at all the people who feel the need to scream "Rez me! Rez me!" in the middle of a battle, as if the party would be just fine if I took an 8-second nap to rez them and then another three or four seconds healing them back up to full.

If you tank properly I will keep you alive. Being a good warrior automatically gets you added to my friends list as I haven't found that many who are that great.

I never go AFK short of a)house burning down b)someone breaks in c)something requiring a trip to the emergancy room.

I will listen to anyone in game unless I know what they are saying is wrong.

It is to your benifet for me to res you with Unyielding Aura. I turn it off right before you die so that you gain no DP.

If you are really good I would most likely have somone else res you.

Well said. Bravo.

1., yup, look away for an instant and someone dies. It can be tough in those long battles. I notice that a lot of folks are typing out strategies and such during a battle... often I can't read them because i"m working out who is going to get what Healing skill.

4. So important. A well timed Necro heal or Elem Firestorm... a good tank blocking several foes... ranger hitting with a distracting shot so bad guy can't get uber spell off... Mesmer draining... all of these things can keep a team alive. Give away compliments, they are free! And what they can get you in return is almost priceless.

As I said in another thread, as a primary monk, I don't need praise or accolades. I need cooperation and RESPECT. I sure don't yell profanities at the elementalists that aggro 3 mobs or even the so called tanks that pull aggro back to me when their health gets below 50%. I don't expect nor will I accept people screaming profanities at me.

The most I do to the stupid players is move them to the bottom of my priority list. That is in the best interest of the team. I won't continually waste heals on someone with a 60% DP because they are dumb when other players are in need. Who would you rather have alive, the tank with 500 HP or the tank with 250 HP? Think about it.

As for the people screaming "rez plz", do you even realize how long it takes to cast a rez spell? Do you realize how many other people could die in that amount of time?

I never charge or hold anyone hostage. And, I turn down offers to pay for me to get into UW or Fissure. I play for fun and enjoy healing. I do the very best I can at all times. We all make mistakes. If you respect me, I will respect you.

rebirth .... thats all i gotta say ... inform them that when ressing it drains all your energy for 10 seconds afterwards ... if someone takes off into battle ... let them run. They will never learn about energy regen until they have a -60 dp after the first 6 mobs. Call your energy, your as much at fault for not calling it, as you are for letting them run off. Selective ressurection ... if she/he continues to badger you and does not decide to play like a team with EVERYONE's best interest in mind, then keep him dead. He will likely cause your group more grief than benefit. We finished the game with 5 people. 1 baby quit, 1 had to work, 1 got d/c. When the baby quit, he left saying 'THIS IS THE WORST F-CKIN GROUP YOU LOSER NOOBS, LEARN HOW TO PLAY' .... needless to say we went on to beat the game and he went back to town. The group actually had a fun time after and was very impressed by our teamwork.

Finally, to avoid these types of attitudes, a simple IQ test pre-mission will suffice.