MOnks...the best leaders?

Yeah I've been saying this for months.

Agreed. I think that I've learned more about this game as a monk than I ever did as a Mesmer (unless I was in a healing support role---Me/Mo). As a mesmer, I was only concerned with what -I- was doing, as are the other characters. I rarely gave much thought to anyone else's healthbars unless they went suddenly blank and I was one of the only ones left alive. Then it was...Oh #$@@...RUN!

But as a monk, I have to be aware of each player's strengths and weaknesses, who is getting hit hard and who isn't, how to manage the situation (helps to know the missions ahead of time to know what I should bring), etc.

I suppose the bottom line is that it comes down the player behind the character. If they have a god complex IRL, they'll have a BIGGER one IG as a monk. If they are more like a true monk, a benevolent healer, they will be humble and offer constructive suggestions without saying the word n00b even ONE time!

The monk is only the "best" leader, if the player behind the monk is the "best" leader. The profession the player chooses does not determine if they are a good leader. Well, at least that's what I think.

Makes sense, but I agree with gosl that it's more the person behind the character.

I hate leading a group with my monk, though I have done it when helping guildmates with missions. I have enough responsibility just healing/protecting the entire team. I don't want to add leadership on top of that, but maybe that's just me.

your not talking about target calling are you?

*if you are* scenario ... your king of the hill ... team A infront of you rushes you .... chopping at your hero at your teamates ... you name it ... conditions ... hexes .... whatever ... so you and the other monks are protecting healing removing conditions and hexes ... heck through in smiting to protect your self ...

the other team rushes you while your spamming these ... are you actually able to add on this to your role? If you are ... I applaud you ... frankly I say eles andrangers make target calling easier especially rangers ...

reason is that they are continually hounding the casters and annoying them ... but switching between them ... so when they see a target of opportunity they can call it out. But thats just a thought ...

Not really. At least, not in combat. A monk can't call targets, for example.

Knowing when to fall back and/or retreat is probably a decision best left to a monk, however.

Having played monks since E3, I can say that maybe they can dictate some tactics, but somebody else needs to be calling targets. A monk that is doing his job is going to be constantly targeting his own team, not tabbing around to find a key target. I do think the monks should be in charge of calling a retreat though. A good monk knows what he can heal and when people need to cut their losses.

Yes they can. They just need to immediately cancel the attack by backing up, and staying out of aggro range (And you can call targets from well outside aggro range to begin with, so.. What a monk can't do that well is pull. That's a Ranger's job.

As for consistently targetting one's own team.....You can leave your mouse over the lifebars and use [ and ] to cycle targets, if you want.

I've never considered target calling to be the leader's job unless they stated so. It is the leader's job to designate a target caller though. Rangers are my fave target callers, though most of the time there is a warrior on the team who insists on doing it too. When I'm leading I name who will target call and who will pull (if necessary). To me the leader gathers a balanced team, designates roles (target caller, puller), leads team by drawing/ping the map, and gives instructions via chat when necessary. Some people may not, but I consider the person at the top of the list (the one who made the team) the team leader, unless they obviously don't want the role, in which case there is always someone willing to take over. It annoys me when I put a team together, and once we're in the mission someone else automatically tries to assume the leadership role. If you want to be leader, put together your own team.

I'm not thinking about that, I'm thinking about the fact that pretty much the only thing I ever pay attention to is the life bars of my team...I don't care who they're fighting, how close that mob is to dying, who should be attacked next. My job - my ONLY job - is to keep my team alive for as long as possible. Those red bars can shrink fast enough so it's difficult, for me at least, to pay attention to anything else.

Most the time, I don't even bother attacking. Half my time is just spent standing there between heals. Not because I couldn't help the team a little bit, but because I prefer to stay entirely focused on those red bars.

Certainly not in PvP, they should be too busy removing hexes/conditions, healing and running away from enemies to properly lead team

i select a target to attack between heals, as tesco says every little helps. But, I do keep my eye on the health bars, I positioned them where i can watch the fighting and keep an eye on the team.

i second this. as a monk, it's pretty difficult mapping out a counter-strategy if i can't see what skills the enemy is running except for very obvious cases such as nature spirits or air eles. i think anti-cast mes or disruption ranger would be more natural b/c they're always in the position to see what skills multiple enemies are using and also in a good position to actually counter them.

The best leaders are those who can keep aware of the battle situation.
The best target callers are those who can stick with a target until it dies or they want the team to switch to an better target.

In responce to the orignal topic, if the Monk can do his job of healing/protecting while keeping aware of everything else going on, then sure, lead away. If not, then don't lead.

But you can't say X class is better leading then any others because leadership is very dependent upon the person, not the class.

Me too, r4yne. My little 4-7 damage wand does copious amounts of damage...but...every little bit DOES help, right?

I don't think Gogo was insinuating that Monks -were- the best leaders. The question was merely asked.

I don't think that any one class is the best leader. As ably stated by others, it depends on the human at the keyboard, not the class itself.