Droknar's Monkfest.

I went to droknar's afew days ago and one thing that struck me is the sheer amount of monks running around in there. I really have never seen so many monks before. Then I noticed most of them were /w. Then I noticed quite afew of them were level 3-5. So... Afew days later I checked out 4 droknar districts, took pictures of every monk I could find and came up with some very weird statistics.


Total amount of monks in four districts at 1:00pm EST on saturday: 37

Average level of monks: 15.97

Mo/R: 2
Mo/N: 3
Mo/E: 3
Mo/Me: 2
Mo/w: 27

I thought it was odd, because I actually found more monks then warriors in droknars. My thought is many the W/mo are making Mo/w? I don't know, but theres a ton of monks there now. Crazy

Most are probably going to make the 105/55 monk for UW.

They're power-levelling 55/105 UW-ubertank-soloers to-be.
Everyone and their grandmother is getting on the bandwagon.

Not I... I see no point. The role of a Monk in my thinking is to heal others. That means you have to be with others. I wouldn't be surprised if after all these Super Monks get out there then the Devs will nerf their builds somehow.

errrr.............did u say one was lvl 27? i thought the max was 20

That is the number of each type he saw. Not the level of individual monks.

Soon the ecto market will be overflooded. ecto price will drop (it aparantly allready is) and all these guys are missing the money. Ecto farming will become a mediocre reward.

just my prediction.

I really couldn't care about that. Farming for money/ecto isn't worth it for me. My basic mo/me smiter is enough to take out tengus for my remaining (7ish) Sup. Runes. Weapon mods will more likely than not be unlocked via faction or ignored completely.

Is this idea common among PvPers, or is it just me?

i have thought of this as the final target of my monk... however after reading of the frog and his message i have decided i will not pursue this path... i plan on being poor
course i still sell any sup monk runes for 15-20k to these farmers to be.

I REALLY hope Makkerts prediction comes true. I, along with everyone else in the world think that the price of ecto is insane.

Yes, people ripped off the build off the net, and now they rush to Drok and use the 55/105 build and farming.

I hate those people. I completely despise them.

It amazes me how worked up you people get over a game where wealth means absolutely nothing.

Outstanding point, very well said.

My objections have nothing to do with wealth.

How will they nerf it it is no premade?I don't have a single superior on mine although it would be nice to much for me.

The role of a Monk is whatever the Monk can do with his skillset. Just as the role of a Ranger primary isn't simply "shoot arrows" the role of a Monk primary isn't simply "heal others". To say otherwise is to ignore the wonderful diversity Guild Wars' skill system allows.

There's only a few places where the build is actually useable. Throw in a mob or two that does degen above bleeding (or strips enchantments) and the super wimpy but magically powered monks will fall like wheat before the harvest. All it would take in the underworld is an ataxe that poisons instead of bleeding. The build doesn't have any means of removing conditions, it simply relies upon keeping your regen above your degen.

Well said. A monk has 3 main paths as Protector,healer and Smither, and any combination of it should be absolute legal.

But , man, to be able to solo anything is just lame.
A failure that A.net didn't see and i don't understand why, why isn't still being nerf to death.

I have a monk myself, 50/50 heal /prot and hope to hear very soon the cryes of all those unimaginative, lame and boring ppl that just want to be Uber and make loads of cash.

Hope to see it before i leave from GW

Meanwhile, in another part of the galaxy... there are those of us who just happened to create a new monk character around the time that the whole "105" forum explosion happened, with the intent to create healers and to make getting into PvE pugs easier than with a necro or mesmer. That they also are able to solo and do basic farming for gold and materials doesn't hurt either.

/rant on

When creating this monk, I'd spent several days researching the skillsets of all the possible secondaries, narrowing it down to Warrior or Elementalist since I already had a Mesmer and Necro primary. I recognized that it would probably be more fun to go with a Warrior since the skills cost less, offer more defense earlier in the game, and it's fun to carry an axe. Plus I'm just not a big fan of the Elementalist's glyphs or waiting until late in the PvE game before the really helfpul skills, like Water and Earth, show up. It just made sense, so I went Mo/W.

One month ago, this wouldn't have been a big deal at all... now if you're a Mo/W then you're obviously a 105/55 bandwagoneer. People make snide comments to you ingame, they don't take you in PuGs becaue they assume you're a smiter/farmer, and there are all these players on the forums and in the local chat going on about how Mo/W's suck and are lame. Geez... I mean give me a break.

Not all Mo/W's are 105 farmers.... it's a really good combination on it's own, and without the 105/protection exploit. Will I use Protective Spirit/Bond when I find them? Possibly so, since they are great skills. I use runes to save attribute points, not to lower my health. The only superior rune I want or need is a Superior Healing Prayers... but can I find one for sale at a reasonable price? No, because 105 Mo/W haters are hoarding them and taking just as much advantage of the exploit as the monks themselves are.

As this is my 4th character, a dear friend offered to run me down to Droknar's because he wanted the practice, so we did the run together. I got my tatoos and a couple of skills, and then went back to PvE as normal... I've never once entered the low level arenas, and often switch to my normal-level collector's armor because silk just looks nicer than running around half naked all the time. I also like to hang out and log on/off from Droknar's, because it's just nicer down there and the music is prettier, and I'd kinda gotten used to it being the main port of call with my previous characters.

I mean let's be real... one can't even get into the UW until after ascension, and it's likely that a very small minority of the lower level Mo/W's running around, even if they have Droknar's armor, are a) ascended, b) have gotten Protective Bond/Spirit, or c) can realistically afford five superior monk runes. These so-called 105 bandwagoneers have a very long, steep uphill climb ahead of them before they even reach the UW... this whole idea of a swarm of 105 Mo/W exploiters running all over the place is a bigger issue in the collective GW forum community's imagination, rather than an actual reality.

It's my intuitive hit that the reason that all of the superior monk runes are sold out all of the time isn't because there's a horde of newly created 105 bandwagoneers buying them and going into the UW... it's because of guilds and hoarders buying them out with the hope of turning them over at an insanely high mark up to all these supposed 105 monks, who don't really exist except in the collective imagination - I mean that's the real exploit here. It's like manufacturing an illness because you have the cure and can sell the medicine at an increased profit when there's a demand... this whole 105 issue smacks of that. And I'd even wager that if one asked these hoarders point blank, that the majority of them would admit to having a 105 monk or uber farming character of their own... self-righteous hypocrisy at it's finest.

So anyway... here's at least one Mo/W healer below lvl 20 that you may see hanging out around Droknar's that isn't a 105/55 UW bandwagoneer. I'd be for Anet nerfing the build just so that the upsurge of stereotyping and prejudice/hate against all Mo/W players would stop soon. It could be argued that this Mo/W hate/sterotyping has more of an actual effect than the supposed horde of 105 exploiters really does. I created this monk to be a healer and get in PuGs easier, and this growing ingame prejudice against monks with a warrior secondary is getting really tiresome.

/sigh... rant over

wow...to you all can you see the tear forming on my cheek? no? O thats because this is just a game...everyones free to play how they want...if you didnt support that,you wouldnt be posting here and now.

I usually play a Axe Melee Monk or DD/H Monk, but sometimes I go farming if one of my guild members needs cash or a eternal bow or something from UW.

I was Mo/W long before any of these builds popped up, and actually, no one comments on me =S

I think it's mainly the Mo/W's that are new, ie. below lvl 20, that are getting most of the grief directed at them. There's been a few times now ingame where I've been given grief by idiots in pugs and towns about choosing a real profession, being un-creative/unique, jumping on the bandwagon, etc... so guess it got on my nerves a bit.

I didn't expect to receive much sympathy... and it's true, that this is just a game after all. My rant may have been a little over the top, but hey that's the mood I was in upon reading the two Mo/W threads yesterday. And it's good to get a balanced perspective from the non-105 monks too, since there isn't much love for Mo/W's around here these days.

I paid nearly 60 bucks for a game. I expect to have a god damn good game.

i made a Mo/W and it is going to be for farming. But i dont want to use the 105/55 build (mainly because it costs too much ) I'd rather make my own build. much more fun

Funny thing... All they have to do is add in an enchantment removal character instead of every other aaxte. Making it incredibly hard for any team? Not really... we still have ward vs melee, and ranger/mesmers with gc winter and mantra of frost, with a little blind...

There will always be a new class that can solo places... i dont think we need to worry about nerfing much, as there will always be another skill that can be added to the enemies to counter such actions... soon the whole game will have to be played with teams (Oh no!, don't say its so!!)... ha... poor kids, they'll have to get into guilds that actually want to help eachother, oh no!?

Sarcasm mixed in with seriousness... blasphemy isnt it?

That is what I was thinking before. When you actually go and look at the prices for Sup. Monk rune (ex. Sup Protection - Trader - 2.8k/Players-10k-15k and somtimes even 20k)

Hmm that is quite a markup if you ask me. Now if I had the chance to get it from the trader I could get it alot cheaper, but that won't be possible at all.

I mean there are hoarders and everyhting snagging up all the Sup. Monk runes they can get thier hands on. This is the real exploit here, so I totally agree with you on this.

It just tell you how monk are so over powered in PvE... Out of their 4 attributes are all extremly focused... the best heal peroid, the best protection buff peroid, amor ignoring AoE/single smiting nuking, divine favor that power up any of those just mentioned... Now... by Mo itself is already very good... now add a 2ndary class to the mix, you can now handle just about any situation with a little change of the build. It is also the easiest to get a party...

If you want to get UAS and rich fast... monk is it.

EDIT: Personally I think... if they would only take more time in making different kind of monsters and balance spawn... it would probably had been better. BUT, I must admit... I am often happy that I am able to run around without needing of human players... They probably should start making area that is especially for solo and some especially for team play and some for teaming with hench, while each with different level of reward... working with a bunch of jerk to get something done defintely worth having a good reward.

Ah... now that remind me... [rant] I am sick and tired of seeing chest open and feel the emptiness one chest after another... or everyone get something, and someone even got 2 things... while you get nothing! it is just screw up... JUST DONT PUT ANY CHEST ALREADY!! [/rant]

Yah, I'm looking for a lot in this next patch. Nerfing the crap out of monks in UW is one of them. Have a guy in my guild using it now and he acts like reinventing the wheel is some sort of accomplishment, and I see this sentiment pretty much all over now. Copying some simple to implement build off a forum is fine, but don't pretend you're doing something special. Not that I blame anyone from doing it right now.

The good thing about this is it should be blantantly obvious to them by now and hopefully that results in some changes. Enchant removal being added to the front of UW seems logical and fair. Fissure has mixed mobs and it isn't overly difficult, no reason why UW shouldn't be fairly solo-proof as well.

I've done my fair share of farming and reaped the benefits with all of my runes/skills being unlocked, and I think it's ok you can do that. But the hardest pve spots in the game shouldn't be soloable. It just takes something away from the game. 3 man fissure groups. Fine. Ranger trapper runs. Good for them. 2 man UW farming. Great. Solo monks in UW. No thanks.

The rune prices are high from demand, not just perceived demand and hoarding. If you don't see all the mo/w's running around, and see what they're asking to buy... then just look around a bit. It should be obvious within a few minutes that it's pretty rampant and the word is out on this build. I'm not sure if it's as obvious in the TOA, as I'm usually just in there forming a group and out quickly.. but I imagine it would be.

But whatever, there could be some nice results. When this is nerfed, and people have a bunch of high level monks running around, maybe they'll actually use them and the fire island missions won't have as many pugs sitting around for an hour waiting for a real monk.