Monk Manifesto Post- and Pre- Patch

This game was actually fun and unique at one point. Before they nerfed the monk built, I use to though this game had potential for variety, because how often you see a monk/saint/assist type char do other things besides healing. Hardly to nearly non. This game gave that type of char the potential to kill with smite. But with the weakness of monk's tankablility through passive armor, they were preaty weak. But that's where the skill mechanic's came in and allow monks to take on a bit more damage and ultimately allow them to tank. Along with the Smite skills, this gave Monks the abilty to be a variety for parties and solo supports. With healing as a primary use in most games, the ability to smite and tank made "The Monk" a enjoyable and multi-use type of char. Often times in other games there are 3 types of chars, (spell caster/damage dealers, melee, or healer/support). Basically your either a damage dealer or a full-support or a healer. Now the meaning of full-support means a character type that supports a group by contributing. Tanks can full-support by being a tank and a damage dealer. Spell-casters can deal heavy damage and buff groups with damage increase but can't tank. Healer/support can't tank and can't do effective damage, but they can heal party and buff with hp oriented spells. If you look at the pros and cons of the 3 char type listed above, you can see the fun factor is mostly upon a melee type char then a spell caster for ther uber damage support. Now when you look at what a healer can do is all you can do is heal. Where's the fun in that?

Let's get into the meaning of "Monk". A monk is a person that is spiritually harmonized with it's surrounding. A monk is attuned with it's surrouding where there is no need for violence for resolution. If a bad omen arrises, a monk will use any means of a peaceful action to get rid of the evil. So a monk's weapon of choice is 'Holy' to smite the evil away. But in most cases 'Holy' is used as a protective aura or chant, rarely a damaging spell to smite evil away. You think Monk's can keep the evil away 24/7 by just defending all the time and not fight back and maintain peace, just for the evil to keep coming back again and the again till they overrun you? Would fate change if Monk's fought back? Will your view change about what a Monk can and could of done with the ability to fight back?

Before I go offtopic, now you got some info on what a Monk is and can and could do. Now on choosing what type of char to choose, this depends on what type of player you are. Ultimately, this will make your final decision as in what type of char fits your play mechanics.
Type:
Rambo, for those that loves to fight up front and have the feeling that you killed something powerful just because you are swinging a melee type weapon back and forth and that you look cool doing that.
Sack of Potatoes, for those that likes action but hate taking the hits
Supporters, for those who loves the feeling of being wanted in a party
Majority Leechers, for those who choose chars that are easy to play with (usually melee type char since you don't have to worry about others but yourself and energy upkeep)
Dreamers, those that choose chars based on cool looks
Rapist, those that chooses the most revealing and sexy GIRL type char just so they can stare at there scandalist looks all day long, not giving a rat's ass on how boring or hard is it to play that type of char. (Usually a monk type or sorcerress)

If you were to choose 1 or 2 types from the list above that fits you, you don't have that much char variety to choose from that can fit both of your needs. Besides choosing Dreamer and Rapist as your 2 types, since girl chars are cool looking ^_^ .

Now lets compare those player type with what class fits you in Guildwars.
Rambo - Warrior
Sack of Potatoes - Elementalist, Necro, Mesmer, Ranger
Supporters - Warrior, Elementalist, Monk, Ranger
Majority Leecher - Warrior, Elementalist(high energy, less strainful on casting multi spels)
Dreamers - All Char Type
Rapist - Necro, Mesmer

As you can see Warrior fits 4 of the 6 listed and all the others are either listed in 2-3 types and Monks are listed as primarily for there supporting skills.(e.g healing is always needed in all games with a party system) Although this view of player types is what i see it as in my opinion. (Bring Flames on <------)

Generally if you see most MMORPG games that are out in the past and present all feature at least a char type that primarily heals and also have the slowest time leveling.

Anet and the creator of Guildwars did a great job making this game with monks having the ability to smite. Something that monks don't or rarely get to do in other games. Becoming a effective damage dealer. This game offers uniqueness of all there chars but primarily the Monk class. For those Monk player that wants some freetime to ourselves from constatly staring at lifebars all day, we want to be able to kill some monsters sometimes alone or be wanted in parties as a damage dealer. ( this goes double for those who are bias against a non-healing monk being a part in your party) Like what most people say and I agree, Monks is the most unappreciated class of all. Example, if you win against a tought mob, usually the damage dealing classes in the party are ranked godly and given gratz. Never do monks get's appreciated for there constant healing and keeping the party alive till the end. And if the party dies, Monks are the first to be blamed. I, for one that plays a monk, am tired of partying with imcompetant players, although ther a plenty of nice ones, and want to use my smiting skills too the fullest with direct action. And to do this we need good protection spells. Hench -->Prot Bond<--. Why fluke such an awesome spell, it allowed us monks freetime from healing. Often times I want to explore the vast areas that are not part of the missions. But couldn't do it because of one of 3 reasons. 1. No one want to party with you to explore outside area. 2. Npc's A.I. is stupid because as a Monk you need to heal the npc's and usually they don't attack till the user attacks a monster first. Thus making you walk in front of the line and take on the action first. And after you land the first hit on a monster you want the npcs to attack and start running to the back of the party so you can stand safely and heal. The NPC's start running with you. Whats up with that? 3.Monk's can't take in damage. All of these is the problems i fast after patch. Before patch I probably only faced the first 2 problems listed not the 3rd one.

My argument comes to a conclusion. A monk that can be a effective damage dealer while soloing and being in a party. Wow only one game i know use to do that and that's Guildwars. But with no effective spells that gives a good enough protection to use our smiting to the fullest, just kills the game. So what makes this game's "Monk" char unique and different from all the other run-off-the-mill MMORPG's typical Healing Monk. I say none now that they patched it.....................................The End

I have a smiting monk, I play her and a interrupt ranger. Haven't really had too much problems with either. Just upfront about it, though my monk secondary skills are healing I can only help at it if things are going really badly.

Next bit, a monk is whatever the designers want them to be. There is no real "monk" that you describe, it's your own idea of what one should be. This is true for any game. Typically monks are healers in most RPGS. Monks in real life are rarely fighters or anything clsoe to your descrition, though a few isolated groups have been.

Next, your list of reasons for choosing classes isn't that great. First, for the "rapist" the elementalist seems to be the one (see dancing ele's and thier armor). Necros and mesmers mjust be your opinion, I find them the least "rapist" of the bunch of females. Eles and warriors fit my bill (first due to thier armor, both because of thier dances). Plus there are many more reasons for choosing your class (How can I play a support character because "for those who loves the feeling of being wanted in a party" when I hate being in a party and play with henchies? Or why choose an interrupt ranger if I want the feeling of being wanted for PUG's?).

Next, the healers in MMORPGS (and, granted, in my moderatly limited experience) leveld pretty quick. Mainly because EXP was shared evenly amongst the party and healers were in demand.

And, lastly, Anet had no intention of creating a specific class that can solo - it was an abuse of thier huge list of skills. If that is what you purchased the game for then I suggest you go take another look at the package and thier description. The second part is balance - no profession or combination be dominating over another. The game is party based, always has been, always will be. The henchies are for those of us (like me) who don't want to group with real people. Nor does Anet particularly want a monk to be a better tank/damage dealer than a warrior - sorta makes the warrior worthless for most PUGS in PvE.

My smiting monk is just as powerful as before, nothing has changed in that regard. I'm still firmly in the damage dealing group right alongside the ele's. Many of the solo monks have stated they can still solo the UW (just not as easy) and I have no reason to disbelieve them.

It should be rather telling that you say that you can longer be a smiter because protective enchants have been nerfed - since when have they *ever* been a staple of a smiter? Enchaters should be the one's pissed, not smiters.

And, I'll finish with the same questions I always have. Did you, when you learned of this build, expect it to not be nerfed? If this has run you from GW where are you going to go that this isn't the case (in fact, where are you going to go that it isn't worse)?

I've played only a handful of MMORPG's and I saw immediatly it would be nerfed (in fact, it would have been nerfed in most single player games I know of), nor have I played or read about one where what you are looking for existed (in fact, the main reason I play guildwars over others is that I *can* play by myself and nerfs are irrelevant as I can simply/cheaply reconfigure through attribute refunds - if you know of another like that I'm interested).

keeping your team alive and healed is HUGE. A healer is much appreciated.

So...because prot bond got nerfed, you can't smite any more?
This is just a minor hindrance for those that didn't just copy their builds from others.

Btw, if you want your henchies to attack a target but don't want to attack it yourself, press ctrl+shift+space.

Monks can still solo UW, you just didn't bother to look for another solution or I don't know, think for yourself. Sorry you can't rely on the same build anymore to get Ectos, but that's your fault for not being flexible, not Anets.

There are still plenty of ways to be successful with smiting. If you have a large damage warrior, you can still use Judge's Insight or Strength of Honor on him/her to up their damage significantly. If someone is playing a tank, taking lots of hits but not really losing any health, you can cast Retribution, Holy Wrath, or Shield of Judgement on the player to deal plenty of damage back at the attackers. If you're a primary healer and you want to smite, just use Zealot's Fire and you'll be doing a reasonable amount of damage just for doing something you'd be doing anyway.

Anyway, there are still plenty of ways to smite and still be wanted by PUGs. And if you're feeling underappreciated and not having fun, talk to your party about it. If all else fails, F12 or the 'M' key (followed by returning to the nearest town or outpost) works wonders. Perhaps a bit extreme, but it works.

I don't know about anyone else, but I find after a tough battle, the monks get most of the praise for keeping people alive, while most of the other classes don't get any. And if you get tired of staring at life bars, try learning to only half-watch them, play a protector, or play some other class. Monks weren't designed to be the top damage dealers, just like elementalists weren't designed to be the best tanks (though in either case they can be in the right situations).

In all, smiting hasn't changed, you just need to learn how to do it with other people around.

Lately I have been going out on missions I have already done with PUGs just for the fun of it. I set my build with armor (my swapable set of armor) so my attributes are 12 heal,11 smit, 8 prot, 12 divine. For example I did the Frost Gate a couple of times last night. The others were shocked at my ability to heal and smit. I was just waiting for one of the warriors to get a hex on them so I could Smite Hex. It is pure joy to see -65's float up in the air and watch a bunch of Dwarfs & Golems fall. I was getting so many "thank you's" that I almost missed healing a character from the "welcome's" I wrote back. A couple of people were stuck on that mission so it was nice to help them move on.

Also I eneded up Teaching a few the basics like calling targets. I ended up Tanking way too much. I almost died from that. Good old Healing Touch saved my buttocks a few times. I wanted to be in the thick of it because then I could use Divine Healing on the group. Also I could Call Targets on the Spell Casters. I like that more then Heal Party, however it takes forever to recharge. I am trying things out WITHOUT Divine Boon for a change. I love that enchantment however, the spell casters always turn it off. So it left me another slot for Healing Seed which I would save for the weakest Warrior in the group.

The lower missions are a great way to practice using different spells. You have room for error in those and you make people real happy.

I think of a Monk primarily as a Healer. Smitting & Protection are Specialties for the Monk. Later in the Game you must decide which course you want to take. I for one am a Mo/Ele. Since I have finish the game with this character I dropped most of my Ele spells. My left over Attributes I put into Air only for the Whirlwind (Sprint) that I have yet to use. I do miss the Elemental AoE attacks. My Next Character will probably be a Ele/Mo. Then the next one a Mo/Mes.

Grrr. Forget Smiting, Forget Prot. Bond.

I'm peeved that my Healing Seed got nerfed and need to vent.

Someone comfort me please

I am using Soothing Images on Narcissus!

Off-Topic Bit:

Implying only Males are rapists and perverts? Shame on you.


On-Topic Bit:

So they 'nerfed' Protective Bond. Not sure why, it's lame now, and their are many more intelligent ways to stop UW solo'ers (If that is really the reason why Protective Bond was changed). Now, it's not so good, unless ALL you want to do is stop someone taking lots of damage. For a little bit.

Doesn't mean you can't go Smiting with your monk. I still do, quite effectively. But then, it's probably in the way i play it. I don't run into combat frothing at the mouth like a rabid dinosaur. This is the Warriors job, hence the armour. I stand back, and 'chant up Mr.Warrior with my Smiting and watch him rip his foes apart.

Heh, occasionaly my monk has been accused of 'not doin nuffin' because the warrior failed to notice that he was close to bursting with the amount of Enchantments he had on him. He quietened down when i asked him how he thought he was doing 100 odd damage per hit and watching foes he wasn't attacking die.

What annoys me is when people assume that because you are a Monk, you are a healer. This has lessened now, but earlier it used to be 'Wtf?! you cant heal what a tard omfg lame noob'.
Now it's 'but we wanted a healer, noob'. Sorry, but you should of RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing asked for one, and noticed when i said, ' Hello, i'm a SMITER monk. SMITER. Look, ---> SMITE <----. As in, no healing.'

You may be surprised at how many people assume you are a healer regardless of you telling them otherwise.

Like i said in my post this is just my insight and thoughts. I agree with all you saying there is other ways and I am curently looking and testing some of my new builts.

(Next, the healers in MMORPGS (and, granted, in my moderatly limited experience) leveld pretty quick. Mainly because EXP was shared evenly amongst the party and healers were in demand.)
Most of the other games I played, monk types were exp leechers and the party system had the exp split lowered like crazy when you made bigger parties. Example Pristontales, when you are at a high lvl mostly 70+, soloing 30 monsters of your lvl or 10 above will yeild you only 0.5%. And if you were in a group of 8 ultimately you get 0.5% every 120-160 monsters. That my friend took 25-30 mins to get 0.5%.

Oh and the part about my player type listing is just for fun. I try to make up random names for types of players I think exist when compared to the type of play mechnics your into. I have nothing against what reason's people choose a certain char for.

I still love my monk for the healing part because you can ultimately play God by either allowing the team to survive or die. 'Hint' stop healing completely because some foo was bitching at you, so you just plain out don't heal him during battle ,^_^,

That's not playing God, that's being a jerk because you have a thin skin and are willing to screw up your team's chance of winning because you can't take an insult. Any class can sabotage their group there is nothing special about it.

Lot of writing to get to the fairly pointless conclusion that your monk should be able to play every single role in the game.

That's the nature of the teamwork in the game, you get a mostly singular role, and use it to help your team. Any build that starts getting way out of hand and accomplishing way too much on it's own is obviously going to get nerfed so that the game isn't imbalanced.

Btw smiting is barely nerfed at all from what I hear

"(Next, the healers in MMORPGS (and, granted, in my moderatly limited experience) leveld pretty quick. Mainly because EXP was shared evenly amongst the party and healers were in demand.)
Most of the other games I played, monk types were exp leechers and the party system had the exp split lowered like crazy when you made bigger parties. Example Pristontales, when you are at a high lvl mostly 70+, soloing 30 monsters of your lvl or 10 above will yeild you only 0.5%. And if you were in a group of 8 ultimately you get 0.5% every 120-160 monsters. That my friend took 25-30 mins to get 0.5%."

Is that any different from the other classes? Did the ones doing damage get a higher share in group or were perfectly able/quick to solo? To be "slower" means taking more time to do something relative to the others, not just "slow". Not to mention in everyone of them I played that groups gained faster because they could kill faster, especially with healers. While each victory was less exp your exp/hour was much higher.

I'm sure there have been a few games out there that wasn't true (GW being one as far as I can tell, the smaller a group you can win with the better), but you made a statement of monks/healers in general.

You must be gay...

Having said that, I'll admit to not really reading all your post (will do after I post this though) and.. I have a male mesmer, though, that doesn't mean I fit into your catergory, I'm also a girl

I personally don't define "fun" by whether or not I can copy a forum build from the internet. Did I use protective bond for my solo monk...absolutely, I abused the hell out of protective bond to the tune of 220 plat..however my build was relatively different than the one floating around the forums and it allowed me to do more DPS. When they nerfed protective bond I thought it was pretty stupid...nerfing a skill that has no effect on PvP because PvP players want "balance"...but shit happens. I can still solo with my monk and my monk is still fun to play in missions as a healer/protector.

If we're going into what monks are, I'll bring to your attention that there are many versions of the monk in games. I was actually surprised at first to find that monks were the healers in the game, I was used to them being the slow-developping character that could absolutely terrorize things when at a high level.
Then I looked online at monk skills and saw that they do have the smiting side.
"Great!" I said, "a class that can be a fighter or a supporter!"
And from then on forward, monk was my favourite class.
Now, its strongest points have been thrown down and stamped on. I resent how people ruined something once so good.

How
What was the strongest point of monks? Protective bond? Or what?