An Increasing Unfortunate Occurrence

My solo builds often uses nothing but monk skills. Plus with your attitude I wouldn't want to go with your group. That you can't get beyond the issue of a monks secondary is your problem, not the monks.

Crap like this is why I've pretty much quit monking in a group. You get nothing but complaints from a fair number of people, get blamed when someone runs out of healing range and dies, blamed for being a soloer, called a complainer for asking for a regen, even with decent energy management skills, and so on.

Unfortunately Hockster, the problem lies in that for every hundred, or even thousand competent, honorable players like you, there's one guy who's decided he's gonna 'get ahead in the race'. These few individuals can, do, and relish in ruining the game for everyone else of their class.

My advice is to, instead of sitting there spamming "Monk LFG UW Run", get a bit creative. "Healing Monk looking for an Underworld run. Anyone need a hand?" The latter is proof enough for me that you're not a scammer, since no scammer in existence actually uses proper grammar :-P

I have a feeling it has to do with the way loot is distributed. I think the game artificially compensates for say if you haven't played the game for weeks, suddenly you get an item that is incredibly valuable. Just to get you back in the cash game. So if you bring along 7 other people, and intentionally get them killed, monsters will drop loot not only for the solo monk, but the compensation loot for all the other players so in the end, the drops become more valuable especially if the 7 dead players leave the map and the timer on their locked loot becomes public for the solo monk to pick up. Of course this theory doesn't work for long if all the dead players leave right away so could also be that these monks are just cheapskates. cmon 1k?

To be honest its more annoying that you take the time to find a group, pay your due and then waste more time in UW only to find the monk has used you all to avoid paying the full 1k fee and get past the first bit to farm. Its vary rare that you have an ecto lying around when you die and the monk has the opportunity to let you rot and picks it up, but it does happen im sure especially the way Revenga says. Simply they are using groups for cheap entrance and to help get past the first monsters so that they can solo farm while everyonelse has wasted their time and money and the worst ones are the ones who try to get the group killed...thats it in a nutshell. Does anyone know if this is considered a scam or misconduct by ANET?....can you report someone for this?

Its a shame for the other Mo/W out there, but the only ones to blame at the end of the day are the scamming monk Warriors.

That I can't take henches is why I've hardly been to FoW or the UW either. Sorry to hear about your bad experiences with PUGs - my own PUG'ing has been good, but I just prefer to do things at my own pace, ie with henches.

I once actually advertised in Temple of Ages for a team to go into UW just for fun & exploration - anyone could join, I'd pay the entrance fee. I got a few answers, but only from people who accused me of being a scammer!

He did it because if you enter UW solo or two man the drops are horrible no matter how many times you go. I am not positive but I am sure ecto drop rate is way less when going in solo or two man it may have been coded this way. By bringing in 7 people he removes the code and can get normal drops pre-nerf. Now mind you I never had a solo monk but I have a lot of friends who are and this is what they tell me. When they go in solo the ecto drops really suck. When they go in with a group they notice that at least 3-5 drop each run. Maybe someone else can confirm this.

I've posted my stories about these damn scamming UW monks to the jerk thread. I've reported them to anet before complete w/ names, time and complaint and here's their reply:

basically, at this pt in time they don't give a sh*t.

This prejudice against mo/w also annoys me as i've been a mo/w since i created my monk a month after the game's release. i always wanted to wield a large fellblade as a short little monk haha. I know where this is coming from, but some of these fools don't realize many monks solo as mo/me as well. Health can be typed, as can weapon sets, etc. Solo monks being rich would have 2+ sets of armor anyway. In any case, for groups that reject me, too bad because i'm a damn good monk. Invite Yuki for yourself to find out.


These scammers suck so bad at soloing that they get someone nice party leader to pay 1k for entry, egg the party on by pinging the radar to attack, pull mobs, and make general mayhem. Then if anyone is still alive by the time the doors open, the monks make a dash for the smites while leaving the party to the mercy of the 4 aatxes. I've also had solo monks sneak off during quests to solo smites, we viciously killed that one by teleporting, then taking unwanted as he ran off muhaha.

Solo Monks are easy enough to pick out. They never say anything in groups they join. They often refuse to ping their hp (too dumb to even type it i suppose), and they'll say their build is prot. Then if you're in uw, you will hear the inevitable enchant sounds, and no non-solo monk will cast balth's spirit on themselves. A real monk doesn't want to be hit.

If you should find a solo monk in your group, grab the first quest, pull the graspers but not bulls and pull them into the solo monk. Solo monks are instant mob targets. I play heal w/ prot spirit (feed my ess bond off the soloer), so it's not hard to keep most of the party alive during the chaos. Make sure you eliminate the graspers, and then hide from the bulls behind the ghosts. Hopefully your parasite will be eliminated, res from there, continue w/o leech.

Another tactic is to get everyone to follow the monk but not help them out. Nothing like letting the leech do all the work while you pick up the drops!

These days if i have verified solo monks in the group and the leader is okay w/ taking them along, I bring Unyielding Aura along hehe. Keeps monks on a tight leash, and you can drop them like a rock if they misbehave.


Unfortunately guru doesn't allow names... my ignore consists of all the worst solo monks parasites in TOA, I spam their names regularly in TOA when i see them up to their antics. You have been warned =)

Easiest way to screw up a solo monk.

Vital Blessing: This cast by one or more people in your group on the soloer will get them killed. At max, they will have 223 health, meaning they'll be taking 22 damage a hit from everything around them. Even the health regeneration wont be able to keep up for long.

Once they die, tell them you'll rez them. They'll think you're a complete noob.

Cast this Rez:
Unyielding Aura: As Saphir said, this basically put them in a vice grip. They cant get all the drops anymore because they'll be forced to work with the team. And if you die, they die. This could be used to force them into working for you. The group I was in that did this gave the monk two options. He could go off and solo and everyone shares the drops. Or he could work with the group and everyone shares the drops. The guy was pissed off. He ended up leaving. But he had fronted the bill, so no big deal. When we got another monk into the group, we explained what we had done to the last guy and said we would do the same thing to him if he tried anything.

After awhile, it seemed like we couldnt find a single non-solo monk in ToA and went our seperate ways.

All they have to do then is change one piece of armor or the focus item.

Frankly why rez them at all? It's not like Breeze will help keep the party alive.

Cute I was thinking of symbiosis for my trapper - that should do it too.

Having just addressed this in another thread I am kind of dismayed because I like to do UW as an M/W. I had no idea that this scam is going on. I am probably the most honest person in the game and have come up against many people who scam, who are selfish, who leave the group when they get what they want, and on, and on. I believe I am one of the best healers in the game. I always call my shot. I wear a special set of armor that is high enough to keep me from getting killed and, yet, lets me have plenty of energy for heals. I always carry rebirth so I can rez anyone and everyone. I get really upset when someone dies and I measure success by the least amout of deaths. Many times I find myself too busy to even notice if I have a drop or not. So, this is distressing to me that you will reject all M/W based on a few people. On the other hand, I'm glad you are all selective because I like a serious dedicated group. If you see me in ToA please add me to your game and you may want to mention that you saw my post because I, too, am selective. I've been burned too many times to not be leary.

Interesting that someone should bring up the Asian farmbot. I can't stand the whole Asian commercial entities that GW allows to exist and own accounts. I hate the fact that they dominate Drok 1 and LA 1. I've put some of those IGN's into my friends list to watch what they do. These accounts are open as much as 20 hours. They are only there to buy low and sell at ridiculously high prices. Now I see that they have a system where some just farm and some just sell. If I have something to sell or want to buy, I have to go to a less populated area. The fast scrolling gives me a headache. Once I game a seller a hard time and the next day I started getting in game pm spam to buy 100K for $6.99. Spam? PM,d in a game. I've complained to ANet many times but it seems my complaints are ignored. Why these people exist in the first place is a mystery to me. The game should only be for game players and only honest game players.

That is brilliant

I have the urge now to go to TOA and try this out with some guildees.

One more thing, I used to just pay the 1K fee because I thought it was petty to get everyone to kick in. I've changed my tune, lately, because there are so many selfish people who drop out, who have their own agenda that at least in some small way I can tell if people are committed to the game.

Sorry, but the bold text is incorrect (I am 99% sure).
The Solo-Monk will die when:
You stop the enchantment
Someone strips your enchantment
Or when he just dies

Back on the topic; I don't do UW a lot anymore. Only have done it with my ranger so I don't have this problem. (We never take monks along )

Isnt it kind of hard to maintian an enchantment when your dead?

I guess it's something special about the skill, don't know why it does that, it just does

After reading about Unyielding Aura, that's a great idea. I can't wait to get my hand on that skill *evil grin*

As for Vital Blessing, I fail to see how that'd deter those pesky solo monks?

Yeh cmon we have to make it more difficult for these timewasters and scammers!

Unyielding Aura idea is good but they must die first to do that do they not?

You could cast scourge healing on them if they start farming and your not dead.... does that work on an ally?

all the comments about M/W being an indication of a SoloMonk or Invinvimonk are a clear sign of how ignorant the vast community is. You don't even need a secondary to Monk in order to have a solo build.

Same thing goes for the 2 man - every monk seems to think that N/Mes is the end all to be all?? N/Mo was the original build to tag along and does as well or better in my experience. No nrg concerns, more dmg and since we all experience interupts at bad times or a sneaky NM....it's nice to not have to start all over because you're running partner can't rez you.

So don't be a Mo/W. Every one that I've seen is wasting half his skill bar with stances anyways. You're there to heal and aside from mabye using /Me to steal energy so you can heal better I can't see why you would be so adament about your secondary. It takes like 15 seconds to switch secondaries and if you've never switched it then you're probably so inexperienced that I don't want you in my party anyways.

Lol i never had those problems you know why??? It's about 3 months ago i joined a normal team to the uw. I always go with my trapper ranger and some guildies or friends.

You're another one I wouldn't want to group with either. Too biased to be any sort of a decent player.

Yes, I can confirm this.
When you die, all players enchanted under UA will live, their aura will simply disappear. I've filed a /bug before but who knows if it would be fixed.


As an mo/w I use sprint, one of the best skills to lose aggro for a caster in pve. The less self healing for me means more heals and energy for the rest of the party. Sprint is also good for saving that errant war or ele who got too far in front, and for making a fast get away when something's gone wrong.

Having done a 55 build on my mesmer to farm Griffons, I can tell you that if something is even the slightest off it gets harder to do it. For instance, Vital Blessing. Vital Blessing at Max adds over 160 health to them. I mean, we're talking about a build that usually runs at 55 health. The way it works is that Protective Spirit decreases damage down to 10%, meaning 5 damage a hit, no matter the hit.

If someone has 220 health, they'll be taking on 22 damage a hit. From a group of even 3 Aatxe's that's about 66 damage a second. Even +10 Health Regen only covers 20 health a second. They'll be dead before they know it.

Once the solo monk is dead, you rez them with Unyielding Aura, which is basically a leash on their soul. If you take off that enchantment, they will die. Meaning they have to do their very best to please you, so you dont decide its time for them to die.

As for dying and not having it taken off them. I pretty sure I can double click an icon quick before I go down.

Gotcha - thanks, Omnipotent Dude

vital blessind is the best idea - i can do it easily since i switched to pure prot for uw. i'm gonna give it a try tonite

but if u see smbdy casting balt on themselves it can be ok - if u're running pure prot build and u're a designated bonder prolly u want to put both life barrier and life bond on both tanks and then put balt aura on urself. it gives u more enrgy than 2 essence bonds and u have only 1 negative enrgy arrow. with blessed sig u'll be able to cover it easily and even run blessed aura for better aegis/prot spirit or div boon for extra heals (whatever u like). or be mean and take this vital blessing, +200+hp i my case (16prot). of cos it means that u have to cast blesssed sig non-stop but it pays off - ur healer monk dosnt have to heal that much and dosnt need constant enrgy boosts, u can bring another damage dealer instead of bipper battery, so mb if u see ur monk casting smth on ur tanks and only then balth aura on her/himself she/he actually knows what they're doing

I use a Mo/W as a healing monk, and I can solo UW with a Mo/Me. (obviously I have two sets of armor)

This is a completely false stereotype, and I hope no one follows this. It would screw a lot of innocent healers.

I was in a party in UW last night and guess what...we had 2 Mo/W in our group both 55hp. immediately I asked them to ping their health etc which one did and one did not. The first monk was such a nice guy and totally sympathized with what I was saying and he seemed annoyed about the scammers too. The other guy didn’t even answer me. I told the leader to kick him but he didn’t. Anyway we got in and immediately I started watching them which is a shame because I should be concentrating on the battle. First thing I noticed was NO BUFFS!.... wtf?....UW and your not buffing your warrior??? this has to be an attempt to sabotage the group so we all die and they swan through to farm...there is no other expliantion. I cant say this enough to any monks in UW with a team...forget it unless you have buffs for your warriors and use em. I don’t think we had a dedicated healer or prot monk, but 2 monks with solo builds which wasn’t much use for anything else... and don’t get me wrong they didn’t leave us during battle, but we didn’t get past all the aataxe's anyway. My point is that there is no use using a solo build when in a group, I mean how would you like it if I brought my Griffon farming build to UW? I dunno maybe they had buffs but hoped the party would get killed and they would be last alive to go farm!!...in fact I would say that they were intentionally playing bad.

funny thing was that I was left alive with one monk who then ran and took the quest instead of rezing anyone...when the mobs spawned he died pretty quick and myself a while after. Im sure this was an attempt to get me killed but it backfired on him first.

What is the world coming to... as if monks weren’t hated enough already.

PS MONKS!..dont blame us for they way we feel, blame your colleagues!

lol, solo monk scammers suck!
i think the biggest misunderstanding some of the party leaders out there have about solo monks is that they can res. there is no room and no need for them to carry a res. the build is self contained. energy, heals/prots and damage are all for themselves.

here is what scamming solo monks can contribute to a uw party:
1. healing breeze/orison - not going to save your tanks from an aatxe, or a caster from graspers
2. mending - i don't think i've ever seen a solo monk cast mending on someone else, they deal w/ enough energy regen problems as it is
3. prot spirit - they cast this in order to pretend to be a prot monk at the start, but once things get going if they aren't constantly casting spirit on themselves, they will almost certainly die
4. shield of judgement - the only worth while skill they can contribute and 99% of the time they will just sit back wanding. they don't want you to live, they want you to die of course, but not before you take down several aaxtes and graspers along with you.
5. spellbreaker - the last person they would be using this on would be you

with 2-4 enchants on themselves depending on their build, you're not going to see a lot of spell spamming from them unless they are under attack and can regain the lost energy. so they sit back, relax, and plink away their 1-3 dmg on the mob.


however, a party can also be built around a solo monk tank. i've yet to see a uw group kill faster than 1 solo, 2 support monks and 5 damage casters (nukers/necros/mes in any combo)

it would have worked alot better i the monk tanked and I stayed back smiting

maybe thats the way to go?

Battle Torn, this happened to me just once in the uw, but it happened so the evil mo/w's are really out there and they are really doing it.

When it happened, I thought it was really funny, but it happened to me only once. When we got there, the mo/w immediately rushed off and gathered up all the ax's he could find and brought them to us. It was enough, and we all died, except him, who finished them off. Of course at that point he wants everyone to quit in disgust. But I and one other hung in just to watch his technique, which was excellent. He did quite well.

yeh their farm build does work well, thats why they use it

yes they are out there and its getting worse since the nerf making the aataxes more difficult for the farmers.

This has really put me off UW...think Ill just save for the ectos and do FoW to get the obsidians

well i have a 55 monk i UW with alot, not just for farming, i always try to bring someone else or groups and i say straight up front that i will be the first tanking and clearing the first chamber, as usually that is the hardest part for most groups. y let ur wars get hurt like that and end up with so much Dp they really arnt effective. truthfull there r realy few spots that a war shines in UW, no offense there as i have a war to i used to take to UW. and if u have a healler monk in the group ask them who they would rather heal a war or 55 monk for the first part. and i usually do pay the entrance fee for the group as i feel its a nice treat. un like most of them if something drops and the timer expires i pick the item up for the person if that cant do it. yes there is scammers out there, there r ways to fix that prob. unyeilding arua is one of them. but the fastest way to ID a solo monk once ur in just look at what they have in there hands. and urself should bring rez and stay alive. hell ive used the scammers alot to do my work for me. that sthe best way to do it. oh by the way my solo monks name is mia temaro. and i always look for groups when im not in the mood for soloing. hell i get bored and try to find all kinds of ways to take ppl. if ur a noob to UW ill take u to show u what its like. i used to run tours and pay for FoW with my war while paying and the only thing i ever asked then was if i didnt get a shard drop if someone would donate one so i could continue paying for PuGs. and u know the complaints about us 55 Mo/W is valid to some and i mean SOME. if u want to try to figure out just do like they did in WW2 ask tehm a question that us in USA would know, unforntuantely u might get the euros too but hey. so if u see me there LFG for UW with my monk ask me to join or invite urselfs ill show u the real joy of having a 55 monk in ur UW.

Fair points, Im sure you are a good and helpful player. The problem is that there is a 'larger number than usual of scammers using M/Wo to cheat their way into UW' for the purposes of wasting the groups time and money so they can solo. Its happened a few times to a group I have been in now and its been getting worse. Perhaps other monks dont notice this as much because...well theyre half the monks usualy in the party so the chances of a scammer are halved for them.

Im not biased about M/Wo, perhaps I forgot to mention I have one myself, the problem is this is such a blatant intentional scam. if your in SF and a green drops for you and you die...all except the monk who doesnt rez you and picks up your green.... then thats opertunistic scamming and thats bad enoungh...the UW M/Wo scam is intentionaly done knowing fully that they are using you for the entry fee etc before you even set off. Allso a 55HP build isnt a team build. We need monks to heal and protect and smite... not to tank....its a selfish build for a PuG.

For all you M/Wo's asking people not to be predjudice against M/Wo 55HP build.... tell it to your comrades, they are causing the issue not the people getting fed up with the scamming.

I don't have a 55 monk

but the above quote misses a KEY Monk build

Bond Monks can and generally DO use Balths Spirit

bond/bond/bond/bond + Balths equals lots of energy
it also means we spend a lot of time in between battles running our blessed signets so cant type much between battles...

All the generalisations have their exceptions - so making a sweeping 'no Mo/W' . 'no balths' etc will make it harder for you to recruit monks that you DO want in the team.

However. TALKING to prospective team members, planning a mission etc seems likely to be much more effective - still not foolproof, but I find putting effort into recruiting rather than lazily adding anyone with the right initials makes for better teams

Spicecat

Who cares about the 10ish times this has happened to me...when you're not party leader and the idiot doesn't listen...just because you don't abuse it we should all ignore the reality...

wow...what world are you living in...that's the norm man, D2...FF11...WoW...it exists EVERYWHERE...sad thing is one fulltime ingame mod/dev with permaban abilities could really do some good.
yea but the majority of the asswipes are Mo/W....or at least were...i know all those asian bots were last time I did UW

/N > /Me for pure mana purposes anyway

And it's not fair that blacks get descriminated against as a race because of a few...but it happens.

heh, let me qualify that. I'm not trying to say that balth's spirit is the only skill a solo monk will use, but it's either that or mending first, and generally both will be cast. You know there's something probably something wrong w/ your bond monk if they are casting both mending and balth's spirit on themselves, while holding a sword/axe and a necro cesta and not casting and bonds.
A real bond monk of course you will see actually start casting life bond and/or barrier on the wars. A solo monk will just stand there..

anyway, the real point of this thread seems to be that solo monks are rarely your friends in a party. they're are limited ways to detecting them, and although i'm usually 90% right in picking out the soloer's before we zone in, there's of couse no foolproof method. if i suspect one, i just bring vital blessing along just in case.

as long as no consequences exist for these scammers, they'll just keep taking advantage of the system just like most players take advantage of any other exploit in gw. the sad part is that the vast majority of players going to uw either don't know or don't care. i've broadcasted the names of the repeat offenders in toa several times when said monks are present, i've pm'd party leaders to warn them, but people are so desperate to have that mo/ primary in their party that they don't even care. It's pretty much just blatant self-delusion sometimes.

when it does happen, i just kill off the offending solo monk =)
i generally have little trouble keeping a party alive in uw as the sole monk, and i believe it's good training for the others in the party on how to manage aggro and keep themselves out of danger. i often have to let some of the party die however in order to control aggro - some of those rangers and casters just have _NO_ clue how to keep the aggro on the tank.

Just have the suspected 55 monk cast his heal or protect spells on you as soon as you zone in, if he cannot cast 4 or 5 heals/protects, then he is prolly geared up for something else ...
Yep you will loose money going in, but so will the monk, and you would loose money anyway if the monk just struts off on his own, this way at least you get SOME satisfaction calling his bluff before he gets a chance to exploit your trust.

It's not just monks, there is an increase in Underworld jerks all around (refrence this thread I made)

When not trapping, and taking a balanced team (some of my guild don't have their rangers ascended yet, and hate being spectators ... they genuinely want to help ... so great) often we end up with one of these exploiters. Two things that immediately come to mind are:

Take them out in the black curtain real quick, and make them cast each spell on their bar, report their health, etc. then when it is satisfactory, go back in and run to grenth before they would have time to re-skill (thank god you can't put skills in sets like weapons ) We've done this several times with great success, and most pick-up monks understand the need for this, even if you are the first to explain it to them.

The other thing is: these people obviously mess up a great deal solo'ing, or else they'd have the money to pay for their entrance ... wouldn't you agree?

Actually I don't think that works, unless it is something special for underworld. I've seen a few IDS's go into the wrong hands that way.