Why do most players not care about monks?

[Deleted]

MoP was quite the awesome Expansion - it wasn't only about the Pandaran at all. I really enjoyed the Pandarian Campaign (starting with 5.1), and the whole Legendary Cloak Questline. It was some solid Horde vs Alliance Storytelling, and it was done well. Of course, the Bits about Pandaria itself (basically the whole 5.0 Stuff) was also some solid stuff. Maybe the Monk Class would have worked better if only the Pandaren could be Monks - since they are so heavily leaning on the whole Pandarian Culture. That is the grub IMHO - the whole Culture Theme that is cooked into the Class doesn't fit to any of the other races.

I'd also liked to point out that if you have a problem with the way Monks fight in WoW with barely no weapons, you should have a problem with Monks in Diablo 3 who also don't use weapons that much.

No, that highly depends on the Talents you are choosing. I can play a Build where the Monk will heavily rely on his weapon. And the D3-Monk Animations have a lot of Impact behind them, a lot of Power and you can really feel how his Spear Jab is destroying the Throat of the Demon, just slashing it to mush. Meanwhile, in WoW, the Windwalker just dances around and hits / kicks the Air, while the Enemy health bar barely moves. Looks like a Point Fighting Karate Match for Teens, just tap the Enemy for Points, don't actually go full contact.

It is just visually so lacking. I never have this feeling in D3 with the Monk. Just look any Gameplay Video of D3 Monk.

[Toppy]

What I expected


What I got

[Coils]

Lots of reasons why they're not popular:

- Started at level 1, unlike the Hero classes. Likely held many back from trying them.
- Lore is very Pandaren themed. Not rooted in epic, familiar characters or story lines. No one can argue Monks hit the scene as flashy as DK's or DH's.
- Martial arts, kicking, etc. is niche in a world where everyone is casting spells and swinging swords. Kinda the odd class out from a thematic perspective.
- Wasn't OP at launch, reducing the number that would try it.
- Specs were considered on the harder side upon release. Had to do a lot as a BrM or MW and WW were very busy.

(As an aside to the above poster, I think the second image is way cooler.. to each their own :P)

[Toppy]

Lots of reasons why they're not popular:

- Started at level 1, unlike the Hero classes. Likely held many back from trying them.
- Lore is very Pandaren themed. Not rooted in epic, familiar characters or story lines. No one can argue Monks hit the scene as flashy as DK's or DH's.
- Martial arts, kicking, etc. is niche in a world where everyone is casting spells and swinging swords. Kinda the odd class out from a thematic perspective.
- Wasn't OP at launch, reducing the number that would try it.
- Specs were considered on the harder side upon release. Had to do a lot as a BrM or MW and WW were very busy.

(As an aside to the above poster, I think the second image is way cooler.. to each their own :P)

Its not about which was cooler. More so I expected a martial arts class, that uses weapons

I got a chi-wizard who hefts weapons around like trophies.

[De Lupe]

What I expected
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/RL8wWrA.png[IMG]

What I got
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/1U6GrXd.jpg[IMG]

Could I get a source for these? Like an original source? Artist?

They are both really good. Love them both and would like to see if there's more.


Edit: Nevermind, found it.

[demonicpanda]

Personally? No ranged option. They could have made a ranged DPS option, though I can kinda (tho not really, they got the kung-fu feel from BrM, why not RDPS with bow/jade lightning, etc?) understand why they didn't.

For me it's just preference. I have a BrM alt (gonna switch to DH alt this expansion) for tanking, but that's it. I raid/main RDPS, and Monk just doesn't have it..

[DarkAmbient]

For me it's a combination of the following:

Bad combat animations
Clunky rotation
A fighting mechanic that involves drinking brews feels dumb
Too many things to keep track of
Too much effort for too little reward

[demonicpanda]

Its not about which was cooler. More so I expected a martial arts class, that uses weapons

I got a chi-wizard who hefts weapons around like trophies.

I mean have you tried BrM or WW? Not really chi-wizards. Least not any more magical really than Rogues, warriors, or any other thematically non-magical class.

[Toppy]

I mean have you tried BrM or WW? Not really chi-wizards. Least not any more magical really than Rogues, warriors, or any other thematically non-magical class.

BrM certainly is a lot less on the magic scale, but WW is full of over the top magical effects. And they all don't really use weapons. Blizzards explained reason was they wanted hand to hand to be special.

The real reasoning was they didnt feel like putting in animations for weapons. Which would have went a long way towards making monk a popular class. The whole weapon useage animation is just so clearly last minute and lazy that its staggering. Even worse the whole "fist weapons dont show up" thing.

[Zyrinx]

IMO:

They should have been Cloth based.. and if the WoD gear rules were in place maybe they could have been. They should have been _heavily_ based on avoidance and movement. In short they would have been _unique_ in some way. As it is, they're some sort of green mist rogue-wizard.

They're heavily tied into the whole Beer theme which is just a ridiculous theme to base a class around. Their weapon interaction is awkward. Leather transmogs in general are by far the weakest of the armor types. The level 1 thing.

All of this is IMO. I'm sure I could come up with many more reasons. I have a 100 monk but shes a Garrison moneybot at this point. Will have to check out what Legion does to the class I guess, but in general it doesn't interest me.

[Deleted]

As others have pointed out, the main reason is the small playerbase of monks. While many players don't like the playstyle, I think the main reason was their introduction, and the rollercoaster afterwards, which puts of many people from even trying the class. Some points in comparison to DKs, the only other class introduced yet:


- DKs already were rooted deep in the storyline. The whole undead / Lich King theme was started in WC3, and many players flocked to the class because of the lore. Monks didn't have much going for them in that regard. Some of the stuff already in the lore (e.g. the Flame Breath for BrM) were so bad, that they rarely were used.

- DKs had a unique starting zone, monks didn't have that. You were able to make a Pandaren of another class to get the storyline on the turtle.

- Starting to level again from 1-90 may have put off some players.

- DKs were really strong in the beginning, and slowly tuned down to other classes. This led even more people to at least try them out (fotm reroll), and some of those surely liked the playstyle and stayed. Monks were... mixed. BrM was really strong, but the "active" tanking mechanic with stagger was something quite new. Without that, they were reaaaally weak, and many players were probably put off because they died really fast. MW was strong, too, though the strong stuff (Jab Jab uplift) was kinda boring to play, and required special positioning in melee - a thing some healers didn't enjoy and were put off. And WW started off as really weak: mediocre single target, absolutely no cleave and quite bad AoE. They were made stronger over time, but they lacked that initial push of many players DKs had.

- The rollercoaster:
The only spec who was really strong almost every content was BrM. And compared to other tanks, I don't think there is a real lack of BrMs.
MW had many issues, has gone through many iterations. It was quite strong most of the time, too. But the problem with healers is most of the time: You'd want at least one disci for shields, most of the time a pala for tank heal and shields. Which doesn't leave that many other places for the rest, where many specs are competing for few spots. In addition, the "standard" heals many other classes are built around - heals of different speed, healing different amounts and costing different amounts of mana - is completely lacking for MW. So the class plays really differently compared to the other healers, which puts people off when trying the class and getting into it. And, as said: how you heal changed a lot over time, so people had to relearn their class with most patches.
WW probably had the most problems in that regard. Just think about the fact that they were introduced with absolutely no possibility to cleave. They were weak overall. Then they got SEF as a strong cleave. They got buffed, still in ToT they were weak during progress. But when you had RoRo from Lei Shen, they were one of the strongest DPS specs. Then in SoO they were really weak on some bosses (e.g. Juggernaut), while outshining most others on other bosses (e.g. Protectors). Then in the prepatch they were really weak again, but got buffed 1-2 weeks after. Then in WoD they were far too strong in the beginning, but got nerfed to be mid of the pack again after 3 weeks. Then during BRF, because there were far fewer cleave bosses than in HM, they were really weak, so they got buffed 2-3 times again to be on par. And that's only talking about the strength of the spec. The playstyle changed a lot, too. WWs got a few different iterations of mastery. FoF, introduced with the exact same problems Slam always had, finally got the same treatment over 2 addons. SEF has gone from: not there -> strong, on GCD -> strong, off GCD -> dmg CD. Etc.

- For WW: It obviously doesn't help that the direct contender for raidspots (leather melee - rogues) had at least one really strong spec during more or less every content. Add to that the incredible survivability of them (which is usually one of the strengths of WW), in addition with acceptably useful raid support in the form of smoke bomb, there just weren't that many possibilities for WW to shine. And when


As for the changes in Legion: I think, with the arrival of DH, there will be even less monks. Another leather melee, especially with such a strong background in the lore, will probably suck away a few players there. On the other side, the changes to the specs I followed (WW, MW) will make the classes more streamlined. WW cuts out a few buttons, MW gets much more straightforward, making it easier for new players to pick up the specs. Sadly, it removes a lot of the uniqueness of those specs, but it's probably good for their overall popularity (though probably a bit late, if they want more people to pick up the class).

[frmorrison]

The playstyle is very different than the rest of the classes and it feels harder to play than the rest of the classes.

It is the only new class added after Vanilla that did not start after level 1, i.e. it is not a hero class. Even though there are tricks to level fast, it is best to not even start at level 1. The DH starts at 98 and reach 100 at the end of their starting experience, that is good design.

[Thelxi]

It was never a popular class. Personally while I am ok with them aesthetically and I like the mobility, I think monks are too clunky to be worth it. They are living proof really that Blizzard's mentality of clunky=fun does not hold much water.

[Torgent]

I never liked them because I felt that their skills weren't fun to me. I liked flying kick, but that was basically it. I tried all 3 specs, they just didn't feel fun to me.

[Ryuushima]

MoP WW monks had flawless gameplay in my eyes, absolutely nothing to complain about and due to the passives it had it could also somewhat go toe to toe with the heavy hitters and when needed he could quickly kite and throw down some instant heals ( the orbs ).

Monks were always introduced as the somewhat fast class with nice selfheals but then everything changed when WoD came out.

Every other melee class has better selfheals in WoD. Monks lost it's on the move instant selfheal ( that already drained quite some energy ) , monks lost some of it's defensive passives and was left with a cast time selfheal without any way to make it instant.

The thing that made it even funnier is that other melee classes all have instant heals but the class that was based on speed and selfheals now sucks at sustaining during a fight against another melee ( they will just interrupt the heal ).

Monks are clearly no longer the fastest class either, especially with demon hunters coming out. So that puts monks in a spot where they lost their king of selfheals title and lost their king of movement speed title. At the end WW monk is now just a mediocre and boring class and merely a shadow compared to what it was in MoP. Which really breaks my heart because MoP monk was beyond amazing to play. At least legion brings us Fury Warriors for the new king of selfheals and Demon Hunters for the new king of movement. I am sure I'll enjoy either one of em.

[Al Gorefiend]

I like Mistweaver a lot, I think a new healing class was a really cool decision on Blizzard's part.

I cannot stand Windwalker. Windwalker is so, so... Boring. And it's a shame because there could be so much more done with them. They just feel very bland and weak. I feel my attacks aren't connecting. I was promised a class with unrivaled mobility. They were supposed to be the fastest class in the game according to the Blizzcon that showcased them. What we ended up with was the absolute slowest class in the game by far - my priest is faster. My Warlock is barely faster if I take burning rush.

I wanted Windwalkers to be able to dash around, stunning and incapacitating people then zipping away. What I get is walking into a crowd, pressing 1, 1, 2, 3, 1, 1, 4. 1, 1, 2... On repeat.

Self-healing is a joke, expel harm is a joke. They're just so poorly designed.

- I should also add. Their whole theme of being basically Wind-Rogues isn't being shown. Where's the abilities that wrap mist around you and rush a gust of wind forward that knocks people down like the cinematic? So much could be done with them.

- Also, no real raid utility. Why bring a WW over an enhancement shaman who's bringing a bunch of buffs, a lust, a reincarn and better off-healing + AoE?

[Awsyme]

I'm not entirely sure it's just 'monks'. The game has always had classes that people love from the second they look at the character creation screen: Warrior, hunter, priest, mage and paladin spring to mind. The 'classics' so to speak. The weirder classes have always felt a bit of a harder sell (warlocks, shaman and monks). DKs are a bit of an outlier because a) they're very heavy metal which a lot of wow fans listen to and b) they act as an artificial boost class, skipping past 60 levels of dull levelling. I suspect they wouldn't be as popular if they started at level one.

Rogues used to be massively popular but have fallen on hard times outside pvp. They tend to feel like a poor mans version of a tougher combat class. Yes they have stealth which rocks, but once thats gone they're effectively similar to an enhancement shaman or fury warrior - whacking hard with two weapons. I suspect the new Demon Hunter class is going to devastate them as a class because a lot of rogues (and possibly monks) will reroll.

So monks are... not particular popular but I'm not really surprised. They're slightly niche, need an explanation as to how they work and some feel they don't fit into lore as well as, say, a warrior. Personally I like mine: they're one of only three classes in the game that can do every role (a VERY big thing now that 3 or 4 specs at once is coming), they don't hide their appearance behind forms like druids and have a much greater range of available races than paladins.

[tearsofflame]

I lurk forums alot especially with the prepatch and expansion approaching and i always see tons of posts and views in all the class sections except monks. Why? is it the playstyle thats just boring? PVP?(especially Windwalkers).

I do understand it's the least represented class in the past few expansions as well. Just curious to see what people say

Because people got so used to the hero class Dk starting at level 55 and expects everything to be handed to them instead of taking time to level your character to 1-110. It was more of a leveling issue than anything else. And honestly, monks don't get the respect they deserve. And I say that as a Protection Warrior Orc as my main. And at that time, there was no character boosts like there is now. So people didn't bother.

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^ Continued

And instead of leveling an alt monk with heirlooms, they just complained that there wasn't enough content on their mains to handle. Which put blizzard under pressure to rush content. Then people complained it wasn't good enough, yet they wanted it rushed to feed their main. And by the time they burned through it, they didn't wanna repeat the same content on an alt. A monk alt if that. Maybe on another character that they leveled.

[Lex Icon]

i don't buy the whole "it's because they start at level 1" argument.. if they had any appeal at all i doubt that would stop people from leveling one.

[Deleted]

My gripes with them are:

Healing is too passive, fistweaving has never felt right or worked in a sensible way, yet another really uninspired and dull melee dps, brewmaster has too much panda with kegsmash I just find it implausible that a monk would carry around kegs of ale to smash over enemies. Monk is possibly the biggest let down of MoP, you could remove them tomorrow and nobody would feel the loss.