what does the number of melee have to do with Thok Fight, you want 2 groups regardless of group comp for stack phase, we just have ranged in melee group as well as back group, are you saying you have melee on boss? and rest of the group (6?) stack which would push phase early
Usually the melee group has between 3 & 4 people, depending on where the off-tank is at the time. The back group always has 4 people; hence it is better for RJW.
If you aren't using RJW, then standing in the front group is better of course, since you have the minor eminence healing you can maintain with your AA's and serpent's zeal.
Keep in mind that your healing from AA eminence will be quite minimal (especially compared to the massive healing being done by all your other abilities). At best you may be able to pull an extra 5-10k hps on top of your 250k hps during that phase.
How can you run 2 side grps with 9 players? Are you not 1 tanking Thok? If you aren't you are missing out ^^
With 9 players we usually have a grp of 4 ranged, a grp of 3, 2 melee DPS and then tank. I get to stand in the group of 4 to max SCK/RJW healing but never am I in melee for this fight, that would just link grps early.
You only counted out only 7 people in the groups you mentioned (4 ranged, 3 melee).
AFAIK, the only strat that most people follow is,
4 in the ranged group (4 ranged/healers)
4 in the melee group (3 anything + OT)
1 solo dude on the side
1 tank in front of the boss.
Since the tanks switch, plus sometimes whore vengeance, you will often not have all 4 people in the melee group. Hence of course, the ranged group being the better option. If your OT stacks with the melee group for a majority of the time, then stacking with the melee group may also be viable, but for the minimal AA eminence damage, you probably will probably still get more healing out of RJW in the back group.
We 2 tank with Ot on opposite side of 2 stack groups there always is 4 people per group tanks take 0 damage from roar, we tried 1 tank it doesn't really help that much instead of 2 tanks doing as much as dps or more you have 1 tank doing more and an extra dps doing less than what 2 tanks do, and that way monk can just sit in melee and added damage is even better