Are Monks that bad?

[Deleted]

Haven't played WW much.

Yeah we can tell.

[pandanaconda]

Many reasons can explain the low number of monks.

It is true that monk is the least represented class at lvl 100, lower than rogue, a class which can only dps. But you can give half a dozen explanations about that without even seeking for them.

The obvious one is monk is the most recent class. Once the hype of everyone rushing his own lvl 90 monk at MoP faded, we're left with a bunch of lvl 90 monks and very few monk mains.

Another reason, linked to that one, is that many players come back at each new extensions. Those long time players came back in WoD to play their favorite/main class. The old classes will most likely be favored, and players probably won't rush all their alts right away.

Some class are designed to answer the needs of the many. People expect to find in mages, warlocks and hunters, good damage dealers since those class can only do that. Of course sometimes its not true for a time (rogues/locks on early HM). But many dps only players go back to those classes no matter what.

Monks had a lot of bad publicity in early WoD. During the early days of WoD, where most hardcore players represented a greater share of the palyer base, what was the situation like? Mistweavers struggled with low gear (mana issues), brewmasters pre hotfix were bad and didn't have enough mastery to be relevant at lvl 100. Windwalkers were broken, got nerfed to ashes and benched for a couple months. There was no incentive to play monks back then.

Monks are unusual in all their specs. Healing with pretty random Hots, crit based. Tanking through weird though easy to handle mechanics. DPS with few offensive cooldowns, a weird opener, requiring a lot of things to manage. No wonder people don't want to get into that on an alt.


Where does monk stand as it is? Pretty much what's been said.
Mistweaver is the pvp beast, plus a great raid healer, tank healer with a very sought after raid CD. Plus it fits perfectly the 20 man raids.
Brewmaster is considered the best tank, and sure feels excellent and rewarding when I do spec as BrM.
WW, since the buffs, is in a very good spot. We have 0 raid utility, but excellent mobility, excellent survivability. Only ferals beat our single target amongst melees, and our cleave/AoE is good. Melees are not very sought for high level raiding, but overall we're excellent at that. Keep in mind WW is the first melee spec besides rogue who killed mythic BH.


I love monks, and we're doing excellent at the moment. We'll sure grow in numbers soon.

[Basilmoyh]

Don't boost. It's a waste. Level as BrM. It's such a delight.

[hiramloram]

Don't boost. It's a waste. Level as BrM. It's such a delight.

All the guides say "level as Windwalker" but I leveled as Brewmaster because I wanted to get the feel of monk tanking. I enjoyed it very much.

Another reason to not spend your boost on a monk: the daily quest you get starting at level 10 that boosts your xp.

http://www.wowhead.com/spell=130283/enlightenment

There are also quests and vendors that provide handy monk blues and cheap monk food for use while leveling.

When I was leveling my monk up to 24 hours of the xp buff could be banked, afaik this has not changed. Unfortunately the xp boost stops at level 90, though at 90+ you can still do the daily for a mastery buff.

[Tradu]

All the guides say "level as Windwalker" but I leveled as Brewmaster and enjoyed it very much.

Another reason to not spend your boost on a monk: the daily quest you get starting at level 10 that boosts your xp.

http://www.wowhead.com/spell=130283/enlightenment

There are also quests and vendors that provide handy monk blues and cheap monk food for use while leveling.

When I was leveling my monk up to 24 hours of the xp buff could be banked, afaik this has not changed. Unfortunately the xp boost stops at level 90, though at 90+ you can still do the daily for a mastery buff.

Having levelled as all 3 specs, the only one I'd advise against levelling as is MW. BrM and WW both have advantages and disadvantages, but in general they're fairly similar. BrM is safer but a little slower, while WW is fast but it's possible to die.

OT: Monks aren't bad right now. BrM is an immortal god if played properly, MW is probably the 2nd best not-paladin/disc healer and WW is currently pretty good(at least on cleave and singletarget), but it's been a bit of a rollercoaster this expansion.

[Copenhagen23]

I have yet to play BrM but everyone knows they are Gods at present. I leveled as WW with some MW mixed in for dungeons. WW feels very engaging, especially compared to Warrior. I often wonder how did WW get such a unique and complete tool kit while Warrior feels stale and gutted in comparison. I currently raid as Disc so it is not viable for me to switch to MW, but I really enjoy healing as MW, and I'd switch in a heart beat if we picked up another Disc Priest who performs better than me.

[jam5158]

For DPS they are very strong but from what I have recently seen in the raid stats for healing they are always at the bottom of the list. They must have nerfed Surging Mist big time because the heals from it are really below most other healers main spell.

[Babylonius]

For DPS they are very strong but from what I have recently seen in the raid stats for healing they are always at the bottom of the list. They must have nerfed Surging Mist big time because the heals from it are really below most other healers main spell.

The larger information we have about healing is that they are all very close, so being at the bottom is no cause for alarm. This is largely due to the way that raid CDs work.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...t-healer-again

[Deleted]

MW:s are pretty decent atm, revival is especially strong on a fight like Blackhand Mythic where it can dispel all the fire debuffs at the start of P2 after soaking etc.