Why so few Monks?

[Lilly32]

I very rarely see Monks in game and was wondering why? I understand WW/MW are in bad spots for raiding but I feel like at least BM is decent and all are useful in Mythic+. On the other hand I see Shaman everywhere and all 3 of their specs are in the dumpster right now for everything and Ele/Enh have been memes since Vanilla.

[Jackstraw]

Flavor. The class had its biggest popularity spike in Legion, which was arguably its funniest for most of the userbase.
You mostly hear about a split between those who liked the class better during MoP and those who liked it better during Legion.

At the time of your thread, MW is strong in PvP and ok in PvE. BM is pretty outclassed as a tank, and Windwalker is a more complex and less effective Havoc DH.

Couple this with the class starting at level 1 (or 20), and you have your complete recipe.

[Uko]

Tanking for pugs is about the most toxic experience you can ever find yourself in and WW/MW is not that fun to play or op numbers wise so fewer people play as dps or healer monks. Thats why you see them so rarely. Shaman is actually pretty fun to play if not min/max optimal so thats why you see more of them.

[RobertoCarlos]

Enhance was a meme in warlords and ele a meme in MoP? News to me

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Because half the playerbase can't get past kung fu panda lol.

[Lilly32]

Couple this with the class starting at level 1 (or 20), and you have your complete recipe.

except every class except 2 start at level 1 so this is kind of a moot point.

[d00dles]

I would love to play Monk during next expansion but not with the Pandaria visual effects. (I don't even hate Pandaria.)

Let me glyph all the extra visual fluff out. I just want to play a martial artist who solely relies on his physical strength and nothing more. The wannabe naruto clone technique ability can stay, that's just whatever who cares.

[Cracked]

Flavor. The class had its biggest popularity spike in Legion, which was arguably its funniest for most of the userbase.
You mostly hear about a split between those who liked the class better during MoP and those who liked it better during Legion.

At the time of your thread, MW is strong in PvP and ok in PvE. BM is pretty outclassed as a tank, and Windwalker is a more complex and less effective Havoc DH.

Couple this with the class starting at level 1 (or 20), and you have your complete recipe.

Eh, I actually thought it was the most fun in WoD, and quite a few people played it back then if I remember HFC pugs. It just sort of became bleh, with no defining features.

[Jackstraw]

except every class except 2 start at level 1 so this is kind of a moot point.

Except it's not.

The class has always been less popular due to this: new class rolls out during MoP, and in the middle of an awfully unjustified skepticism from a vocal minority of the playerbase, the brand new class launches at level one.

Now at the start of a new expansion you'd expect to be able to experience the new zones with your designated main for said expansion, but the Monk did not get to do that.
Instead they start at level 1, with an admittedly unique personal progression in the form of Peak of Serenity with its daily and unique gear, but that was it.
As the expansion progressed and eventually the game as a whole, I think the peak popularity reached was maybe 5% overall? And that's during Legion.

Unfortunately the class starting at level 1 is one of the biggest things holding it back somehow. And that's kind of a fact.

[Nemah]

Still sore about the loss of the tossable keg, grapple weapon, and clash, honestly.

[Walozdle]

As someone who loves the martial arts master fantasy, and as a likely former, as of SL, WW monk main, blizzard just had no idea what to do with WW. From functionality, to tuning and scaling, and even the fantasy itself.

WW monk is nearly as much as a summoner as Demo lock now; between SEF, Xuen being baseline, and now with the venthir ability looking to be miles ahead in SL, and has very little power rooted in your character itself.

DH's came in and are a flashy, edgy WW monk in fuctionality, except with better scaling and tuning, and a rotation(if you can call 3 buttons a rotation) that is laughably easier to maximise.

WW is a lost spec, and Blizz is lost on what to do with it, and it shows, badly.

[Razion]

I'd say I think a violent martial artist like the Diablo monk that punches people and makes them explode is more what people are looking for in a monk fantasy rather than a monk like Chen who will sit there and drink while getting punched in the face. It's not as cool.

Like, compare the following gameplay visuals: In Diablo, a Monk auto-attacks a zombie and it freaking explodes. There's tons of speed, tons of impact. Mastery of self and form. Compare that to WoW where your Blackout Kick softy caresses the side of your enemy's face, and Fists of Fury where you just kind of limply move your hands forwards and backwards. It's not as epic.

[potis]

I assume this is some sort of pug discussion thing so.

Tanks generally avoid pugs, even though, BM is insanely boring, why play it when for the level of content which are easy mode, any other tank is much more fun?

WW scares people away cause it actually requires paying half a braincell attention+ many buttons, for their level of gameplay, why play it when DH does the same thing with 3 buttons?

MW is the same, spreading renewing mist to heal everyone and what is this confusing mastery, i have to keep essence font running? Omg, why cant i just click and heal like my holy priest?

You get the point.

[Wries]

WW DPS isn't all that complicated but sure it's more than Havoc. Generally with more complexity comes more inflexibility For example being a bad target swapper, having to sacrifice mobility or to have mobs live for a certain amount of time to be effective. That is why simple specs generally win, because they become good in more situations.

In Windwalker's case though I feel it's mostly because their DPS is sub-par against pretty much any other spec in the game. :P

Fistweaving dungeons is pretty fun though!

[Dundebuns]

I love my monk, but would rather tank as a warrior or a paladin.

[Delano]

It's a cool class on paper but full of moving parts that don't come together in a satisfying way. Blizzard also seems to change their mind on what the core design of the class is every expansion...

[Daedius]

Find them boring. Gameplay-wise as well as lore and aesthetic.

[Jackstraw]

Eh, I actually thought it was the most fun in WoD, and quite a few people played it back then if I remember HFC pugs. It just sort of became bleh, with no defining features.

Yeah, I was a little broad in that sense.
Still, I saw way more BMs than anything, with the die hard WWs playing the spec out of affection but lamenting the absurdity of having to use Chi Torpedo as the hardest hitting ability of the kit.

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

When monks came out they had way too many buttons for me. I moved on and never looked back.

[leggomydairy]

They were the most fun in Mists imo

The panda visuals are too class connected. They’re constantly focusing on the idea that monks are pandaren or other races taught by them and never show us more about the human monks of scholomance or the draenei monks of Auchindoun.