Curse

Eclair · Jun 13, 2005, 10:14 PM // 22:14

Every single mission can be easily done with NPC healers provided the other members of the group are competant. If I can't find a monk, I alway take the henchies and they really haven't failed me yet. Even in the Ring of Fire Islands, NPCs are still better than some human players =P

Monks can make a good group great, but they can't save a bad group from getting owned.

Shoujo · Jun 13, 2005, 11:51 PM // 23:51

While I played my monk, I ran into very few pricks, certainly not bad or abundant enough to warrant a thread. As a monk, when I felt grouping with people would be more advantageous than relying on henchmen, I had the advantage of being able to be extremely picky about who I decided to adventure with. I simply didn't advertise that I was looking for a group, ignored anybody who used too many exclamation points, typed in all caps, used elite speak, spammed "LFG" every two seconds, couldn't be bothered to correct any typos in their copy-pasted messages, had insulting names or names with the words Ninja/Death/Pwnage/Elite/God/Samurai/Dragon/Demon, bragged about their sexual prowess and/or ability to smoke/drink, and never accepted blind invites without contacting the group leader and checking them out. Granted it often took me a while to find suitable members, when I did find em, missions were a breeze and frustration-free for the most part.

As for monks being boring, I'd have to disagree. Yes, all I did was stare at health bars and spam heals to keep the party alive if not at full health, but it was a refreshing change from virtually every other class that focuses on somehow defeating the opposition. I've already seen the pretty pictures with alts anyway so staring at health bars wasn't so painful

Mimi Miyagi · Jun 13, 2005, 11:58 PM // 23:58

There are some monks - however, that make the rest have a bad name. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to bring it up. Do they equal the # of bad warirors? of course not.

It takes a special breed of player to play a monk, and to do it right. You have to WANT to be a supporting role, to take pride in a good mission, to feel bad when you let down one of your team mates when they die because you miscast a spell, or didn't react fast enough when they suddenly got slammed.

Most parties I've been in as a monk (I have three diff characters, so my perspective is different tham a lot of people's) have been enjoyable. People say "thanks" and if they die they say "don't worry about it". I've gotten my monk character up to Hell's Precipice fairly quickly. The folks up above ascension seem to have a clue - for the most part and recognize a good monk when they get one.

But - having played a monk character, I have some ideas about what things a monk should or shouldn't be able to do, and can recognize a bad one within 5 minutes of partying with them. They don't carry the right spells, they haven't heard of healing seed, or life bond, or any of the other spells that can be life or death for warriors battling a mob. They don't know what mend ailment is, or how to tell the difference between a "condition" and a "hex" and what spells to use to counteract those issues.

So, what I'm getting at is, while I do agree the monks do get a lot of unfair abuse from morons who have a death wish rushing from one mob to the next, there are monks out there that deservedly get all the abuse that is heaped upon their narrow shoulders.

Just food for thought.