Curse

IxChel · Sep 30, 2005, 01:16 AM // 01:16

Overall, this update is a huge help for healing and protection monks; it will make our game play a bit more enjoyable. In short, I expect to see the Mo/Ne replace the Mo/Me. Mesmer secondary took a big hit.

For energy management; it is a win. For those that want to continue to use Energy Drain, it'll be about 33% less effective due to the increased recharge. However, for those that don't want to spend time finding an Elementalist to drain -- it is a win, far less energy will be leaving our bar with the new ED. So, I look at it this way -- we get our Elite slot back. To add icing to the cake, Divine Spirit, once a favorite of mine, looks like it needs to be dusted off -- the extra 4s will mean 2 more spells, and those two additional heals will make it far easier to justify the 10en cost. I think most healing / protection monks will now be using Offering Of Blood plus Divine Spirit to power their healing engine. I think this is a good sized win.

For hexes, we effectively lost Hex Breaker. However, the primary goal of that skill was to cause the caster pain (hence the damage); this skill should never have been usable at 0 domination. What we get for its replacement is Holy Veil, which is now far more effective! Since you can cancel Holy Veil at any time, expect it to be the hex removal of choice; it might even replace Divine Boon + Contemplation of Purity for pure-healers. Unfortunately, you won't see this monk abusing it since I don't have a mouse (and you cannot cancel maintained enchantments w/o a mouse). Overall, I think this is a win -- but not a huge win.

For enchantments, it is a bit worse. Rend Enchantments is no longer a "necro self-killer", and Desecrate Enchantments is cheaper. However, their recharge still prevents them from decimating an enchant-heavy monk.

For actual casting, it is a huge fantastic win. Diversion is effectively worthless -- its extra cast time and recharge make it very hard to work with someone equipped /w Holy Veil or Boon+Contemplation. Furtermore, the nasty continuous-interrupting Ranger build is now (thankfully) nerfed. Together with Energy Drain nerf; I think we might actually get off some spells, rather than being degrated into a "run-and-hide" class.

Of the fun changes for mo/ne, I think Blood Renewal is now crying for some attention. It has received two buffs in a row, first on the healing power and now on the reduced sacrifice. I will definitely be trying a Blood Renewal + Infuse Health build in the near future.

I'm also happy about the Pacifism change; a 3s cast made it completely unusable; at 2s I might try it again. For us divine-favor junkie (and who isn't?), the buffs to Divine Healing and Divine Intervention are seriously welcome.

As you know, I think that the monk should never be able to do as much damage as an elementalist (else the elementalist should have better healing, no?), and therefore, I'm absolutely tickled /w the nerfs to the smiting line. In my opinion, they were way over powered; and perhaps this might help address that problem. The indirect effect of this will be clear to PvE players -- more monks will be willing to form pick up groups with you since their ability to solo got a serious hit. This is a good thing for team play.

Oh, one other note relating to PvE monks. For once we now have a serious skill to help reduce our healing burden -- the Doldak Signet on our "tank". When we're asking for a tank, we should be asking them to bring this wonderful skill; with knock-down protection and +40 amour, our tanks will need less healing. And the plus side? For 5-10s after combat they will be too slow to charge into the next group! Hurray!

kvndoom · Sep 30, 2005, 01:38 AM // 01:38

Another upside to the Dolyak change: it helps offset the -40 armor when casting Healing Signet. I can't wait to play with that some.

A lot of people don't understand it, but Arean wants their cooperative game to be... cooperative. Who hasn't had to stand around in an outpost with a 7/8 or 5/6 group, thumbing yourself for 20 or 30 minutes while the group leader tries to find a Monk? The henchies do okay most of the time, but their AI can really turn the tide against you when things get nasty. So there were 2 major issues concerning Monks that I saw:

1) Monks were solo smiters / farmers, and many weren't used to healing and maintaining a group.

2) The abuse that Monks get when a sorry party gets itself killed. It's always the Monk's fault, nevermind the fools that over-aggro or just use poor judgement.

I don't think a lot of healing / protection Monks were having fun lately playing the game. Being responsible for keeping 8 people alive is a task I don't think I could fathom, which is why I haven't tried it yet. I respect healing Monks for having the single hardest job in the game. And rarely do they get praise for a job well done, but always will they get scorned if they do make a mistake, or if a group of idiots gets themselves killed faster than one person could possibly save them. This has turned a lot of people away from playing the class, so I'm all for ANet making it fun to play again.

KaPe · Sep 30, 2005, 03:23 AM // 03:23

"I don't think a lot of healing / protection Monks were having fun lately playing the game. Being responsible for keeping 8 people alive is a task I don't think I could fathom, which is why I haven't tried it yet."

That's entirely dependant on those 7 people you're keeping alive. Unless they're total idiots, it's not bad. The better they play, the easier they make your job and you can actually enjoy the game a bit, without just staring at red bars. Anyhow, what do you mean by "lately"? Not much has really changed in the way healing monk works - at least in their attitude towards parties and in reverse.

Arathorn5000 · Sep 30, 2005, 04:07 AM // 04:07

What do you think about an E/Mo healer with high energy storage + healing prayers IxChel? Ether prodigy looks amazing to me...not to be used to get back to full energy, but to activate whenever you're low and then spam pretty much all the heals you want with all that extra energy, keeping your energy level low to avoid big damage at the end. With high energy storage and playing on the low end of your energy bar, the exhaustion is nearly ignorable, and during the ~20 seconds of EP, 6/10 of the exhaustion wears off.....you lose the divine favor boost, and some of the cool DF skills, but this seems to me like it would allow you to constantly spam heals (even when not needed just to keep energy down

) and be the love of your team. Max energy pips constantly.....3.3 energy regen per second....

Elena · Sep 30, 2005, 04:51 AM // 04:51

lets see 85Al+40(dolyak signet)+20Watch yourself!) 145 armour tank ftw!

Hockster · Sep 30, 2005, 05:30 AM // 05:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by kvndoom

2) The abuse that Monks get when a sorry party gets itself killed. It's always the Monk's fault, nevermind the fools that over-aggro or just use poor judgement.

That's exactly why I turned my healer into a smite monk. I was so sick of crappy groups blaming me for their deaths. I beat the game as a healer. After that I swore to never play with another human group again with it.

One and Two · Sep 30, 2005, 05:43 AM // 05:43

Oh yeah. One more thing. A lot of you guys think that now youll be getting a whole bunch of monks back. I doubt it some reason. People didnt make monks to help, they made them for profit...unfortunately.

Hockster · Sep 30, 2005, 05:48 AM // 05:48

I created mine specifically to help because my other characters were always waiting for monks to jon the group. After two weeks of almost exclusively frustrating game play, I clearly see why there are such a shortage of healers. The removal of refunds is a big help now when I want to reskill, but that's only for guild groups or a few friends.

Phades · Sep 30, 2005, 06:01 AM // 06:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by IxChel

Overall, this update is a huge help for healing and protection monks; it will make our game play a bit more enjoyable. In short, I expect to see the Mo/Ne replace the Mo/Me. Mesmer secondary took a big hit.

For energy management; it is a win. For those that want to continue to use Energy Drain, it'll be about 33% less effective due to the increased recharge. However, for those that don't want to spend time finding an Elementalist to drain -- it is a win, far less energy will be leaving our bar with the new ED. So, I look at it this way -- we get our Elite slot back. To add icing to the cake, Divine Spirit, once a favorite of mine, looks like it needs to be dusted off -- the extra 4s will mean 2 more spells, and those two additional heals will make it far easier to justify the 10en cost. I think most healing / protection monks will now be using Offering Of Blood plus Divine Spirit to power their healing engine. I think this is a good sized win.

Take an ele secondary and keep divine spirit up permenantly FTW.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IxChel

For enchantments, it is a bit worse. Rend Enchantments is no longer a "necro self-killer", and Desecrate Enchantments is cheaper. However, their recharge still prevents them from decimating an enchant-heavy monk.

It still hurts if it is removing its maximum potential. With the low end cap raised, it will probably see even more play than before, if thats possible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IxChel

Together with Energy Drain nerf; I think we might actually get off some spells, rather than being degrated into a "run-and-hide" class.

Mesmer based drain was basically a blackout situation that really only affected casters, opposed to real blackout that hurts just about everyone equally.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IxChel

As you know, I think that the monk should never be able to do as much damage as an elementalist (else the elementalist should have better healing, no?), and therefore, I'm absolutely tickled /w the nerfs to the smiting line. In my opinion, they were way over powered; and perhaps this might help address that problem. The indirect effect of this will be clear to PvE players -- more monks will be willing to form pick up groups with you since their ability to solo got a serious hit. This is a good thing for team play.

The acutal damage inflicted and time till cast and reuse still need to get touched on for eles though. I have to laugh at the ice spear change, as it should have been a more blanket bump across all elements. I still have to wonder why someone would choose to use fire though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IxChel

Oh, one other note relating to PvE monks. For once we now have a serious skill to help reduce our healing burden -- the Doldak Signet on our "tank". When we're asking for a tank, we should be asking them to bring this wonderful skill; with knock-down protection and +40 amour, our tanks will need less healing. And the plus side? For 5-10s after combat they will be too slow to charge into the next group! Hurray!

The skill is pretty useable even by secondaries since the use time wasnt touched. I doubt many warriors are running 15 in the strength stat though, in order to get the full benefit, since tactics is far more useful in pve.

twicky_kid · Sep 30, 2005, 06:55 AM // 06:55

love the BUFF to cleave and grenth's balance. cleave accuatly does more than eviscerate now. grenth's is completely insane. you think necro spike is bad now just wait.

Asplode · Sep 30, 2005, 07:02 AM // 07:02

I think the...I don't know what to call this...exhuming of forgotten skills is a welcome change, it forces players to adapt, or simply fail, and keeps this game fresh.

chuck7477 · Sep 30, 2005, 07:24 AM // 07:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elena

lets see 85Al+40(dolyak signet)+20Watch yourself!) 145 armour tank ftw!

85 + 10 al + 5 AL (weapon) +16 (shield) + 20 (watch yourself) +20 (defy pain) +50 (armor of earth) +40 (dolyak sig) = 246 armor tank

Elena · Sep 30, 2005, 09:15 AM // 09:15

wowzor on a lollypop! lets see 60Al = 100% damage 246 = 60Al X4 wonder how much damage u take then :P

Asplode · Sep 30, 2005, 10:08 AM // 10:08

It's 94.02% damage reduction, according to GWG dmg/armor calculator.

Ollj · Sep 30, 2005, 11:14 AM // 11:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elena

wowzor on a lollypop! lets see 60Al = 100% damage 246 = 60Al X4 wonder how much damage u take then :P

luckily you forget that many smite skills got a boost, and im not talking about stupid wanabe elementalists that liked smiting.

Fantus · Oct 05, 2005, 08:15 AM // 08:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by IxChel

The indirect effect of this will be clear to PvE players -- more monks will be willing to form pick up groups with you since their ability to solo got a serious hit. This is a good thing for team play.

The changes to some smiting skills don't really affect monk solo capabilities. It took like 10 minutes to get adjusted to the new Balthazar's Aura spell, but that's about it. I also doubt that serious monk players will play in PUGs more often. After every change to monk skills people predicted a flock of monk players to PUGs but nothing of that sort ever happened. Why? Because PUGs suck and changes to monk skills are not going to change the fact that PUGs suck. There is no way my monk would ever offer her services to a PUG and this is unlikely to change in the future. She got harrassed at least one time too much in PUGs so now her heal spells are for guildmates and henchmen only. If I absolutely must play in a PUG, I will take my elementalist or ranger, but never my monk.

Sister Rosette · Oct 05, 2005, 08:21 AM // 08:21

Forgive the ignorance, but what's a PUG?

All I've seen running around lately are Edge Bombs, IWAY, and Trappers..

Fantus · Oct 05, 2005, 08:39 AM // 08:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sister Rosette

Forgive the ignorance, but what's a PUG?

All I've seen running around lately are Edge Bombs, IWAY, and Trappers..

PUG = Pick Up Group = rather randomly assembled groups people sometimes form to solve missions and quests.

Sofonisba · Oct 05, 2005, 03:23 PM // 15:23

My Mo/Me had to get rid of Hex Breaker - so sad. Absolutely useless now. Instead, I have replaced it with Inspired Hex. Wonder if anyone notices I'm casting Life Transfer...?