Curse

Hanma l · Jul 24, 2008, 01:21 PM // 13:21

At the moment all i do is pve w/ the ocasional RA or HA match when im not too busy. Right now i just have my main for pve which is a W/ and an A/ for when i do RA. So i wanted to take a break from title farming and make a support char and what better than a monk. Here are my questions.
1. Should i pvp first to learn how to monk properly like do alot of Ra, TA, HA and such.
2. It'll definetly be a female char so what armor combos or what armor would look best on it (FoW is too overrated so i'll definetly never get it, imo any combos that include chaos gloves and look good would be nice so i'm open to suggestions.)

Ty in advance to those that mite post a reply.

Panais · Jul 24, 2008, 01:53 PM // 13:53

PvP helps, but u are better off learning most of the basics in PvE, as u will fail in pvp at start. after u are comfortable with your skills, then do pvp to perfect your style of monking. try both healing and protection and then try mixing.
my monk a female as well has vabbi armor, but no chaos gloves i dont like them

Faure · Jul 24, 2008, 02:16 PM // 14:16

At some extend pve monking is much harder then pvp. Why? Because you have no team, and most of all, you rarely have 'normal' players. I suggest starting as a monk in PvE too, because you don't have to start healing huge damage spikes from big mean fire imps (or spikes in pvp). Instead you can build up, and once you grow, so is your healing, your healing ability, and of course the need of healing. (now i say healing, i mean monking in general).

It depends a bit on where you start, I chose prophecies (altough back then i had nothing else, but i'd still do). But i suggest trying a hybrid build. You most of the time will be the only monk in the team, and therefore it could be handy to be able to prevent people from taking damage as well as healing them.
A second way of aproach as a solo monk is heal only and just heal up everything. I found this harder to do, but it's how I started of. It really trains your reflexes to catch big drops of heath.

I wouldn't (in low levels) go full prot, unless you have some healing ability with it (like zealous benediction and gift of health or something).

imnotyourmother · Jul 24, 2008, 02:26 PM // 14:26

Hello felloe Monk.

My Main toon is a monk and I have been monking for about a year. There are many changes that have happened to the game in the last year that is for sure.

I perfer to run my monk a little different than most. I enjoy KILLING stuff. Smiting is the way i go. I am not very popular and I let EVERONE in the group Know that I am SMITING. Takes a while to get into a group but I can kill stuff fast. I also run with a War's shield and War as secondary so that I can get the extra 16 armor + 10 whatever so that cuts my damage by 1/4. Very effective int he underworld.

There also is the ever pop 55 build. Play Pve missions storyline and you will get the -50Hp for free from completing the quest. neet eh?

Well have fun with that.

Squishy ftw · Jul 24, 2008, 02:34 PM // 14:34

Some important things to remember:

It's better to prevent damage, than to heal through it.
Watch the battlefield, don't focus on the red bars too much.
preprotting is good.

Oh, and this is a very good read. I suggest you read through it. Then read it again.

And as to your questions:

1. I would start off in PvE and when you feel comfortable in your monking role, improve in PvP.
2. That's personal taste.

Quaker · Jul 24, 2008, 03:23 PM // 15:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hanma l

2. It'll definetly be a female char so what armor combos or what armor would look best on it (FoW is too overrated so i'll definetly never get it, imo any combos that include chaos gloves and look good would be nice so i'm open to suggestions.)

I'd be curious to know what you mean by "over-rated". All monk armor has the same stats, so looks are the only difference. How can the 'look' be over-rated - either you like it or you don't.
Personally, I like the female monk FoW armor - dyed black even. Actually, black is one of the few colors that look good on it IMHO. I've also seen many monks combine the FoW chest with various legs - FoW chest with Elite Woven skirt is nice. Plain old Ascalon armor, dyed black, is nice too.

At any rate, perhaps you think that FoW armor is too common or 'showy' - but then again, those stupid glowy Chaos Gloves are common as dog poop and are nothing but "look at me!" There is no such thing as a combo that includes Chaos Gloves and looks good.

theonetheonlybruce · Jul 24, 2008, 03:40 PM // 15:40

um for armor elite kursic looks good on a female monk

MagmaRed · Jul 24, 2008, 05:11 PM // 17:11

PvE for learning how to Monk. As noted as well, run pure Healing, pure Protection, and hybrids. This allows you to see what the skills do, how the skills do it, what counters them, and what you need to use for counters to various things thrown at your team and yourself. Play ALL parts of PvE to do this. Tyria, Cantha, Elona, and the areas of GW:EN. FoW, UW, Urgoz, Deep, Slavers, etc. Ursan, non-Ursan. Try it all out. After you have all the skills available, and understand how they work, then try out some PvP. Expect to fail, but learn WHY you failed.

Armor... um, it is an OPINION question, and lots of people will vary their opinion. My opinion is that there isn't a single set of Monk armor that looks good. I use mixes of several sets. Since I don't know what you like, I can't make any suggestions. I wear Sunspear top with elite Labrynthine for the rest.

Loot Junkie · Jul 24, 2008, 06:14 PM // 18:14

Hey Hanma, I will provide this bit of advice regarding monking. By all means learn to monk in pve first, this game was designed so that pve is a tutor leading up to pvp play. The problem that I found, after pve monking for so long was, I got used to watching red health bars instead of watching my team mates on the battlefield. If you have plans to be a pvp monk, DO NOT get used to watching red bars, as it is a very hard habit to break once it is ingrained. Its pretty hard to prevent a spike in HA if you're the spirit bonder and you're waiting for damage to show up on your party member list, rather than watching for the spike on the field of play. The second bit of advice: prots>>heals. Learn the value of skills such as aegis, guardian, shield of absorption, reversal of fortune, protective spirit and how they prevent "panic healing".

serinty hr · Jul 24, 2008, 06:17 PM // 18:17

i agree with mostof what people said here. I have been monking for just about two years now and its great. I use strictly healing tho. I dont like smiting and protection is a waste for me.

My monk is also a female and has the Labyrinthine armor. It it dyed black and i plan on getting some chaos gloves to go with it. Here is the link to view that armor. Hope this helps.
http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Monk_Labyrinthine_armor

Amadei · Jul 24, 2008, 06:56 PM // 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hanma l

1. Should i pvp first to learn how to monk properly like do alot of Ra, TA, HA and such.

If you've never monked before, I'd suggest starting out with PvE but mixing in a bit of PvP in. I'd stay clear of RA, though, as it's a cesspool of bad players and not really a good place to learn how to play a class.

Quote:

(FoW is too overrated so i'll definetly never get it, imo any combos that include chaos gloves and look good would be nice so i'm open to suggestions.)

You think FoW is overrated, but then you mention Chaos Gloves?

I like female monk FoW as long as it's not dyed black, as black has the tendency to remove any and all details from an armor set, and more often than not makes the character look like they're wearing a black hole. Just pick an armor set(s) you like, regardless of how "overrated" it is. If YOU like it, that should be good enough.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faure

At some extend pve monking is much harder then pvp.

It really isn't, at least not serious PvP. RA mimicks PvE pretty closely, though; on average, you'll find as many idiot players in RA as you would LFGing in Thunderhead Keep.

Don't go smite; smiting is bad (unless you're in Kryta or Shards of Orr). Your damage will be subpar and you'll add nothing to the team an ele won't be able to do a hundred times better.

I would suggest starting out with a healing build with a few prots thrown in -- Reversal of Fortune and Protective Spirit, for instance. IMO, pure healing or prot bars aren't that great -- why bring eight skills that do the same thing (push red bars up) or eight skills that can't push a red bar back up? Hybrid is the way to go. Check out monks on Observer Mode for solid bars, and you could also read the Monk forums here and on GWO, but with the reminder that many people, including some in this thread, have NFI what they're talking about.

Faure · Jul 25, 2008, 12:12 AM // 00:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amadei

It really isn't, at least not serious PvP. RA mimicks PvE pretty closely, though; on average, you'll find as many idiot players in RA as you would LFGing in Thunderhead Keep.

Why I said that is because in any organized PvP (so no RA, AB or CM) you sort of know what to expect, what your team is capable of, and most of the time you can see what your enemy is, and adjust to that. Most PvE I have done was with pugs, and altough you know the area you go into, you never know what people play like. Also in pvp you get called, people warn you if they expect a spike or heave pressure. In PvE it's most of the time anticipation on your own, and at some level, cleaning up the mess of the rest of the party.

I'm not claiming pve or pvp is per definition harder to monk, I monk better in pve, and am not a great pvp monk, and i know people the other way around. It's i think a matter of personal taste, experience and of course at some point skill.
I'm personally good at stresshealing, but i can't see/prevent/heal a sudden spike, altough i never seriously gvg/ha-monked.
Imo pvp and pve monking are quite different.

JDRyder · Jul 25, 2008, 01:21 AM // 01:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hanma l

At the moment all i do is pve w/ the ocasional RA or HA match when im not too busy. Right now i just have my main for pve which is a W/ and an A/ for when i do RA. So i wanted to take a break from title farming and make a support char and what better than a monk. Here are my questions.
1. Should i pvp first to learn how to monk properly like do alot of Ra, TA, HA and such.
2. It'll definetly be a female char so what armor combos or what armor would look best on it (FoW is too overrated so i'll definetly never get it, imo any combos that include chaos gloves and look good would be nice so i'm open to suggestions.)

Ty in advance to those that mite post a reply.

1. Yes IMO Pvp as much as you can if you want to be a uber monk, if you just want to be a "meh" monk dont bother. If you find yourself phailing a lot as a monk in Ra, Ta, Ha etc and people say things like "YOU SUCK" just tell them to stfu. Also if that happens ill tell you the same thing i tell every monk that ask me "how do i get better" just watch the battle. If you find it to hard at 1st, Go to ascalon and turn off your party window and then monk for low lvls. its a good place to start learning if you have problems watching the battle imo

2. yes Fow does not look that good imo as well :P BUT every monk needs a set of 15k Kurzick dyed white ^.^

glacialphoenix · Jul 25, 2008, 04:53 AM // 04:53

Quote:

yes Fow does not look that good imo as well :P BUT every monk needs a set of 15k Kurzick dyed white.

Bah, I prefer it dyed red.

But 15k Kurzick is one of the nicest monk outfits out there, and it goes well with everything regardless of the face, I think. I got my monk Elite Woven, Asuran, and Vabbian as well, because I spoil her. Seriously though, maybe you could go through the screenshots forum? That should give you a better idea of what monk outfits might go better with your monk and what won't.

Also, I think you should make sure you know what each skill does before you jump headlong into PvP. If you crashland when you jump in, yeah, you can pick yourself up and try again - but you should be able to work out what you did wrong and what you can do to correct it, which is going to be a lot harder if you don't know what the skills do in the first place.

Quote:

As noted as well, run pure Healing, pure Protection, and hybrids.

Without dropping into the pure/hybrid bar argument, I agree that you should try it, and learn for yourself why some things work and some don't, and eventually settle for something that you are comfortable with. It's no point ganking some highly-rated build off PvX wiki if you're not comfortable with it, because chances are you won't be able to play it well - although there is, of course, always the option of learning to be comfortable with it. (It took me aeons to get used to LoD before it got nerfed, and then I had to get used to HB all over again, courtesy of PvE meta. I still prefer WoH to either of them.)

Ideally, I think, you should get used to both 1. making red bars go up and 2. preventing red bars from going down.

sixofone · Jul 25, 2008, 02:16 PM // 14:16

Start in PvE, and before going to PvP, turn off the Party screen that shows your team's health. WHA-!?! But, yes, it is excellent training at watching the battlefield.

Hard to get used to - especially at first. (I'm still not good at it. I find monking hard to do!) But, it breaks your wanting to watch the bars instead of what's happening around you.

Hanma l · Jul 25, 2008, 03:43 PM // 15:43

Im sorry i should of had explained myself better, what i meant w/ FoW is over-rated is that before the gold sellers where hammered and nearly whiped out the game a lot and i mean a lot of people e-bayed their FoW armor and it did became common so it kinda takes the sense of accomplishment out of getting it at this point i'll just spend all that gold to get some titles but that's just my opinion. Looking at the battlefield is definetly the way to go thx to those that suggested it as u can actually see who is going to get spiked and when. About the armor part i have taken all suggestions into consideration and labyrinthine does look nice same as elite kurz.