Curse

Effigy · Nov 30, 2006, 05:45 AM // 05:45

I think we're in the same frame on mind, Rera. I would have never thought it necessary to discuss the ethical implications of charging money in exchange for services rendered, but a large part of the monk community seems to think it's some kind of mortal sin and, since I like to argue, I've chosen to take them up on it at length.

I already stated it before, but I suppose it bears repeating: I have never charged money to help a group with a mission. Not because I think it's wrong, but because I have better alternatives for making money. If I bother joining a player group in PvE at all, it's generally for the fun of it.

Minwanabi · Dec 02, 2006, 07:01 PM // 19:01

Ultimate, Effigy hit the nail on the head with the simple fact that in almost every PvE scenario that presents itself in all three campaigns, groups like to take two monks, out of a total of eight players. This causes a disproportionately high demand for monks, as 25% of the vast majority of successful groups (in particular, PuGs), are 10% of the total number of classes. On top of that, barring missions with particular components that require certain combinations, the rest of the classes are either straight damage, or a combination of damage/support. This boils down to the simple fact that you can take two monks, something with more AL than 60, and fill the rest in as you please. Some combinations will be better or worse than others, but assuming competence of all players involved, you'll complete the mission.

Of course, this naturally lends itself to arguing the root cause of this problem, and that's simply that no other class can come close to providing the survivability/sustainability that monks can. That certainly isn't to say that you can't try, I'm sure people out there think that their restoration ritualist build is going to replace the monk, but, frankly, they're wrong, and the same holds true for motivation paragons. Again, that isn't to say that these classes don't provide a unique and specific function, just that the funtion is never as essential to completing a PvE task.