Curse

Cherno · Feb 28, 2006, 04:50 PM // 16:50

Having put 4 characters all the way through the grind and the fire islands, I decided it was time to overcome my fear of monking.

So about a week ago I started a monk and am up to the Frost Gate. One thing that drives me nuts is just spending the entire time staring at that damn party window.

I am not a mouse user and have party memebers assigned to keys on my num pad. I miss not being able to watch the battle because I am constantly watching to do what I do, protect and heal.

I have tried moving the party window up more towards the center, but that doesn't really solve the problem.

Any of you experienced monks have any advice?

JR · Feb 28, 2006, 05:28 PM // 17:28

Average monks stare at the party bar, and monk from what they see there. Decent monks will be looking at what is actually going on, see who is taking the hits, whilst using the party bar just for quick regular reference, and to decide just how big a heal someone needs. It's something you just need to get used to over time, I guess. Practice, practice, practice.

Bastard Son · Feb 28, 2006, 05:40 PM // 17:40

I gauge a party member's health by staring at the Party window. When I see their health bar hit a certain letter in their name, I know about how much health they've lost and can react accordinhly. No, staring at that window isn't unusual. Yes, it can be annoying to stare at it so much. But, like JR said, after a while, you'll get used to moving your eyes back and forth between main screen and party window until it's second nature.

Cherno · Feb 28, 2006, 06:08 PM // 18:08

Thanks, it works really well when it is just me and my guildies going through early, but when we get to 6 party groups and new names I don't know or what they look like from watching the fight I have to just stick to the party window.

It is a bit boring but effective to stare at the window, and I can deal with it. I just find that I can't spend too much time nuking as it makes my eyes very tired quickly to do more than a few quests at a time or missions in a row.

I also have to make the party window pretty large and put it very close to the lower center of the screen to help me keep track of it.

Bastard Son · Mar 01, 2006, 04:23 AM // 04:23

I've made my party window larger and moved it to the bottom right, next to my skillbar. Having it larger helps me to eyeball party member health better and having it there enables me to click on a party member and then the appropriate skill to use rather quickly.

TheSonofDarwin · Mar 01, 2006, 06:02 PM // 18:02

I can say I was once upon a time one of those 100% party window gazers when monking and I probably still would be. What weened me off of that bad habit however was getting into PvP monking, even if it's just randoms or teams a little bit. While most of my time is still dedicated to keeping track of health bars, I learned to maintain my focus other places as well. I'd say about 50% on the health bar, 10% on the radar (just under health bar), and the rest on the action so I can see what the enemies are doing, like changing target, and get prepared.

Still, because I can click on a person's name faster than remember where they are assigned and hit the key, my main focus is on the party. I click them and then hit the appropriate skill on my keypad. I'm a little envious of those that can do it all with just the keyboard!

Lord Omnipata · Mar 01, 2006, 07:18 PM // 19:18

Yeah, that's my only complaint about monking -- you do tend to miss a lot of the action. My first character was a monk, and I recently took a W through the game and it's amazing how much you actually miss playing a monk.

I watch the skillbar the majority of the time, and the rest I'm making sure I'm in position. Position to heal, position to run, and making sure my circle isn't close enough to the fray that a baddie decides I'm next on the menu.

Monking is rewarding because you are an integral part of what's going on -- however it does have it's disadvantages.

EnvyHax · Mar 02, 2006, 12:02 PM // 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by JR-

Average monks stare at the party bar, and monk from what they see there. Decent monks will be looking at what is actually going on, see who is taking the hits, whilst using the party bar just for quick regular reference, and to decide just how big a heal someone needs. It's something you just need to get used to over time, I guess. Practice, practice, practice.

I can't disagree with this more. The way I look at it, monks who's watch the battle are those who react slower to damage, and heal to late, allowing party members to die.

I always look at the party window. That is, unless I'm being attacked, when I run away getting as far away from the enemy as fast as possable. However, even when running, I have to glance at the party screen in order to keep everyone alive.

Here are some basic tips for running a healing monk:
-If you are getting hit (by hit, I mean taking about 1/5 hp each hit), run. Don't run away and let your party die, run through your party. This will allow another party memeber to take the damage, and let you focus on healing again.
-If you die, that's usually it, the end. Most PuGs cannot survive without a monk. So, if you are in great peril, run and allow your team to die (this is a LAST RESORT, don't do this unless it's going really bad. Like, the monsters are killing eveyone in 3 hits and you are out of energy). The, when the monsters are gone, come back a res.
-Don't bring any damage skills. It's stupid, watching a monk shooting poison arrow at monsters. A [healing] monk is there to heal, that's it. Nothing more, nothing less. It's their job to kill the baddies, it's your to stop the baddies from killing them.
-If you don't have a necro with some energy skills to help you out, bring some youself. You will usually come to a point where your group agros 2+ groups on accident, you have to spam heals just to keep everyone alive. This is where the energy managment comes in, so bring it.
-Keep enemies out of your agro circle, and you will never be attacked. Since the enemies are [usually] attacking the tank, that means keeping the tank out of your agro circle. You don't need to be touching his ass in order to heal him. You can heal outside of your agro circle, keep that in mind.
-Don't over heal. Your job is you keep everyone alive, not keep them all at max health. If you over heal to much, it will really start to show by draining your energy in [average] fights. Your energy really shouldn't be a problem unless something unusual happens, like your group aggroing 2+ mobs.

That's basically it (also all I can thin of right now, lol!)

*Note: This is for a spike healing build, not a boon prot or anything. I don't play boon, only spiker healer. If the basics are different with other builds, then just ignore what I've said, unless you play a spiker build.*

I hope this helps ^_^

*Note 2: I know a lot of people might disagree with me. But this is just how I play, and it works. It works REALLY well. I am constantly complimented by the PuGs I join for my healing abilities. If you follow these basic ideas, then every PuG you join will love you ^_^*

Soul Shaker · Mar 03, 2006, 05:56 AM // 05:56

I would always suggest a symbol of wrath in PvE...even with no points, there goes your agro. But, if it's really boring, switch to a prot/smite. Protection takes less maintenance than healing in early game, but later on you better be watchin...

Smiting is fun, protecting is alright (boring when everyone stops taking damage or a really good healer steals your job...) and healing...early game, monontonous or whatever it is, and late game more fun. It became second nature for me, i can switch between smiter and protecter no problems...