Curse

Kikumaru · Jul 28, 2006, 09:45 AM // 09:45

Okay, so as a monk, I have to protest the prevalence of the Boon Prot build/idea. I won't deny that it is an effective build and, under most circumstances, fairly hard to kill. It is a good build. However, it doesn't really require all that much finesse, timing, or skill to pull off. It is a button-mashing build.

I was playing in Random Arenas the other day, testing out a Mesmer build, and a Boon Prot that had beaten me started by telling me my build was awful. Now, I am a fairly paitent person and I tried to explain that was working on a build, and that it wasn't meant to be perfect. He kept criticizing me until I lost my paitience and tore in to him for using Boon Prot, I told him it was overused and unoriginal. All he did was "lol". Two days later, they made Boon Prot a prebuild for the PvP event.

As a PvE and PvP monk player, I hate to see skills get nerfed, but Boon Prot needs broken. Every monk I've PvP grouped with lately has been Boon Prot. It isn't the end all of builds. I want to see the monk class get taken back from all the button mashing nooblets.

Cirian · Jul 28, 2006, 10:25 AM // 10:25

Unfortunately, if it wasn't Boon Prot it would be the next "most efficient" build.

The sheep have a tendancy to gravitate to whatever cookie-cutter builds emerge from the leading experimenters, but that doesn't mean you should give up experimenting

In the longer run you'll be the better, more experienced and versatile player. There's a lot of satisfaction to be had when something clicks and the "lol"s turn into "wtf"s

Wasteland Squidget · Jul 28, 2006, 10:25 AM // 10:25

How is a boon prot any more 'button mashy' than any other monk?

I mean, I can see a really strong active prot requiring a bit more skill since your prots have to land before the target takes damage. Active prots are only viable in Tombs though, so it's not really a universal build.

A lot of the GvG metagame has evolved around the boon prot monk. It's the most versatile of the monk choices - quick heals, utility, split capability, and extremely difficult to shut down. Quite powerful compared to the other choices, but not unbalanced, IMHO.

MAdnRisKy · Jul 28, 2006, 11:17 AM // 11:17

erm no disrespect meant to the op, but you can't have played monks very extensively if you think a boon prot is more of a button masher than say, a woh healing, orison turret monk.

Utilising the correct prot skills at the right time requires more finesse than the slow large packet heals. Not to mention the increase energy management required for 7 cost 3 pip boons versus 5 cost (usually) 4 pip healers. Particularly when you're using chanelling

Man With No Name · Jul 28, 2006, 11:18 AM // 11:18

Bringing the wrong tools to shutdown a class - is no excuse to break the said "noobish" class. And even with the right tools - how broken would the game be if you could perma-stop someone ?

Will a good Warrior with any kind of support rage your face if you apply crap like uncovered Empathy's ? Most likely I'd say - should we then break the Warrior class ?

The majority of skills in the skill set are trash - that is the way of Guild Wars. There is still innovation to an extent - but don't expect to string any old crap together and expect it to work in PvP - we're fighting people now, not the braindead hordes of PvE.

Chances are the top-teams have already found the "best" combinations - that shouldn't deter you away from experimentation - but at least recognise when something you thought would work - didn't work.

Passing off a boon prot as "cheap" won't cut it. We are after all talking about the "cheap" build that single handedly managed to evade any shutdown you brought (or thought you brought) as well as mitigating the damage from the other three people in your team...

Your argument unfortunately dies here:

"I was playing in Random Arenas the other day...."

Guild Wars is a TEAM game. The Monk didn't beat YOU. His team beat yours - as is the way of Random Arena. IMHO they should remove Random Arena from the game - it goes against the whole concept of a CORPG.

The first step to improvement is to stop taking Random Arena seriously.

You'll get paired up with complete morons 90% of the time - and basing any kind of conclusion off it will be inherently flawed.

The second would be to escape the mindset of things being "unoriginal" or "overused" or "sheepish" i.e. "cheap".

There are things that work and things that don't.

Take at look at these proven characters:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10010209

At the very least - playing one of those in RA - will prevent you from being the weak link - even if you still won't win the majority of your games there due to having no support.

TeeGee · Jul 28, 2006, 11:42 AM // 11:42

I have to totally agree with Man With No Name - he stole words from my mouth. And Boonprot really isn't "noobish buttun mushing characters" - in fact it takes quite a bit of skill to manage ur energy, don't over heal, use sig of evotion in right time, use CoP and many more. Especially in RA where u have 4 ppl eager to kill u at all cost.

JR · Jul 28, 2006, 12:58 PM // 12:58

I think that pretty much covers it.