U72 Preview 2: Monk Class Changes

[Sylvanush]

Ninja Spy Shadow Double does not give 50% Doubleshot, only Doublestrike. Maybe Touch of Death should have a variant for range weapons like Shuriken. Anyway, key generation for the range is very weak and takes some time. Probably, ninja poison can be scaled with 200% MP/RP to give a bit of juice because there are no imbue dice in the tree. The crippling strike is not working with melee or range very useless, btw. Dark Path: Poison Exploit does not purge the enemy of Ninja Poison, dealing 1d20 + 20 poison damage per stack of Ninja Poison removed.

 

[Phaedra]

Stunning Fist's DC now uses the highest of Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom.

Stunning fist doesn't function as an unarmed attack, even if both hands are empty. You must equip handwraps or it won't fire.

 

[Pretty Good Old One]

After playing with Ninja Spy a little more, and seeing the bug with Hand of Harm interacting with Ninja Poison, I think there is room to increase what the Tier 4 enhancement Poison Exploit does.

What if Poison Exploit added the effects of all of the Ninjutsu Dark Finishers to Shadow Flurry... kind of like Hand of Harm ends up getting multiple elemental dark finishers stacked onto it at Tier 4 Shintao.

The order effects trigger is even somewhat self limiting:
1st. Poison Exploit - clears poison, does damage
2nd. Poisoned Soul - starts a new slow build of poison
3rd. Wave of Despair drains a level
4th Impending Doom marks the target so that if it dies afterwards the Ninja gets temp HP and KI

If this works like the finishers usually did:
If the weapon damage kills the target, no special effects.
If Poison Exploit kills the target, none of the remaining triggers.
So level drains only happen if the target survives Poison Exploit (and gives a little marginal use for creatures immune to poison, but not level drain).
Impending Doom only is useful if all of the above hasn't already killed the target... i.e. only high HP or Poision Resistant creatures will be likely to survive so that the temp HP and Ki can be gained.

If you wanted to make it more powerful, reverse the order so that Impending Doom triggers first, and the Ninja would have an easy path to temp HP (that is probably OP for leveling).

Otherwise, against Poison Immune opponents, the Ninja becomes a little harder to kill, with temp HP and has a level drain debuff (and can use HM imbue instead).

It seems like just giving all the original dark, dark, dark finishers on the same attack doesn't add that much power, but adds some versatility. It won't impact power level much at cap, but it could make leveling more interesting.

 

[KylerrTheMajty]

Hello again, everyone!

Preview 2 is here with an updated look at Monk Class changes! Thank you for your feedback in Preview 1, it was very helpful in tracking down issues and making adjustments! Below is a list of bugfixes and balance changes we've made since last Preview, and below that is the complete (updated) list of notes. Once again, we're primarily looking for gameplay feedback from those who have given things a test-drive on Lamannia! So please log in, try things out, and let us know that you did when you reply! With that said, let's take a look:

Changes from Preview 1:​

• Clear Your Mind no longer requires charges. It now costs 35 ki to activate.
• The Attack-and-Damage line in each of the Monk trees now works as intended
• Henshin Mystic's Wisdom to Attack and Damage now works as intended
• Tier 1 Henshin Mystic now properly has Ki Shout
• Ninja Spy Ninja Master now properly has its updated Fortification Bypass and Melee Power
• Taking Elemental Words now properly grants all versions of Elemental Words
• Kata of Ice now properly scales with the highest of STR/DEX/WIS
• Core 2 of Henshin Mystic now has its intended Ki generation
• Light and Dark Path abilities in the Monk trees now properly require the feat for that path
• Upgrades for Light and Dark path abilities in the Monk trees now properly require the ability they upgrade
• Poison Exploit now properly removes stacks of Ninja Poison when Shadow Flurry is used
• Shadow Double now properly applies its effect
• Light and Dark Path abilities in all three trees now have 9 second cooldowns.
• Cloak of Shadows' Invisibility now works as intended.
• Cloak of Shadows' Invisibility is now 3 seconds (balancing against the dramatically-reduced cooldown)
• Shadow Flurry no longer costs Hit Points.
• Subtlety now also reduces Ranged threat.
• Negotiator no longer grants Haggle; instead, it grants Intimidate.
• Hand of Harm no longer adds Negative Vulnerability.
• Hand of Harm now automatically crits.
• Deadly Striker is now: "While you are centered, you gain a +1 Competence bonus to Critical Threat Range and Multiplier. Kamas, Shortswords, and Shuriken gain an additional +1 Critical Threat Range." (This change was present in Preview 1, but missed both the notes and tooltip).
• Mantra of Body is now Mantra of Soul, and grants +5/10/20 MRR
• Conditioning has moved up to Tier 3 in Henshin Mystic.
• T2 Henshin Mystic has had its copy of Elemental Ki Strikes restored.
• Dragon Disciple's Shaken effect can no longer hit allies from certain spells
• Kata of Ice can now freeze most creature types (only exclusions are now Floating, Incorporeal, Boss, and Raid Boss)
• Elemental Words now properly applies to Henshin Mystic's Ki spells
• Cleared up confusion in the notes about the vulnerability aspect of Ninja Poison (it isn't changing)

A Topic of Discussion:
Last Preview, we had a note that read "Coming Soon: We are planning to add "Enemies in range of your Hand of Healing gain Healing Shield for 10 seconds." in addition to the above effect. Healing Shield: On a successful hit, any allies and the attacker will gain 1d2 HP. This is not present in this Preview."

This is proving to be tricky on a technical level. We'd still like to incorporate this somewhere useful, ideally still tied to Light Monks - Where would you like to see it?

----------

Overall Class Adjustments​

1. Remove the combo system and its core components.
   1. This retires the feat-based Elemental combo builders, and the resulting combo finishers. The effects of these abilities have been redistributed into abilities in the Monk trees.
   2. That said, Monks still gain their Stances and your choice of Light vs. Dark Path.
      1. The Light vs. Dark Path choice no longer gives something specific on being taken, but opens up enhancement choices at Tier 3 in each Monk Enhancement Tree.
   3. We are thankful for the feedback about Monk combo moves and finishers in the previous feedback threads; especially as we look into the future, this is valuable feedback. At this time, though, we have made the decision to move forward with retiring the current combo system in U72.
   4. If there are still Finishing Moves that haven't been replicating into the trees that you feel are especially necessary, let us know which ones and where you'd like to see that appear in the trees.
2. Quivering Palm's DC now uses Strength if it is highest (highest of Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom Modifier)
3. Stunning Fist's DC now uses the highest of Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom.
4. The Unarmed Strike Feat now grants +5 Melee Power while Centered and using Handwraps for each copy of the feat you have.
5. The Sun and Stars item effect now reads "When you activate Hand of Healing or Hand of Harm from the Shintao enhancement tree, you benefit from increased Melee Power and Positive Healing Amplification for a short time."
6. Core 4 of Grandmaster of Flowers has not changed in this Preview, but will need to before U72 - We're open to suggestions for how to change this ability!
7. Bugfix: The Vorpal Strikes feat now properly makes your Handwraps Vorpal.
8. Action Point costs across Ninja Spy, Shintao, and Henshin Mystic have been reduced.

Ninja Spy​

• Cores:
  • Poisoned Darts now reads "Ki Activate: You spit poisoned darts in a cone before you. Nearby enemies are affected by between 4 and 8 stacks of Ninja Poison. (Magical Poison: Target takes 1d4 points of Poison damage, which scales with the higher of Melee and Ranged Power every 3 seconds for 15 seconds. The target’s vulnerability to poison is increased by 5%. This ability can stack up to 20 times. On timer expiration, 4 stacks of Ninja Poison are removed at a time.) (Activation Cost: 15 Ki. Cooldown: 12 seconds)"
  • Diversion no longer has its Critical bonus (moved to Tier 5). Instead, it has +5 Melee and Ranged Power.
  • Ninja Master now also has "+10% Fortification Bypass, +15 Melee and Ranged Power. If you have Self Defense, you gain an additional +10 Melee (just Melee) Power".
• Tier 1:
  • Ninjutsu is removed, and replaced by the new Ninjutsu: +1 to Attack and Damage while Centered. (Antireq: Shintao Studies and Henshin Training. Essentially, you can only take one Attack+Damage line.)
  • Subtlety now also reduces Ranged Threat by the same amount.
• Tier 2:
  • Ninjutsu is removed, and replaced by the new Ninjutsu: +1 to Attack and +2 to Damage while Centered.
  • Elemental Ki Strikes is has been removed (it still exists in Shintao). It is replaced with Extra Action Boost: +1/2/3 Action Boosts.
  • Action Boost: Melee/Ranged Power is now a multiselector with Action Boost: Haste.
• Tier 3:
  • Ninjutsu is removed, and replaced by the new Ninjutsu: +1 to Attack and +2 to Damage while Centered.
  • Flash Bang is removed, and replaced by Shadow Arts:
    • Light Path: Flash Bang: Ki Bomb Spell-Like Ability: Throws a fragile eggshell imbued with ninja magic that explodes into light, blinding opponents for 6 seconds on a failed reflex save and momentarily dazing opponents on a failed fortitude save. Both saving throws have DC equal to (18 + Monk Level + Highest of Str/Dex/Wis Mod + Assassinate DCs). (Activation Cost: 20 Ki. Cooldown: 9 seconds)
    • Dark Path: Shadow Flurry: Melee Attack: +20% damage. Target must make a saving throw equal to (18 + Monk Level + Highest of Str/Dex/Wis Mod + Assassinate DCs) or have some of their energy temporarily sealed, halving all positive energy healing, reducing its fortification by 25%, and rendering it unable to cast spells. The enemy makes recurring Fortitiude saves to shake the effect. Cost: 10 Ki. Cooldown: 9 seconds.
• Tier 4:
  • Ninjutsu is removed, and replaced by the new Ninjutsu: +1 to Attack and +2 to Damage while Centered.
  • Deadly Exploits is removed, and replaced with Greater Shadow Arts:
    • Light Path: Cloak of Shadows: After using Flash Bang, you become Invisible for 3 seconds which is not broken by actions.
    • Dark Path: Poison Exploit: On a failed saving throw, your Touch of Despair purges an enemy of Ninja Poison, dealing 1d20 + 20 poison damage per stack of Ninja Poison removed. Scales with higher of Melee/Ranged Power. (This factors in the damage boost from Deadly Exploit as well.)
• Tier 5:
  • Touch of Death now reads: You strike a living opponent down with twisted ki, dealing +50% damage and 500 additional Poison damage that scales with 200% Melee Power. Your opponent takes half damage on a successful Fortitude save (DC = 14 + Monk Level + Highest of Str/Dex/Wis Modifier + Assassinate DCs). Cooldown: 15 seconds). Passive: +3 to Hit and Damage while Centered.
  • Deadly Striker now reads: "While you are centered, you gain a +1 Competence bonus to Critical Threat Range and Multiplier. Kamas, Shortswords, and Shuriken gain an additional +1 Critical Threat Range."
  • Self Defense is now a multiselector with Improved Archer's Focus: Your Archer's Focus stance can now stack up to 25 times instead of 15. Passive: +10 Ranged Power.
  • Shadow Double is no longer a Melee Attack. Instead, it's an activated ability that grants +50% Doublestrike, +50% Doubleshot, and +5 Assassinate DCs for 12 seconds. (Activation Cost: 30 Ki. Cooldown: 25 seconds)

Shintao​

• Cores:
  • Cores remain the same, except all abilities that say with Handwraps now say while Centered.
  • To Seek Perfection's "You no longer suffer penalties from Meditation of War" is removed (see below) and replaced with "If you have Meditation of War, +10 Melee and Ranged Power".
• Tier 1:
  • Elemental Curatives is replaced with Shintao Studies: +1 to Attack and Damage while Centered. (Antireq: Ninjutsu and Henshin Training. Essentially, you can only take one Attack+Damage line.)
  • Ki Shout is removed (moved to HM), and replaced with NEW: Fast Hands (Multiselector): +1/2/3% Doublestrike OR Doubleshot
  • Exemplar is removed (moved to HM), and replaced with Negotiator currently found in Henshin Mystic. Negotiator now grants Intimidate instead of Haggle.
  • Deft Strikes is now a multiselector with Improved Second Strikes:+[5/10/20]% Strikethrough.
• Tier 2:
  • Elemental Curatives is replaced with Shintao Studies: +1 to Attack and +2 to Damage while Centered.
  • Elemental Ki Strikes are no longer combo builders, but otherwise remain unchanged.
  • Conditioning is removed (moved to HM), and replaced with Quick Strike currently found in Henshin Mystic. Quick Strike is no longer restricted to Quarterstaves, but you must be Centered.
• Tier 3:
  • Elemental Curatives is replaced with Shintao Studies: +1 to Attack and +2 to Damage while Centered.
  • NEW: Hands of Mercy (Multiselector):
    • Light Path: Hand of Healing: You heal all nearby allies for 1d4 plus 1d4 per monk level. (9 second cooldown, costs 5 Ki)
    • Dark Path: Hand of Harm: Melee Attack: This attack is a guaranteed critical strike. You strike your opponent down with a terrible curse, halving all positive energy healing done to the target, reducing its fortification by 25%. Periodic Fortitude saves (14 + STR/DEX/WIS Modifier + Monk Level + Stunning Bonuses) to negate. (9 second cooldown, costs 10 ki)
  • Dismissing Strike has its AP cost reduced to 1, because it's extremely situational
• Tier 4:
  • Elemental Curatives is replaced with Shintao Studies: +1 to Attack and +2 to Damage while Centered.
  • NEW: Greater Mercies (Multiselector):
    • Light Path: Greater Hand of Healing: Your Hand of Healing now applies a Lesser Restoration effect and removes Blindness, Curses, and Diseases.
    • Dark Path: Greater Hand of Harm: Targets affected by your Hand of Harm are also Blinded and Nauseated until they save.
• Tier 5:
  • Empty Hand Mastery becomes Shintao Mastery, which does the same thing but "and wielding Handwraps" is removed.
  • Kukan-Do now reads: You lock gazes with an enemy, stunning them for a short period of time on a failed Will save (DC 14 + Wisdom modifier + Monk level). Any effects that modify your Stunning Blow or Stunning Fist DC's also affect this ability. Sightless creatures are unaffected by this ability. (Cooldown: Unchanged)
  • The penalties from Meditation of War are removed. It also gains +3 to Attack and Damage in addition to its other effects.

Henshin Mystic​

• Cores:
  • Riddle of Fire now gains "While you are centered, you can use your Wisdom modifier to hit" in addition to its other effects.
  • The casting time on Ki Bolt is reduced. Ki Bolt also gains "While you are centered, you can use your Wisdom modifier for damage. In addition, while you are centered, you gain +2 Ki each time you hit a creature. This stacks with all other sources of Ki generation"
  • Sounding Staff is now Cauldron of Flame. Most of it remains the same, but "you personally gain +20 PRR, +10 MRR, and +15% Dodge that ignores Dodge Cap" changes to "you personally gain PRR equal to your Monk level, MRR equal to your Monk level, and Dodge that ignores Dodge Cap equal to 5 + half your Monk Level."
  • Cauldron of Flame is now Improved Cauldron: The cooldown timer on Cauldron of Flames is now halved. You may now move a small range outside your Cauldron without it collapsing.
  • Serenity removes the text "and wielding a Quarterstaff" and replaces it with "and Centered", letting you gain the bonus crit while in the Cauldron with other weapons. The Attack Speed for Quarterstaves is removed (see Cauldron of Flame).
• Tier 1:
  • Elemental Words now grants you all four of the attacks, which now share a 6-second cooldown cooldown. The attacks are no longer combo moves, but instead deal 1d6 (Element) damage, plus 1 per Monk Level. It no longer applies stacks of Vulnerable (though still applies the element-specific 10% extra damage).
  • Henshin Staff Training is now Henshin Training: +1 to Attack and Damage while Centered. (Antireq: Shintao Studies and Ninjutsu. Essentially, you can only take one Attack+Damage line.)
  • Mystic Training is removed (no longer using Finishing Move DCs anywhere) and replaced with Ki Shout (formerly in Shintao)
  • Negotiator is removed, and replaced with Exemplar (formerly in Shintao). Exemplar's +10% Threat Generation is removed, and replaced with +5/10/15% Attack Speed with Quarterstaves. Antirequisite: Rogue Acrobatics
• Tier 2:
  • Elemental Words is replaced with Elemental Soul: You gain four Imbue toggles, one for each of Fire, Cold, Electric, and Acid. When toggled, you enhance your attacks with ki, dealing 1d6 (Element) damage on hit, and an additional 1d6 Force damage on crit. Your Ki Spells also apply the (Element) portion of this damage. This damage scales with the highest of Melee and Ranged Power.
  • Henshin Staff Training is now Henshin Training: +1 to Attack and +2 to Damage while Centered.
  • Quick Strike moves to Shintao, and is replaced by Embrace the Void, which moves down from Tier 3.
  • Elemental Ki Strikes is still here.
• Tier 3:
  • Elemental Words is replaced with Mystic Kata:
    • Light Path: Kata of Wind: Activate to grant you and nearby allies 20% Concealment for 60 seconds. (9 second cooldown, costs 10 ki)
    • Dark Path: Kata of Ice: Melee Attack: +30% Damage. On hit: Encase a tainted target in ice on a failed Will save for 10 seconds. (DC = 10 + STR/DEX/WIS modifier + Monk level + Stunning DC boosts). Costs 20 ki, 9 second cooldown
  • Henshin Staff Training is now Henshin Training: +1 to Attack and +2 to Damage while Centered.
  • Lighting the Candle is gone, replaced with Conditioning from Shintao.
  • NEW: Clear Your Mind: Battle Trance: While Centered, you gain an Insight bonus to Attack, Damage and the DC of Tactical feats equal to 1/2 of your Wisdom modifier for 30/60/120 seconds. Cooldown: 20 seconds. Activation Cost: 35 Ki. The effects of this Trance are dispelled if you are no longer Centered. Antirequisite: This ability can not be trained if you have any other Battle Trance ability (e.g. Know the Angles).
• Tier 4:
  • Elemental Words is replaced with Mystic Kata:
    • Light Path: Kata of Deep Magic: When you use Kata of Wind, you grant you and other allies a 25% reduction in Spell Point Cost for 60 seconds.
    • Dark Path: Kata of Dark Stars: You use the power of the stars to set up harmonic vibrations within your enemy that force them to dance for 12 seconds. (DC = 10 + STR/DEX/WIS modifier + Monk level + Stunning DC boosts). Costs 20 ki, 9 second cooldown
  • Henshin Staff Training is now Henshin Training: +1 to Attack and +2 to Damage while Centered.
  • Mantra of Soul: +5/10/20 MRR.
• Tier 5:
  • Void Strike is no longer a Void combo builder. Otherwise, remains the same.
  • Henshin Staff Training is now Henshin Training: +3 to Attack and Damage.
  • Staff Specialization is now Mystic Honing, +1 Competence bonus to Critical Damage Multiplier and Threat Range. Passive: You gain a +25% Competence bonus to maximum hit points.
  • Balance In Dawn's attacks are no longer Light/Dark builders.

That's the list! Give it a spin on Lamannia, and if you do, let us know you did with your feedback. We'd like to know what's working well, what you'd like to see improved, and any bugs you run into so we can get things in good shape for the next preview! Thanks!

Known Issues:

• The Tabaxi Trailblazer Iconic's Path may still be granting retired feats in this Preview. This will be corrected before Live.

What about some imbue and imbue dice

 

[MrWindupBird]

Nice that many bugs were fixed, but found some more. Also I am so relieved that the wis-trance has been changed to not require meditation charges- that would have been miserable.

Some bugs noted thus far in Henshin:
Mystic Honing (+crit multi and threat) applies with a Qstaff, but not other centered weapons.
Cauldron buffs: apply with a Qstaff, but not other centered weapons (all of PRR, dodge, MRR, +dam, crit multi I believe)
Mantra of Soul: giving 2/4/6 MRR, not listed 5/10/20
Focus: works, but doesnt stack with 10mp from Shintao Core6 Meditation of War (I guess they're both typed exceptional, and this was a pain to figure out what wasn't adding up).

Shintao: 10mp from capstone and Meditation of War appear to be typed as exceptional, see above. Doesn't stack with Focus 5mp.

Further balancing thoughts may follow if the brain unclogs, but once again, all 3 trees prob could use a nerf. Cauldron bonuses are prettttyy huge, and need to be toned down. Cauldron 100% uptime also makes it very easy to sustain 95% dodge on a dedicated tank, while this was pretty tricky to achieve before the enhancement change and required a lot of other sacrifices. Maybe reverting the full uptime/rewriting the lvl 18 core is the way to go.

Shintao is a tiny bit too strong imo, but also paradoxically suffers from pretty weak/bad cores other than 18/20. Shintao is pretty highly incentivized to go pure, which is ok I guess, and was also true before.

Pretty much all the useful finishers are Dark, they need to be balanced out somewhat. No constructive ideas at the moment.

Air stance still needs something to distinguish it, either from Meditation of War or otherwise. Right now its convenient for leveling and thats about it. One halfbaked probably-bad and likely engine-limited idea is to allow doublestrike to scale past 100 in airstance w Meditation of War. Another would be giving it stacking 10% elemental absorption.

I do see the merit for an AoE ranged attack in NS, since centered ranged desperately lacks buttons to push, compared to melee. But need something else to go too, as shuri will be brutally op with these changes.

Very happy to see Elemental Ki strikes restored to 2 trees, they're useful and iconic.

Too tired after work to have more thoughts for now!

 

[Kyrr]

CAULDRON of FLAME is currently ONLY still working with Quarterstaff. The same goes for Mystic Honing, due to typing issues.

 

[Kitty2Meow]

Hello again, everyone!

Overall Class Adjustments​

6. Core 4 of Grandmaster of Flowers has not changed in this Preview, but will need to before U72 - We're open to suggestions for how to change this ability!

For the Core 4 of the Grandmaster of Flowers, keep the 10 MRR Cap, but would you consider replacing the Finishing Moves portion with either
15% of Absorption for Alignments, Elementals, Force, and Light?
or
Double up of all the Absorption feats that were taken in this tree? (except the Stance portions)

 

[misterski]

What about some imbue and imbue dice

Imbue dice are baked into the Henshin cores starting with the first, so up to +6 there. Henshin still has their imbue and you now get to choose the element.

 

[Fabo]

Great job devs on the monk changes!
Its funny how some people still complain and want more, even though the good class has already been significantly improved.
Monk players, myself included, who have been playing for many years, should be happy and content.
As for GMOF T4, since its monk destiny, I suggest keeping the 10 MRR cap, and adding some bonus depending on which monk stance we’re in. Can remove the 3% dodge bypass if its to much.

 

[Phoenicis]

Great job devs on the monk changes!
Its funny how some people still complain and want more, even though the good class has already been significantly improved.
Monk players, myself included, who have been playing for many years, should be happy and content.
As for GMOF T4, since its monk destiny, I suggest keeping the 10 MRR cap, and adding some bonus depending on which monk stance we’re in. Can remove the 3% dodge bypass if its to much.

Monk DPS is going up. Yay?

Monk utility & party support is taking it in the shorts. Hard.

Monks, EVERY monk, are losing at least ten, and depending on build as many as 20 abilities as they level to gain SOME of them back for AP.

I generally play monks for support with a side of DPS. This update looks to kill that playstyle.

If you play Monk for DPS, you win.

 

[LuKaSu]

This is proving to be tricky on a technical level. We'd still like to incorporate this somewhere useful, ideally still tied to Light Monks - Where would you like to see it?

It could just be added to the target of the Ki Elemental Strikes?

 

[Terranigma]

So another low post count user I've never seen before supporting these changes. A previous poster is right, there are sock puppet accounts about. Dirty dirty dirty. I wonder who it really is.

They have posts on these forums dating back to July 7th 2023, so they likely are just a person who infrequently posts.

As someone who has been playing Monk for a long time, maybe it is because I'm getting older and less nimble, but I see the general changes to Monk as a net gain. Yeah, the "soul of the class" is being adjusted with finishers going (which I'm in the camp that find them interesting yet clunky). Yeah, the enhancement trees still need some refinement because having mutually exclusive damage enhancements in each tree is just clutter. But, my desire to use them is much higher now beyond a Stance splash class, or a 2 level Evasion and Feat splash.

 

[Purr]

Late to the conversation, but is there any way we could look at level 20ish monk weapons like foresters brush hook and update them?

 

[Fabo]

So another low post count user I've never seen before supporting these changes. A previous poster is right, there are sock puppet accounts about. Dirty dirty dirty. I wonder who it really is.

Oh, you are a keyboard warrior type.
Calm down, kid.

 

[Dalsheel]

If adding the strike is risky this late, how about just make it a monk feat at level 3:

5% chance proc. That adds healing shield to your target if you are light, Impending doom if you are dark. Vary percentage as needed.

I really like this idea. It differentiates Light from Dark. It could be a passive baked into the Fists of Light/Darkness feats.

 

[Glorgm]

Core 4 Grandmaster of Flowers Suggestions (these are not all mine):

1. Add 3% attack speed with weapons .

2. (Saekee) Use of any of Stunning Fist, Quivering Palm, Touch of Death, Kukan Do and Void Strike results in a burst of 1d10 light/poison damage (depending on path) scaling 200% melee power to all nearby enemies. (This is cut and paste from Fury of the Wild Be the Whirlwind.)

3. Make all monk attacks (Stunning Fist, Quivering Palm, Touch of Death, Kukan Do, etc.) applicable to all monsters including reapers. Right now they generally affect just living targets than are non-corporeal, non-constructs, non-undead, etc. Make all affected because of this core.

4. (Spardax) Make Grandmaster of Flowers Core 4 an ability that will temporarily grant the Light Monk feat to Dark Monks, and the Dark Monk feat to Light Monks. Then make the temporary version not count for the epic moment. That's it.

5. Building off of 4 -- light monks can now readjust all philosophy choices in the trees to pick either light or dark enhancments. (So at tier 3 of a tree they could pick the dark kata, but then turn around and pick light kata in tier 4 or in another tree, etc.) Monks become fully "balanced" - yin and yang you could call it -- so they can do both light and dark now.

I really like all of these ideas.
I think if they keep the light, dark, void philosophies, the additional damage types could be light, negative, and force respectively.

To put another idea out there is something to spend all of your ki. I find myself constantly sitting a max ki (at lvl 34). My suggestion would be to have an ability similar to the upgraded shard storm ability: "Shard Storm now also grants you Shard Reflection for 12 seconds when used, giving you 25% of your Maximum Hit Points as Temporary Hit Points."

You could spend all your available ki and gain it as temporary hitpoints for 12 seconds, cooldown 18 seconds.
If this is too weak or too strong, scale the cooldown/temp hp accordingly.
(This could work with sacred fist too!)

 

[J1NG]

I really like this idea. It differentiates Light from Dark. It could be a passive baked into the Fists of Light/Darkness feats.

I think one reason that existing players might resist regarding this approach, is that it (Healing Ki Curse) is often utilised as another "marker" to help separate roles out in a group. So it being a % to proc would make it potentially troublesome in groups. As in, you never get it when you need it, and when it happens you never wanted it either.

J1NG

 

[Kyrr]

Great job devs on the monk changes!
Its funny how some people still complain and want more, even though the good class has already been significantly improved.
Monk players, myself included, who have been playing for many years, should be happy and content.
As for GMOF T4, since its monk destiny, I suggest keeping the 10 MRR cap, and adding some bonus depending on which monk stance we’re in. Can remove the 3% dodge bypass if its to much.

 

[5 Other People]

Super delighted with the direction here...reading that Nico is re-subscribing was my benchmark for if I would play the new monk...so, yay!

Can we get one more preview please?

I ask b/c I'd vastly prefer this be delayed than rolled out with bugs and based on comments there is still some polish needed and some stuff folks can't test yet.

 

[Fisto Mk I]

Monks, EVERY monk, are losing at least ten, and depending on build as many as 20 abilities as they level to gain SOME of them back for AP.

My Monk toons losing NOTHING. Literally. So speak for yourself only, pls, not for all.
Other hand, with such proposed changes they gain almost nothing too, and it's problem.
DPS be slightly better, yea. 8)