I 1st installed DDO on the weekend they introduced the option to roll up a character using Veteran lv 7. I thought it was kind of neat..

Spent the better part of an afternoon just reading everything listed in the gen option menus. Ended up deciding to do Monk.

Mind you, I had utterly no idea what i was doing. My experience for PC AD&D was limited to the old SSI Releases, and Balders Gate/Icewind Dale... etc.

At 1st glance it seemed horrendously complicated. SO... MANY... FUCKING.... BUTTONS.....

I eventually figured out what Hot-Bars did and were for, piddled around for the weekend... but didn't really socialize much because I hated that people were still hawking gold on the chat and I wasn't a fan of the bullshit.

I wrote off my Monk as a failure, logged out of him and rolled up another character. I finished out the day having rolled up 8 or so, but ended up focusing on 1 in particular. That's the one I've put the majority of my efforts into over the years. I eventually managed to get most of the other toons to cap as well, but always go back to my 'main'. A couple weeks ago I was looking for some gear and was checking my locker/inactives for it.. and realized I hadn't done anything with my Monk since that day I quit in disgust.

I've made some friends, and most of them know a HELL of a lot more about specialized builds then I do... with several being particularly good with Monks. With their help I managed to start again.

Still had all those hearts Turbine gave out on the various occasions.. so after a crash course in what makes a Monk NOT suck... I'm back @ it.

Managed to get a pair of the Melee flame handwraps out of Big Toe, and.. well...  heh.. its kinda fun.

Still learning about ki strike combos, and how to add them to my rotation, but so far it's doing pretty well.

being 10 and running level 15 content on R1 or higher and NOT spending the entire time as a stone is pretty damn awesome too.

I guess all I'm saying is, just because you're 1st impressions of a class or type of build absolutely sucked ass, doesn't mean you can't give it a new shot from another direction and have MUCH better success.

BTW... my 1st build was Horc STR build... this new try is Aasimar WIS build. Being Level 11 with a WIS of 41 and having taken the Falcon tree for WIS to hit+dmg  is making a WORLD if difference, and its a lot of fun.

Asheras wrote on Feb 19^th, 2019 at 10:41am:


I think a lot of it is due to the complexity; don't get me wrong, it's somewhat the appeal of monks.

But I think if monks were given a slight condensing similar to the Bard Song treatment, then we'd see more interest in monks that aren't just veteran players.

A lot of people hate the clickie metagame/micromanagement and monk is the epitome of having way too many hotbars full of shit to click.

If monk kept it's core identity but some of the keyboard bloat was reduced I think the overall experience would be better and more people would find monks to be fun.

It'd also help if they unfucked Dark Monk/Ninja Spy and reverted the non-handwrap Dark Monk changes. I miss my old handwrap dark monk ninja spy and having to play inventory tetris to make my abilities work with handwraps.

Edrein wrote on Feb 19^th, 2019 at 11:50am:

No, noooo. Please, no. Like, no. No. Lynn will destroy the usefulness of so many of those abilities then turn around and tell us she fixed it. Monk is the highest skill ceiling for melee builds in the game today. Because of the button mashing.

Rubbinns wrote on Feb 19^th, 2019 at 1:06pm:

Monklock! So button. Much mash.

Barbarians can be some heavy button mashing builds too.  Honestly, no dps build worth a damn is just "click and wait".  Monks just have a lot more timing to the mashing, and you can't get impatient and slap a different key or you miss the sequence. 

I do think it's annoying the way they have repeatedly nerfed monk, but they don't understand what makes them so powerful so they keep thinking lowering the damage dice on the wraps is the answer.

Elemental finishers. Triple earth sequence is one of the better rotations to implement into the attack chain, and largely because Fist of Iron is so good as a standalone.

The Trembling Earth
Combination: Earth - Earth - Earth
10 Ki.
The attack has +2 critical multiplier, and the victim is unable to cast spells for 60 seconds.
Periodic Fortitude saves to negate.


The utility combos :

Pain Touch
Combination: Earth - Dark - Earth
10 Ki.
Target is nauseated for 60 seconds.
Periodic Fortitude saves to negate.
The effect in the hover-pop is understated. A target afflicted with Pain Touch moves at half speed, cannot attack, and cannot cast.

Freezing the Lifeblood
Combination: Water - Dark - Water
10 Ki.
Target is paralyzed and helpless for 60 seconds.
Humanoid targets only. Periodic Fortitude save to negate.

Karmic Strike
Combination: Fire - Dark - Fire
10 Ki.
This attack is guaranteed to produce critical threat if it hits.
Using this finisher also costs the user 20 hit points, which cannot be reduced by effects such as Damage Resistance.
( Can' really use this in high skulls )

Level 20 Finishing Move
Shining Star
Combination: Earth - Air - Fire
10 Ki.
You use the combined power of Earth, Wind, and Fire to set up harmonic vibrations within your enemy that force them to dance. A successful Will save negates this effect. (DC 10 + Monk Level + Wisdom mod + Stunning Bonuses)
The enemy will dance for one minute with no recurring saves.
This final finishing move mimics the effect of Otto's Resistable Dance on one target, but does not require a spell penetration check, and is not improved by Enchantment DC boosters.

The standalone utility single action attacks :

Jade Strike
Jade Tomb
kukan Do
Unbalancing Attacks
Knock On The Sky

That is 24 different buttons listed just right here. Not counting Stance changes, or boosts and buffs like every other build.

There is nothing close in any and every other melee build that compares.

Check the dps thread for Barbarian rotations. I even included some in the barb sequence that normally would not be selected. It is infinitely less complex and versatile.

On a monk (and really every class) every life I smash buttons like a mad dog. The more the better.  It is no problem to control my character AND activate multiple abilitlies with either my left hand on my Logitech G13 or my right hand with a Razer Deathadder Chroma.   I like having multiple options and combos and always always always activate/upkeep many things at once.   

If I am not doing as much as possible in every encounter then I feel like I am just piddle-fucking around.

Every class has "button mashing" ffs.
Barbie does, kensei does. Hjealer does, caster does.

That makes the difference.
It's always the mouse clicking keyboard turning lazy tard that complains how the game is hard or she/he doesn't get played with.

Alt+z and play. Try it sometime.
That or perma tenser + displace double frenzy raging barbie is fun too.
Rubbinns wrote on Feb 20^th, 2019 at 7:21am:

Kensei says hello ?

Wipe wrote on Feb 21^st, 2019 at 4:39am:


Yeah...

I soloed the anniversary event on C35 today with my lock - literally with one hand while I ate my lunch.  I didn't bother bursting, I only pressed the W, Q, and E keys.  So there's that.

Frank wrote on Feb 28^th, 2019 at 7:24am:


Oh, absolutely correct: that's why I'm working hard on building a decent melee for upper mid to high skull reaper.

But for the other 80% of the content of the game, I can pretty much walk through without any effort - which is a far cry away from being a button mashing class.