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    posted a message on How Would You MAKE the Monk Awesome?
    I really hope the monk isn't just another one of those filler classes that few people play so I thought what are the things you want to see that would make you say, "I wana play this character and not a barbarian or a sorcerer ? I'll just go into my personal list of what I want him to have that I hope would be in the game..... but I'm not optimistic.

    All the stuff I typed here has a few targets, it looks good, is deadly, capable of killing named monsters, capable of crowd control before killing, fighting with fellow monks increases ability etc. etc, you can find good gear even with ordinary runes, customizable attacks with target runes, capable of killing a barbarian and it is Unique ! (not just a warrior without any clothes on ) if anyone wants to see that there are plenty of real life role playing festivals where I'm sure they'd be happy to oblige.

    -First Tree Martial Arts-

    1. Bicycle Kicks ! (with small knockback of course )

    2. Flying kick. (with knockback, the higher your running, the farther they fly away )

    3. Innate Fast running, (as a skill that each point is 30% faster than normal character). ( takes the place of teleport and makes him almost desirable).

    4. Exploding Palm/Kick Technique: Knockback masses of enemies while doing heavy damage. (so the monk can actually live in Hell difficulty)
    (synergy with running skill which increases damage and knockback)

    Next skill in tree, upgrade: to exploading palm/kick with knockback and stun (where enemies falls to ground and have to get up)

    5. Dodging missiles and melee attacks ( as one skill ! including while running: during which he flips when he is dodging an arrow or fireball automatically!)

    6. One click combos, you enter them in some sort of combo book (like a spell book ) where it automatically tries to cast skills in a particular chain, ex. Run -> flying kick (first monster) -> Exploding palm (with small knockback on adjacent monster).

    7. Block (self explanatory) for combo this would be, block one monster's hit then exploding palm.

    8. Monk should have high beginning stamina, high vitality, high strength (this explains why he'll be able to wear most armor :) )

    9. Stomach grab: Punch into enemy pulling out stomach ( non-fatal but very bloody with constant loss of blood and hitpoints). : no need to have open wounds sword if he doesn't want to.

    10. Lung Puncture: punch into enemy pulling out a piece of lung and throwing it to the floor( or not), enemy stamina lowered permanently till you finish him.

    11. In the aforementioned spell book/spell tree every punch should have a target that you determine: Exploding palm on head should make target incapable of casting spells for a time, exploding palm on lungs should stun target making him incapable of swinging a weapon for a time ( but still can cast spells )

    12. Exploding kick targeted to legs should make enemy incapable of walking.

    13. Eleven and twelve could be found as runes, where the runes in addition to lethality, multiple strike etc. the runes also have random quality of where they target, either head, torso, legs (for the monk only :) )

    -Discipline and Stances-

    14. Should be able to go into a stance to give him certain benefits while in that stance ex. Iron Leg stance: His legs don't move fast but his punches have 50, 100, 150% more damage for each level of skill. can be combo with exploding palm all knockbacks for palm increased by 50% or higher depending on level. Bowling: Knock one enemy into group of enemies he knocks them all down, during this stance, all of them on ground for a few seconds.)

    Basically this would be a stand your ground way to take out masses of enemies, weapon damage since most use hands, would also be increased by huge amount.

    Iron leg stance also should have generic benefits like ground based physical resistance, invulnerable to leg targeting attacks ( for monk Vs. monk PvP ). Its got a very Lord of the Rings/ Rock Paper Scissors feel with regard to the three main stance and disciplines, each one counters where other one is weak. Swan Discipline would suck against Iron Leg (one hit from Iron Leg monk and you fly away super far) while it would be good against Leopard with kicks, but Iron leg discipline would own Leopard discipline in PvP.

    15. Leopard Discipline: Leg speed increased to unworldly levels running speed multiplied by 20% times running skill.

    16. During Leopard discipline he can run on a wall ( just like the baseball players do it :) then jump off to land on solid ground at a time of his choosing, or jump off followed by exploding palm in enemy face.

    17. During Leopard Discipline monk can jump higher (a good amount higher, not hop..... )

    18. During Leopard Discipline monk can punch and grab one enemy and throw him at other enemies for damage and stun (just like Bowling during Iron Leg Stance.). Also Kicks have vastly increased damage during Leopard Discipline.

    Some would say that the proposed leopard discipline being unable to kick a monk in iron leg stance would make it useless against them, but, if they put in my proposed idea of "rune targets" in addition to the effects, then he would just put in a target rune for the head in one of his kick abilities or target rune for torso, to be able to hit the other monk.

    19. Worship discipline, monks worship too ! Two or three monks fighting together should cause each other to get a speed increase of +20% per monk and damage increase of +50% per monk. This could be skill on tree that you put 1 point into and you get 1 minute of this ability (reset every time you are within 13 game yards of a fellow monk).

    20. Swan Discipline, graceful as can be this discipline would give Tornado spin, ( rise into air while spinning with sword out, for striking very tall opponents ( bosses somewhere other than legs ) skill, Skipping Stone skill: (two words, lunar physics) character glides back (a little or a little more based on strength of strike) reducing damage taken by 50% or more, per level. Combo with running skill, and flying kick this would be an interesting and effective way to survive in higher difficulties.

    If they had something like this, it should be a temporary thing, like you press a button and this stays on for say 30 seconds or until changed to different discipline/stance basically it would be like a matrix effect, allowing the monk to survive things he wouldn't normally be able to, you all know that feeling when you turn the corner to see the 10 archers with cold enchanted arrows and you just wish you had a way out.... This ability would be that way out. Combat targeting bonuses like critical strike (due to intense concentration) in addition to super low physical damage would be "monk becomes partially ethereal"and spell damage is also cut by 20% per level during this discipline with total poison immunity.

    20b. Only one discipline active at one time, each discipline should have a cast time, represented as the monk taking a deep breath, doesn't have to be a long one, give person the feeling their monk is getting in the zone.... Worship discipline would be best as passive skill...

    21. During each stance/discipline music particular to that style should play, swan music, bamboo flute, Iron horse, drums, (GOOD music based on oriental style ), Leopard discipline: fast music with those little finger symbols like the Dancing dragons in those parades they have. But music should be just a few instruments so it doesn't get too annoying, and it shouldn't be super loud.

    -Staves, and Swords

    22. Sword skill for monks should also be able to make use of the Runes with body targets in them.

    23. I'm tired and can't write any more... but the runes with body targets as well as regular rune ability I think is my best idea yet maybe that could be in the game.

    24. Monk robes should be off the hook :) flowing robes, maybe a little glow here and there would be cool if option of robe changed the higher your level. as well as findable robes on the trail, and customizable color to some degree.

    I think that if they did these things to monk he could be a class that many many people would play.

    25. Monk can wear same armor as many other classes, but robe can go over the armor that way he can preserve his particular look while still maintaining the clothes he needs for a harsh world. Also monk robe should be on him but not a huge icon in inventory or whatever it should be like a box that says robes on it. Each robe of course should come have bonuses to various things.

    26. Staves and Spears should be of particular use against undead where monk can use head target rune to knock their heads off, he should also be able to whirl staff around to push all enemies away before targeting a particular monster. Monk should also be able to hit the ground with a staff and make a shock wave of dirt rise up in a straight line and blind targets for a bit.

    27. Whip chain, monk should be able to use this weapon and a rune with target to throw this around a monster at a particular spot. ex: around head target ( which translates to the neck with this weapon ) he can rip off the head of a weak monster, or just strangle a strong monster then run up and stab it to death with sword.

    28. If they did do a rune with body target effect, they wouldn't even need to show it graphically really because the person using the rune knows where its going to hit.

    29. Monk should have no shield, at best, sword in one hand, and whip chain in the other and even that would be pushing it, but I think they could make it work.

    30. Whip chain with target effect rune for legs would be able to wrap around named monster and drag it away from its pack once monk has a clear line of sight shot. He should be able to snag and use running skill in opposite direction to drag the named monster away from the pack leaving a cloud of generic dust in his wake.

    31. Last the whip chains should come in varieties of length, (yes it does matter ) the longer the chain the farther away he should be able to do the aforementioned stuff.

    32. To prevent misuse of the whip chain it shouldn't be able to drag monster if monster has less than 50% health, give some sappy statement about how the chain slipped off in the pool of blood or something. Otherwise someone will do this in team games and nobody will be able to catch them. but another monk.

    For now... these are a few of my favorite things.

    Thinking about it more still I would say without runes or something that targets locations on body so that spells of casters have either a high or low target that also applies to monks, that a monk character on the game would be ridiculous and would only a warrior without a sword. Personally Im lobbying for target runes ( runes with regular abilities which also have a target location on body) as a way to make the monk have a chance at being decent. It would add the final dimension to melee combat that people would like (even if the target runes didn't apply to magic users Monks would have an intelligent type of counter (i.e. head targeting runes with exploding palm and regular punch.) that would make them a playable class.

    Balance Issues:

    Though I already mentioned balance things before, with the proposed head strikes, torso, or leg strike each skill should give a chance at silencing the target ( for spells ) while the torso strike for lowering lung ability, ( lowering stamina ) should be an adequate but small stamina loss that gets worse the more the target is hit, and target hit to legs should also slow target by small but noticeable and lasting amount. In PvP of course all the values would be a little lower to give person a chance at swinging sword after the first two hits.

    Sum of All Fears:

    The monk sounds a lot like the Amazon, where the good specialty weapon is hard as hell to find while and the class as a whole is rarely seen in multiplayer games. I read a post where someone said the monk was a support class.... People don't want to support all the time, sometimes they want to kick arse and take names ! Adding the targets for punches, kicks, sword strikes, staves and whip chains on normal runes would make it so that a monk player won't be playing for 50 games before he finds something that makes a big difference in how he plays.

    Lets be honest for most people Amazon isn't their first character because of difficulty in finding a bow, they play with Hammerdin and get the gear then when they trade for a bow they decide to start an amazon..... or they do a sorceress and do the same thing. Having the regular runes with targeting and letting monk where alot of the normal armor will keep them from becoming a boring class that nobody wants to start with, and give players something to look forward to. A game can have the special monk gear but without stuff that is findable, that gives real benefits/changes to how they play the class is DOA. I'm comparing Monk to Amazon because I think they have a lot in common, the specialty gear that nobody wants to store, (why I said robes should come in a box that you click on in inventory :) ) and hybrid that isn't really magic or melee and takes twice as long to get half as good.
    Posted in: Monk: The Inner Sanctuary
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