Starting with a monk?

[Nitrius]

To those who are playing as an monk:
-What do you think about the class?

-Is the monk one of the dmg dealers in the game?

because i always like to do a lot of dmg

-What is his/her main role in groups?

-Is the monk class friendly with starters?


And if you have any links to some nice mon guides, i don't mind getting them

Thanks in advance.

[Aeolus]

Re: Starting with a monk?

Its amazing, specialy taru mnks!!

One of the best Dmg dealers

Damage dealing

Very starter friendly.

Check out the mnk forum on this site for advice.

[Dryhus]

Re: Starting with a monk?

MNK is a very strong damage dealer and is extremely easy to play. It relies very little on skill and a great deal on gear.

That being said, if you're just starting the game and are a MNK, you will find it to be easy to play and do damage on par with other DDs. However, if it is not your first job or you have access to a great deal of gil, then you will find it to be easy to play and do damage that absolutely blows other DDs out of the water.

Every damage dealing class will say they deal "ub3r" damage, but MNKs are the only class that's really true about, in my opinion.

In every PT I've been in, I've done 35%-45% of the party's damage, with the other 55%-65% being divided among the other 3-4 DDs, meaning that each other DD averaged between 10% and 20% of the party's damage. Simply put, it's par for the course for a well-geared MNK to double the next highest DD.

[DakAttack]

Re: Starting with a monk?

If you want to play a Monk, you can take it to level 10 to try it out. If you decide it's something you'd like to stick with, switch jobs to Warrior, and take that to 18, complete your sub job quest, then continue with Monk to 30, or 37. Those are two good times to decide if you really want to stick with a job or not.

Monks have access to gear that's very expensive, so it usually isn't the biggest choice for beginners. They also have a little trouble dealing damage to enemies that can negate damage, rather than simply mitigate it, such as crabs.

[Icemage]

Re: Starting with a monk?

Monks do big damage for certain, at all levels.

Drawbacks? Well... relatively weak skillchain potential until you learn Howling Fist at level 60, unless your party happens to have one of the few jobs that can competently open Fusion skillchains to link into Combo or Raging Fists.

Mid-game monks (57+ or somewhere along those lines) can combine in multiples (usually 3, occasionally 4) to form monk-burn parties against skeleton and magic pot-type enemies.

Even against non-ideal enemies however, monks still deal respectable damage. Sure, they do weak damage when a crab puts up Shell Guard, but so does every other melee.

---

End-game monks at level 75 get access to some really cool toys, such as Black Belt. Even so, there aren't a lot of end-game activities where monks are specifically preferred over other melees, aside from farming for Ro'Maeve water in sky, or taking out adds in King Ranperre's Tomb at Vrtra fights. Again, very respectable damage and survivability, but not so special that you couldn't live without one aside from these two cases where they really shine.


Icemage

[Suichi]

Re: Starting with a monk?

Monk are very deadly in Ballista( Player vs Player, essentially), I might add :p

[capitalistnihilist]

Re: Starting with a monk?

Monks do big damage for certain, at all levels.

Drawbacks? Well... relatively weak skillchain potential until you learn Howling Fist at level 60, unless your party happens to have one of the few jobs that can competently open Fusion skillchains to link into Combo or Raging Fists.

Mid-game monks (57+ or somewhere along those lines) can combine in multiples (usually 3, occasionally 4) to form monk-burn parties against skeleton and magic pot-type enemies.

Even against non-ideal enemies however, monks still deal respectable damage. Sure, they do weak damage when a crab puts up Shell Guard, but so does every other melee.

---

End-game monks at level 75 get access to some really cool toys, such as Black Belt. Even so, there aren't a lot of end-game activities where monks are specifically preferred over other melees, aside from farming for Ro'Maeve water in sky, or taking out adds in King Ranperre's Tomb at Vrtra fights. Again, very respectable damage and survivability, but not so special that you couldn't live without one aside from these two cases where they really shine.


Icemage

Don't forget Chi Blasting gods in sky. ^^

Honestly, in meripo situations and for that matter in EXP up to 75 you can be the #1 DD in any pt if you gear yourself properly as a MNK. Just last night I parsed equal to a 75NIN with pimp gear and beat a pimped out 75RNG on my 74MNK in my last pt to 75. My gear is gimp as shit too (no shura yet or destroyers >.<).

Give a MNK Shura body, Taliban Turban, Byakkos, Destroyers and a Black Belt and there aren't many DDs out there than can compare outside of a Riddill WAR.

I was lucky enough to have Cross Counters at lvl 50 on MNK. O M G! I parsed parties where I was dealing 50-60% of total damage. I had parties where I wasn't allowed to zerk cause the PALADIN tank couldn't keep hate off me at all if I did so. MNK is sooooo powerful but the #1 thing that hurts us is the need to sub NIN in endgame meripo. If MNK could sub WAR and survive I'm fairly certain there wouldn't be a job that could come close to our damage.

Sure, as someone posted earlier, it doesn't require much skill, yadayada. In the end you can break most jobs in FFXI down to a routine of hitting macros or selecting spells from lists. However, with MNK you do need the skill to gear yourself properly according to the situation and eat the proper food. Your damage can suffer greatly just by eating meat when you shoulda used sushi or visa-versa.

[Dryhus]

Re: Starting with a monk?

It doesn't matter that I don't have any 75 jobs, have no merits, haven't played against Gods, "yadayada". I know it doesn't take any skill to hit alt+a and use your SC when you're supposed to. "Skill to gear yourself properly" isn't a skill; it's a necessity for performance on any job. RDM requires skill to play properly, MNK does not.

[capitalistnihilist]

Re: Starting with a monk?

It doesn't matter that I don't have any 75 jobs, have no merits, haven't played against Gods, "yadayada". I know it doesn't take any skill to hit alt+a and use your SC when you're supposed to. "Skill to gear yourself properly" isn't a skill; it's a necessity for performance on any job. RDM requires skill to play properly, MNK does not.

/sigh

Not even at endgame and already a mage-snob. RDM requires skill to play properly in some situations sure. But in EXP? BAH! Most pts could give a shit less if all you did was Dispel/Refresh/Haste. One could probably program a bot to do that well.

[Dryhus]

Re: Starting with a monk?

How you got that I'm a snob out of that post is beyond me. I'm hardly a snob. I'm a realist. I leveled RDM to 62 and got bored of it. My MNK is 52 and I'm having so much fun with it that I'm pretty sure it's going to be my main. Make no mistake, I'm not high on mage jobs.

On RDM, I'm constantly mashing macros and doing swapping gear. I've usually got a list of stuff I have to do in my head because there isn't enough time to cast it all most of the time. On MNK, I'm making myself a sandwich and putting out half the entire party's damage.

I think NIN takes at least as much skill as RDM. That's pretty snobby, right?
I think BRD, while not exactly a job that requires skill, is quite busy.

Maybe I'll level to 75. Then I'll have a valid opinion on the easiest job in the damn game. Trying to speak down to me because a number next to my character's name in a game is lower than yours? Already an endgame-snob.

I wish people would accept what the job does and does not require and stop taking a well-known fact that MNK is an easy job to play as an attack and understand they have nothing to defend themselves against.

[capitalistnihilist]

Re: Starting with a monk?

If you really are an AFK melee that is too bad. AFK melee are the most annoying ppl to pt with. Its really fun spamming <Monk> TP = 300% while your skillchain partner is playing PSP or something lol.

Ok, w/e maybe you aren't a stuck up mage, I may have had that wrong.

Just wait til you get that MNKy up to lvl 75 and you are endless chaining in TP burn- it gets MUCH busier then trust me. More fun too if you ask me ^^.

[Dryhus]

Re: Starting with a monk?

No, no, I never go afk for 10 minutes and leave my SC partner hanging...nothing of that ilk. If we both just SCed at the end of the last fight, then on the next mob I'll engage and go grab a drink. I'm usually at 100% long before my SC partner, as well, so I'm not holding up the SC. If I feel that my absence will be at all visible to the rest of the PT, then I don't go, simple as that.

Let me put it this way. My wife hates FFXI, and she hates the fact that I love it. All the same, she respects that it's what I enjoy doing in my free time. If I need to go away for more than a couple minutes, I ask my wife to cover for me. I tell her that if she she sees a monster with a red name, to to press Alt+T (Windower macro for /target <bt>) then Alt+A, then the up arrow to walk over to it. If the TP meter is at full and she sees a line of blue text containing "100%" to type the word "go" and press Enter. When she sees a line of yellow text containing the word "Sturmwind" (for example), she is to press Alt+7.

That's 90% of Monkage right there.

[Van'derfel]

Re: Starting with a monk?

I was thinking as to start as MNK WAR or THF. Would monk be the best? If not, what would be the best?

[Murphie]

Re: Starting with a monk?

MNK is my starting job of choice. It has low start up costs, high surviveability, and not a lot of gear to worry about. It's a safe bet.

[Van'derfel]

Re: Starting with a monk?

Okay, and when i do the SJ thing, what should my sub be?