I tried levelling as Brewmaster, it was just too much

Classes Monk
#1

Simply put it was just too complicated for me to play

There are WAY too many buttons/CDs to monitor then having to keep an eye on stagger was just too much. I’ve never tanked before and wanted to try it, but I had to give up on the spec (and as it turns out, the class as well). I’ve mained Druid since TBC and I really wanted to give another class a go but after playing Brewmaster and then playing Guardian I think I will keep on playing my Druid

The reason for this post? I just wanted to voice my opinion, even if it is in the minority. I really wanted to play a tank this expansion but I couldn’t play Brewmaster

3 Likes
#2

Stagger doesn’t even matter in leveling it falls off so quickly, making purifying brew basically useless throughout leveling.
Like the only things you have to worry about are celestial brew cd and touch of death cd in leveling, I really am not sure what exactly you are juggling here.

3 Likes
#3

True but my point is I had extremely difficult task of just doing a normal DPS rotation while levelling and that didn’t even involve keeping an eye on Stagger which means when I do dungeons/raids my task is even harder

Like while levelling I really only need to concentrate on my DPS and doing that took up nearly all of my concentration

While in a Dungeon/Raid I need to do the DPS rotation, watch my stagger, watch my (and generally speaking teammates) health and I need to watch the mob packs to make sure no one has agreed or if I lost agro

NOPE TO ALL OF THAT

#4

FWIW a lot of that mental load becomes automatic with some practice. It only feels like a lot because it’s not muscle memory yet.

If you like it enough to push through you probably should. I don’t know what I’m gonna level first yet but brm is definitely on the short list.

3 Likes
#5

it can be a lot at times. i spent the first week messing round on the tanks. Monk while being a odd build is still what im having the most fun with. I do wish we had a bit more sustain and self healing, but i think theyll fix us after world first race. if not might end up switching though lol but not sure yet.

#6

Well. you tried to first time tank with the hardest tank in the game.
It’ll take you some time to understand how it works.

If it’s your first time I would recommend you going Paladin or Warrior

#7

I will admit Brwm did make me add a few extra keybinds and I just macro’d rising sun kick and tiger statue to some other abilities.

I guess I’ll find out how squishy it is when I cap mine, but I am getting the itch to change mains (from this dude). Brew and WW are really fun. (not that they weren’t fun before)

#8

What did you macro statue too out of curiosity? Like a castsequence with niuazo or something?

#9

I haven’t thought this out fully yet, so there might be some unintended consequence down the line: I macroed tiger statue to Provoke, and I macroed RSK to purify brew. I bet there’s something better I can do with RSK or pb but with tiger statue I bet there’s gonna be some ST scenario where dropping the statue will get me wiped. I’ll find out by wiping.

#10

I’m really enjoying Guardian Druid it is so much more enjoyable and I really like I can cast these massive Regrowths on myself or anyone in my group. I’ll probably still play Windwalker as that is the more fun DPS class (again IMHO) in the game I was just hoping I could tank on him as well

1 Like
#11

I main guardian as well, but I am working on my brewmaster because I find it more fun. Guardian is definitely the better class to learn how to tank on. It’s much simpler and easier to play, and with less buttons to press. It’s a great tank to learn the new routes on!

Brewmaster is for when you’ve hit that guardian skill ceiling and want to try something that’s more challenging. It’s hard to tell a great guardian tank from a mediocre one. But it’s super easy to tell a great brewmaster when you see them play, it’s magical.

#12

I think Brewmaster is really fun. It does have some issues though. Idk how survivability is yet because I was just doing normal dungeons, but the aggro is terrible. Even if I am top damage on the pull, if a dps is even close to me they will pull off of me. Particularly warriors.

#13

Aggro is getting a buff, iirc. And I can’t confirm but it looks a little wonky atm, just speaking as a healer who wonders why sometimes DPS are getting slammed. Maybe they’re standign in something, but sometimes I swear a mob just turns on them sometimes. Maybe it’s just early expansion scaling and it will smooth out as tanks start to deal more damage.

Survivability is great…in dungeons. The mitigation is excellent. Self healing, and so survivability outside dungeons, is more of a struggle. Still, I get by well enough with spec tweaks - I take the mist statue and the healing drinkie.

#14

Aggro is fine if you run RJW and press it before each pull. Never lose aggro. The damage from resonant fists+rjw is properly op.

Survival is another story…

#15

The healing statue + elixir do not help with brews survival issues at all. Getting chunked in a few seconds is how Brew dies not a slow stagger to death. Jump on a prot war and you’ll immediately see how squishy/ping-pongy Brew is. Stagger needs a sizeable buff to make Brew remotely competitive survival wise.

1 Like
#16

Odd man out here, Brewmaster hasn’t been fun since MoP. I love playing my Druid, Paladin, and DH right now. Warrior is okay but I think it tries to recreate BFA insanity without actually giving the same throughput – which makes me not want to play it.

I want to enjoy Monk, but it’s going through an identity crisis.

#17

I noted healing statue + elixir @ outside of dungeons - so open world, where BrM DOES die a slow stagger to death because few things actually hit that hard outside of dungeons.

#18

Fair enough. I suppose that couple be the case.

#19

Genuinely - elaborate? I’ve been pretty pleased with it so far, though some of the talents aren’t precisely to my taste (making such a big deal out of breath of fire and a talent that makes spinny kick relevant even in single target, plus RSK being relevant for single target dmg w/out any durability benefit) is meh, but I have other options that keep me happy. I haven’t gotten around to mythics yet though - and oddly enough, I don’t think I’ve actually seen a monk tank around yet…It’s all DH, DK, and bears.

#20

I’m willing to bet I can find a talent build that’s “good enough”, but it’s a lot of what you outlined.

Also, RSK doesn’t apply Shuffle.

I’m not saying it’s bad, but the drunk meme overpowers the martial arts. Further, my toolkit as other classes simply feels much more robust. I have AoE silence with Divine Toll, ranged silence with Avenger Shield, I have mobility with steed, counter control with Blessing of Freedom, self recovery and party support with Bastion of Light + Word of Glory… And so on. I can repeat with the ease of Thrash spam and Moonfire applying the Breath of Fire mitigation with an easier button click – no awkward positional cones or conditional keg debuff to achieve. At the end of the day, why play the spec that’s a chore.

If you have a good healer, Monk is probably a comfortable play, but with Druid, Paladin, and DH, I can cover a lot more space in the gap between good and great healers.