If you're thinking about rolling a Monk for Shadowlands, reconsider

Classes Monk
1

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Blizzard leave the Monk changes to the last minute and as a result, dumpster the class for a whole expansion or multiple tiers.

75% of the Monk Covenant abilities are missing. This is because there either isn’t a developer who’s assigned to Monks because Blizzard doesn’t care or the guy who is has no ideas and vision or direction for the class. I’m not sure which is worse.

The only ability that is previewed for Mistweavers is so obviously bad that the person or team responsible is only showing how out of touch they are with the spec. EF’s power comes from the double mastery buff not channeling the ability itself. Even so, EF is not used optimally in PvP, M+ or Raids at the moment because the rest of their toolkit thoroughly outclasses it.

That is to say nothing of the mana cost of EF being high on a spec that has spent the majority of BFA struggling with mana usage. The haste stacking RM build is an exception to this but also doesn’t use EF because it’s so comparatively weak to ReM/RSK/Viv/Env.

If you want to play a class that will get attention from the developers when needed or want to play a class that is at least somewhat competitive look elsewhere.

Blizzard are showing us right now how high they place Monks as a priority for developer time. They’ve made sure every other class has some interesting and powerful Covenant abilities but either straight up forgot to assign someone to Monk abilities or the person assigned is so out of ideas and direction that the best they could do is one obviously underpowered and uninspired ability.

DH’s are frothing over The Hunt or Mages about a skeletal mage form or Druid’s about a 16 spell barrage or Paladins about mass Judgement and mass Avengers Shield but I can’t imagine a single WW is excited about an RSK reset or MW about EF draining their mana faster for no healing or BRM getting an extra Keg Smash on an already GCD’s capped tank.

For Mistweavers specifically:

I have trouble imagining the developer responsible for thinking up an ability like this is the same guy that probably sat in a job interview and unironically said “game design is my passion”.

For a short duration, your Mastery is increased by a percentage. In addition:
Mistweavers’ Essence Font cooldown is reset instantly and heals nearby allies on channel start and end.

So Mastery is increased for a short duration but during that duration I’m channeling EF to use the CD reset but while I’m channeling I get no benefit from the Mastery buff because I’m not casting ReM/Env/Viv?

If I take this ability I just can’t play Upwelling without being an idiot?

The reset of EF means RM does nothing to EF around this CD because I’m going to be refreshing EF quickly anyway?

If the power of this ability comes through the heal at the start and end of the channel I can’t use it in PvP because there is no time where I can cast for 3 seconds without getting stopped/kicked and not be kiting.

I can’t think of what this ability would allow me to do on my MW that I can’t already do? Channeling EF just isn’t powerful enough to enable anything.

Before the RM build there was no situation outside of raids where channeling EF was a good idea. It was always used as a mastery buff applicator not a healing button. Even in raids, EF might look nice on WoL but it is meaningless healing. Tiny ticks of healing spread over 18 targets over time pads meters well but it doesn’t save anyone from dying, it doesn’t heal priority targets and it doesn’t keep tanks alive. This Covenant ability does nothing to change that.

6 Likes
2

It’s a bit early to say anything about monks and the skills they’ll get since most of them aren’t even revealed yet. But so far I agree with you to a degree but more so for a different reason.

So far in my own opinion from observing the covenant skills, they seem like skills that are just going to fill the gaps for certain specs or just flat out make already strong specs stronger for whatever reason like for example havoc demon hunters for an already strong spec, and marksman hunters for a spec that’s just getting it’s gaps filled out with the convenient skills at the detriment of the other specs.

So yeah in short this is just how I’m seeing thing so far, and while I’m right there with you with the grim perspective of things in general when it comes to WoW I’m still hoping the people who love monks get some good thematic skills to work with.

3

Until all the changes are out I think it’s pointless to direct attention to any specific ability.

With the amount of whining there was when I told people things pre legion, and pre BFA I’ve learned there is no reward in wasting energy thinking about these things.

9 Likes
4

Monks so far have no idea on what they’re getting unpruned (the only class in that boat) and one of four Covenant abilities (the only class in that boat) .

TBH, the only thing that stopped me from rolling DH in 8.2 was they can’t heal.

4 Likes
5

I’m yet to find a class i have so much fun as monk in wow, though i’ve been trying some alts in this XP buff.

I’ll just wait and see what happens.

2 Likes
6

Just have to wait and see what else we get. We’re obviously the afterthought class for Shadowlands though and that’s depressing.

5 Likes
7

OP used a lot of words to say “but the sky really is falling this time.”

Calm down, have some water, and maybe wait until content is actually out before whining about it (though that’s not what these forums are for).

I play monk because I enjoy the class, and I have no reason to believe that that will be less true in Shadowlands.

9 Likes
8

Also, increased mastery means more DPS for Windwalker Right? It seems to be a nice cooldown ability to use after burning SEF, FoF, RSK and WDP, not much flavour, but seems useful.

9

Simply waiting and hoping that Blizzard makes up for this slow start is like saying “it’s fine that the game is broken it’s only beta” and then being surprised that the game is broken at launch.

I’m worried that the only ability Mistweavers got a preview of is poorly thought out, not only that 3/4 of the abilities are missing. This isn’t just an issue of Blizzard being slow on the uptake for Monks, it’s also about the only work we’ve seen being something a primary schooler can poke holes through.

Why are Mistweavers getting a mastery buff and a CD reset when the CD reset reduces the proccing of mastery buffs? Why is the CD being reset the single weakest CD? Why do MW talents directly counteract this ability?

If this previewed ability is any indication of the “work” Blizzard intend to put into Monk class design then it’s time for a lot of people to pick new mains or get comfy playing a clunky, underperforming and counterproductive spec.

The only problem is that while your WW gets a limited mastery buff and gains a percent or two of extra damage, the Druid gets 16 spells spammed in 4 seconds and gains far more damage from their ability than you did so you’re comparatively worse off.
Obviously it’s a matter of balance but Blizzard rarely makes a poorly designed ability balanced by making the numbers outrageous. They tend to leave it as a dead option and remake it in another expansion. The amount of mastery that ability would have to provide to compete with many of the listed abilities for other classes would be absolutely insane and thus highly unlikely.

2 Likes
10

To say that this is a “slow start” is a bit extreme since its literally one aspect of the expansion and its been one day. In theory it could mean that any “Monk specific” resources have been allocated to other things, like the actual classes. That may or may not be the case, but don’t let the lack of Covenant abilities make you think that nothing will every change for Monks ever again.

Every expansion the sky falls for some for a few days then people forget about it. Its not the end of the world, there’s many months to go of excitement and heartache.

2 Likes
11

Your not really poking holes through it tbf. You haven’t seen the class changes so at best your making a misinformed guess about shadowlands using bfa info

2 Likes
12

It’s well and good to poke at the one thing we had revealed, which was revealed back at blizzcon, but there are others kyrian ones which have changed since then like priests and hunters, and I’m pretty sure if we tell them how crummy this kyrian one is that they’re surely going to change it, what if for example we got them to change it to renewing mist instead of ef, for example.

The other thing is, we need to see what the rest of the kit will gain from the changes coming into shadowlands, some of our other covenant ones may just be hidden because they’re based on mechanics we haven’t seen yet on the kits, I’d recommend waiting until we can atleast see what the rest looks up in the coming days before making a decision or criticisms on the overall kit.

I agree this kyrian one kinda sucks and should be changed to something else, but we can’t judge the whole kit if haven’t seen even a single bit of it yet

13

Monk has rarely been a class that people play because its strong or popular, with a few exceptions. You play a Monk because you love it, and Covenant abilities aren’t going to change that.

5 Likes
14

We saw the exact same ability previewed today back in November at Blizzcon too. 6 months has passed since then and Monks have had no work done on them whatsoever but I guess we just keep waiting another 6 months and hope that everything is going to change?

Is it really a “misinformed guess” to say that nothing has been done on Monk design in 6 months and that shows how little Blizzard cares about Monks? Todays preview shows that exactly nothing has been done since November.

Balancing a spec to be competitive takes iteration. Blizzard is not iterating on Monks at all. Is it really such a stretch to add those two facts together and realize that Monks are going to be horribly tuned in Shadowlands given the current priority Blizzard places on us?

6 Likes
15

It seems Monks really do get the short end of the stick here. Additionally, when was the last time we got an animation update? It seems like Druids get an update every patch, lol.

5 Likes
16

I’m not going to get on the negative hype train yet. As for MW monks, I truly hope they keep fistweaving in the game. Right now being able to keep 12 ( could be more) enveloping mists active is INSANE! Monk fistweaving right now is bonkers good fun!

1 Like
17

It shows that nothing has been done in regards to the Covenant abilities since November, it tells absolutely nothing about any changes for the actual class and specs. Thats why its “misinformed”, you’re using one thing to draw conclusions about something else that could be completely unrelated.

18

It isn’t what I ‘think’ at this point. It’s been 6 months and literally nothing has changed. It’s not something I’m trying to argue. It’s fact.

What I do think though, is that in typical Blizzard form, another 4-6 months will pass with no appreciable Monk changes and then in the last few weeks of beta a few poorly thought out underwhelming changes will be pushed through and Monks (specifically MW and WW) will spend another expansion being the specs Blizzard forgot about.

Blizzard have been too busy working on the classes they find exciting and interesting for the last 6 months to bother with Monks. This will likely continue all the way up to Shadowlands. The list of fun and interesting classes Blizzard are eager and willing to iterate upon does not include Monks and anyone who is considering rolling one for Shadowlands should understand this before making the choice.

You think that Blizzard has been working on Monk changes but have chosen to completely ignore the Covenant abilities that they planned to be the changes released first to the public? I guess you also believe this is a proclivity unique to Monks as every single other class in the game has had changes to their Covenant abilities since the first preview at Blizzcon?

I suppose it’s possible but seems more like blissful naivete to me.

4 Likes
19

It only really shows that a core expansion feature hasn’t been fleshed out for us.

But that doesn’t mean they haven’t done anything at all. It’s incredibly likely that both Brewmaster and Mistweaver are getting chi as a resource back. It’s also possible that Windwalker has undergone some changes as well; maybe Storm, Earth, and Fire has been axed and replaced with a better cooldown.

Until the Alpha drops and the actual class changes are revealed it’s a bit early to come to any real conclusion about the direction the class is headed. The only obvious thing is that our covenant abilities were seemingly not worked on.

20

Its not a fact, its still your thought, you’re looking at 1% and extrapolating for the other 99%. Its been 6 months and literally nothing has change for Monk’s Covenant abilities, we have no idea what has or hasn’t changed for the spec.

This hasn’t been the case before in previous expansions. I know this because I’ve written articles for every change made during Alpha and Beta for the past 2.5 expansions. What your saying has no founding in actual history, its entirely fearmongering and negativity bias.

Your fearmongering lasted less than 24 hours.

3 Likes