Monk Glyph: Way of the Dao

Community General Discussion
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The Monk class is heavily based on Shao Lin and Wing Chun Kung Fu.

In both Shao Lin and Wing Chun (regular and traditional), we use our hands (and feet) to fight. In Cantonese, our hand strike moves end in “sao” which means “hand,” so something like “Tiger Palm” in-game, would be “pak sao,” or “slapping hand” that can be used both defensively and offensively.

In both the game and Shao Lin/Wing Chun, Kung Fu practitioners use both their hands and weapons to fight… except for the player character. In Wing Chun, you can very easily replace hand movements with weapon movements, and we use the butterfly swords as a choice weapon. All of the moves we use with our hands can be done with the swords; the only difference is that the word “sao” now becomes “dao,” meaning “sword,” so a “pak sao” becomes a “pak dao,” etc.

The Pandaren male and female use their swords and other weapons in the Shao Lin/Wing Chun manner, so we can use their auto-attack animations for a new glyph which allows you to always use weapons instead of your hands.

My proposal is for Blizzard to create the glyph called “Way of the Dao,” which does 2 things:

1) Auto-attacks now always use the weapon instead of your hands, using the Pandaren auto-attack animations.
2) Abilities which use your hands to attack (Tiger Palm, Fists of Fury, and Whirling Dragon Punch) now always use the equipped weapon.

In-game, the player Monk character is the only Monk who cannot use their weapons to fight with. Many of your Monk master trainers use weapons.

Please allow us to learn the “Way of the Dao” glyph so that we, too, can choose whether we want to use our hands to autoatack/do abilties like Tiger Palm, Fists of Fury, and Whirling Dragon Punch, or use the more traditional hand autoattacks/abilities

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To be completely honest, the main reason this isn’t going to happen is there are already plenty of classes whose shtick is fighting with a sword. It’s the classic weapon for Death Knights, top two for paladins, and a strong contender for warriors. Add in Outlaw rogues and Prot warriors/paladins for one-handed swords and, well, they’re a bit over-exposed. On the other hand, monks are the only class whose thing is unarmed combat.

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Thank you so much for your well-thought out response! I agree with you that using weapons is over-used; however, I will now posit that the Pandaren auto-attack animations are not used at all, and it would be a benefit to everyone if they were a) used, and b) seen by other players.

I posit that the regular weapon animations are completely different from the Kung Fu (Pandaren) weapon animations. The regular weapon animations are linear (a sword makes a slash), whereas the Pandaren weapon animations are Kung Fu-influenced, and therefore are circular in motion; their weapon animations are called a “retick” where you spin the blade in a circle.

The ONLY race that currently has Kung Fu or “Monk”-like weapon animations are the Pandaren. Almost NO ONE plays a Pandaren, and of the statistically insignificant amount of players who do play Pandaren, almost all of them are Monks, who currently DO NOT have the “Way of the Dao” glyph, and therefore cannot use weapons.

The majority of Pandaren who are not Monks are either Rogues (1 spec can use weapons that are not daggers), Shaman (only enhance uses weapons, and all of their abilities in this expansion are the graphics of the different hammer abilities, so no one sees them autoattack much), and Hunter (1 spec uses melee weapons).

Every now and again, you’ll see a Pandaren warrior, and at least I am amazed at how beautiful the Kung Fu weapon reticks look when used.

So, to summarize: adding Pandaren Racial weapon animations for Monks as an optional glyph (Way of the Dao), would NOT cause more weapon-user bloat, because:

1) This type of weapon animations look COMPLETELY different from regular weapon animations, and
2) Almost NO-ONE currently is able to see these very different Pandaren weapon animations because almost no one plays Pandaren. Those who do tend to be Monks (so you don’t see their weapon animations at all). These animations are for all intents and purposes going unused and unseen.

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They really need to make the animations for monks not suck first. Fists of fury looks so unimpactful. There’s no power or weight behind any of their attacks. You don’t throw punches by standing stiff as a board and flailing your hands in front of you outside of Russian martial arts.

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This is a shame because female pandaren dual wielding animations are the best in the game, imo. My fury warrior is one and its great.

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Exactly!

The “Way of the Dao” glyph would ensure that these amazing Pandaren weapon animations are actually seen. i am always amazed when I see a Pandaren Warrior or Outlaw Rogue use their auto-attack animations.

Since non-player Monks DO use these weapons, I’d love for us to have the OPTION to do so, as well. It’s not a change that lasts forever; you can un-glyph it and go back to using fists again.

And, half the Monk’s moves are kicks, anyways, so it won’t be a complete change.

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I thought it was based on the Funky Chicken :laughing:

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This times a million, only reason I’ve never played monk is because it looks so silly

Even if you only use fist weapons your character takes the time to UNEQUIP then whenever you tiger palm, you know that spell you spam all the time

Like why even have weapons on your back you never use, it’s like blizz took the term stat stick and based a class around it

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You’re both wrong. Clearly it’s based on the Electric Slide.

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I just fought Master Cheng, at the Peak of Serenity, and I loved watching him use his Monkey Staff animations.

I’d like the OPTION to also do the same, via this glyph.

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I don’t see the problem in adding the glyph. We used to in MOP use our weapons for certain attacks, but that went away and I don’t know why.

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Yeah I’d settle for a few glyphs to change the animation of tiger palm at the very least

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WoW monks are officially hand to hand.

And that is why I love them.

Let’s not take away the only unique thing left for monks. If you want weapons play one of the other 6 melee class (7) if you count bm hunter, who can also do our FoF animation with a 2h weapon.

Per Blizzard monks are “Bare-knuckle Brawlers”, “Weaponless”, “let their fist and feet do the talking”, and “No Weapon Style”. I mean that is literally 4 different ways blizzard officially says hand to hand focused.

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And you don’t have to equip the glyph, then. Problem solved.

But, you are wrong about that. I just did the pre-Legion scenario, and Grand Master Hight, like all the other Monk NPCs, used his dragon staff to fight.

Only the player Monks are limited to hands only; and with this glyph, those who want to use the never-seen Pandaren attack animations get to use them, and those who want to stay bare-knuckled, get to stay bare-knuckled.

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And you don’t have to beg for the one defining thing monks have to be taken away… Problem solved.

In the end blizzard backs me. Hence the link to our literal lore.

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It’s not being taken away at all. An option is being added.

Through this option, players will get to see the wonderful Pandaren attack animations that they don’t get to see or use (since almost no one plays Pandaren), and those who want to stay true to the Monk class by either using weapons OR choosing to remain bare-fisted can make their choice.

As it is a glyph, you can apply it and remove it from your character at a moment’s notice.

You play how you want to play, let me play how I want to play.

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A lore breaking option…

In the end blizzard is on my side and even taking away some of the bo staff moves from brewmaster spec and giving it back kicks. Which is how we will maintain shuffle now in Shadowlands.

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We will agree to disagree, then.

It is not lore-breaking at all, since ALL other Monks get to use their weapons except for us.

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Deal :slight_smile:

You disagree with me but blizzard agrees with me. Sounds good to me.

p.s. Dao also means road not sword or weapon. It’s actually sounded out as TA OuH and in martial arts means the way or style of… I spent time living in Shanghai :wink:

So your thread is titled “way of the road” or “way of the way”…

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Yes, “dao” can mean more than just “sword,” and there are many spellings of it, since it’s a word that’s not meant to be written in Latin script. In addition, I never said it didn’t have alternate meanings.

As someone who lived in Shanghai, it’s surprising that you have such a lack of understanding of the Monk class and Monk lore. I am a Kung Fu practitioner, and so I understand Monk lore, as well, because it borrows a lot from our tradition.

Although initially the Manchu (and in WoW, the Mogu) did not allow us to wield weapons, after we defeated them, weapons were added to accentuate our training.

That is why Kung Fu (in game, Monk) weapons exist, and that is why every Monk NPC in WoW uses them when they fight.

At the moment Blizzard does not allow us to use our weapons, even though allowing us to do so only adds to Monk lore and helps us look more like all the other Monks around us.

As I stated, there are 2 great benefits to allowing this optional glyph:

  1. It exemplifies Monk lore as a group who started out using only their hands, but also developed extreme knowledge with swords, staves, and polearms, as shown by all Monk NPCs in-game.
  2. It allows the players to use the Pandaren attack animations which are rarely seen due to the lack of Pandaren players. The game developers did an excellent job on those animations, and it’s a shame that they go unused.