Monks need to grow beyond Pandaria and the Arathi are a perfect method for this

Classes Monk
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It has felt this way for a while but the with the hero classes revealed it really showcases that Monks have not been relevant or grown as a class since MoP.

Where most other classes have seen themselves grow with the lore (priests moving from shadow to void, druids more into Elune and astral, shamans through more channeling the elements vs their totem focused days, etc) Monks have stagnated with a lack of any growth or continued involvement in plot lines.

With the Arathi being reintroduced in World Within this is a perfect time to integrate new cultural influence into Monks and move away from them being stereotypically Chinese by introducing a new sect of Monks, apart from the rest of the Azeroth that trained themselves around the Arathi (Priory of the Sacred Flame). If there was ever a time to bring western monk culture in to monks what better than a secluded religious sect that isolated themselves from the rest of Azeroth? This also rationalizes Earthen Monks rather than having them practice techniques from Pandaria for ā€¦another odd reason like other non Pandaren races do.

Itā€™s no secret the monk community at large views us as being in need of a rework, particularly for Wind Walker to fix issues that have been present for a very long time around scaling. By introducing new monk culture the kit can be redesigned to respect a new broader and less forcibly tied to celestial, pandaria and brew theme.

Monks can go back to what truly defined the class originally in lore: Chi and Spiritual Balance. We can maintain the historical tie to Celestials through a hero spec but grow it even more to instead of just being the August Celestials be an attachment to the Wild Gods in general (introducing new Celestials through the Arathi perhaps even?). Given the Arathiā€™s tie to the light there could even the elements of bringing ā€˜balanceā€™ between Light and Dark and bringing back the original idea of light and dark chi if the plot supports that direction.

Some quick ideas for hero specs that with this approach could actually excite people into saying ā€œI want to be a Monk!ā€:

Invoker of the Celestials- VFX where aspects of a respective Wild God appear around the monks body and altering their movement - i.e. Lightning fists/eyes for Xuen, Bounding leaps for Chi-Ji, Horns and a charge for Nizuo + if new celestials things for them - maybe 2 celestials pickable - one new one old celestial - for 2 different combinable effects - WW/BRM (Edit: Alternate name idea here, ā€˜Emerald Lightā€™ with Arathi being exposed to the Emerald Dream Wild Gods and their light based ascetism to everyone else representing a blending of the 2)

Chi Weaver - VFX with Chi orbs floating around the monk that can be shot into an ally/enemy (if introduced good/bad chi) - MW/WW

Balance in All Things - A spec around balancing life energy with some drunken fist /brew tossing or sloshing VFX. For BRM basing its effects on stagger with high levels altering effects to heal you and low levels causing effects to heal your party. For MW some balanced variation on melee attacking healing allies they are used on or providing a stagger like mechanic that shares healing drinks with allies as you cast or provides avoidance to nearby allies (i.e. drunken fist dodging) as you strike in melee.

I have high hopes for World Within as Dragonflight has been a blast but sincerely hope we do not come into it as monks digging through the attic of ideas to where ā€˜Shadowpanā€™ is actually a contender for a hero spec and truly do hope we take this opportunity to see the class expand and not forever more be a stereotype of ā€˜chinese martial artistā€™.

Edit: Additional spell idea - The bell drop from Diablo which would play into integrating more Monastery western influence from the Arathi which could easily be a new class capstone for BRM/WW to replace the underwhelming statues.

Edit 2: Expanding monk class story outside Pandaria also opens up the potential for new sources of class characters (both protagonist and villians). Weā€™ve had monks in Scarlet Monastery long before Pandaria and if things go as many think with some light based zealotry in the future it opens the potential for villainous monks and some inner class conflict both of which are essentially impossible to exist nowadays for monks.

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I really like these themes in making monks less stale. Let chi increase our melee range

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Ever since legion Iā€™ve attributed wardens to monks because my most impactful vision of a warden is now a vault of wardens warden ghost kicking my tank into the void. Iā€™d like to see more tie ins to monks that arenā€™t just pandaria, for example brewfest is not pandaria centric, but it is still peak brewmaster content. It was also really cool that the ww artifact weapon did not originate as a monk weapon it was just well suited to monks.

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This sounds awesome but is already basically confirmed as not going to happen unfortunately.

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If monks became no longer tied to Pandaren i would be quite upset tbh.

I play monk to be an eastern influenced martial artist, i dont know why you dislike that so much

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Not a matter of dislike, itā€™s that they have nowhere to go from here. Pandaria is explored, the plot done. Without some evolution the class just remains forgotten in lore for the rest of the game. By tying Monks to Pandarens and vice versa it diminishes the possibility of both.

Even taking the Hero specs as an example, how does ā€˜Shadowpanā€™ make sense to a non Pandaren monk and how are they at all relevant any longer? Itā€™s reaching for few real lore elements of the class which are essentially frozen a decade in the past with no substantial development since Pandaria.

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Iā€™m more in the middle.

Monk Lore = Pandaren lore, thats just how it Is, and both should be expanded and evolve.

You canā€™t remove the pandaren from the monk in the same way you canā€™t remove illidan lore from demon hunter lore.

With that being said, It has been 10 years in universe since Mists of Pandaria, and IIRC the tushui and Huojin were retrofitted into the factions to happen when the Cataclysm happened, which was 2 years prior to that, and as an exception, the monk teacher in the draenei starting zone was retrofitted to the crash of the exodar, so basically at the same time the Draenei joined the alliance, so maybe around 15 years before the current point.

This is enough time for we to have Important monk characters that arenā€™t Pandaren, and I think that shpuld be implemented, and the closest of this is a Raid boss in BFA, where horde players will fight a Draenei monk and Alliance players will fight a Maghar orc monk.

There is opportunity to present us with characters that are monks that arenā€™t pandaren, and how different cultures incorporated the teachings of the monks and august celestials into their own views and style.

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Keep in mind everyone that these are talents, not full specs. Instead of adding new rows of talents to each individual spec tree they are adding new talents to enhance and/or augment abilities we already have in those existing spec trees.

They may add a new ability or replacement ability, but it isnā€™t going to be some mind blowing new spec loadout that vastly changes everything.

I highly doubt that once you select a grouping of talents your character tooltip will then read Shado-pan Windwalker monk, or whatever. No one will now which subgroup of talents you chose unless they inspect you.

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Monkā€™s definitely need some love, itā€™s been a long while especially in the story area. Personally, I donā€™t see an issue with more representation of other cultures so long as it makes sense for the overall narrative of Azeroth. I remember interacting with monks ingame before they were Pandarens.

Iā€™d also appreciate more diversity in their armor appearance as well. :+1:

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Iā€™m going to respectfully disagree that the monk class should grow beyond pandaren influence. It is an integral part of pandaren culture and we should respect that.

Instead, Blizzard should work to make the monk more relevant to modern lore. We got a hint of Chen in Dragonflight, and there is no reason that we do not see more pandaren influence.

People incorrectly judge all pandaren as the passive, neutral mainlanders of Pandaria. Our pandaren, and the majority of pandaren within the factions, are from the Wandering Isle. We need to see their influence in-game for the monk story to progress.

Hopefully, we will see some of our monk friends moving forward. The Hero Specs should reflect pandaren monk culture. There isnā€™t any notable outside influence on our class monk culture at this time in-game.

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Very much hoping they do something with Pandaren in the next 3 expansions. ( Lore Wise )

Weā€™ve been mostly ignored since MoP and Legion.

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To be really fair, lore-wise Demon hunters have been more forgottsn than Monks.

Monks got scraps, donā€™t get me wrong, but we still had a Monk boss fight in BfA and the Chen cameo in the recent patch. I dont think iā€™ve seen a single Demon hunter npc outside of legion.

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Isnā€™t this a lot of classes though? Deathknights, whatā€™s their evolution? Demon Hunters, whatā€™s their evolution? Evokers are already kind of DOA, really.

thatā€™s the four added classes, unless Iā€™m missing one? Evolution in and of itself isnā€™t something that HAS to happen, anyway. Not the way you are describing it. To me it simply sounds like you want what the paladins are? Thatā€™s your western holy folk metaphor.

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