Having an existential crisis...

[CatamanderEQ2]

<p>First, I am a relatively casual player.  My wife and I started EQ2 as a break from raiding and hardcore playing in EQ1.  She started a Fury and I started a Monk.  After many months of limited play time, we are both now level 80, have ~130 AA, and are in t1 shard armors with RoK jewelry.  No epics, but I did pick up the shard weapon and a MC 2.5 delay offhander to match it.  We have now retired from EQ1 and have been looking more seriously at EQ2.  We are in general good players and I was a skilled tank in EQ1 (though I certainly knew better players, I was good).</p><p>However, I just feel, well, kind of useless as a monk.  Maybe I just expected to be more powerful at this level.  Duoing allows us to easily do solo mobs 2-3 levels above us, but when we try to duo heroic content it absolutely has to be green or grey.  We would both like to focus more on grouping and maybe even raiding, but neither of us feels like we are in a good position for grouping.  My tanking feels like it stinks and my dps averages around 1500 ext. dps according to ACT (using audible notification for autoswing to time CAs).  My peak ext. dps has been 2k.  Heroic mobs tear through me like butter, even with my AA spec turned all the way to tanking and using defensive stance.  My aggro is also kind of weak, forcing me to burn peel/rescue/etc just to do regular tanking.</p><p>We really don't want to have to start over with two new characters, but we just don't know where to go from here.  My wife is reasonably happy with her fury, but between the two of us I just feel like we chose two gimped classes.  We aren't going to grind countless hours on a camp for a rare drop, but we are willing and able to work hard (slow but hard) to make some progress.  Unfortunately, I just don't see where that progress is supposed to take me.   Is there some point down the road where I might actually feel I am playing a desired and useful character for groups or raids (rather than a filler spot)?  </p><p>I see people boasting sustained dps not just double or triple but 5x or 6x or even 10x mine, is the gear difference really that huge?  Honestly, I just don't get what is wrong here.  It seems my character is gimped but I cannot figure out for the life of me what I am supposed to be doing differently.  I've read dozens and dozens of threads here and on flames on AA specs, on using ACT to time CAs, etc. etc., and still, I feel like my character is unbelievably weak.</p><p>Is there some other class or classes one or both of us should be playing?  Is my monk simply so gear dependent that I cannot be equipped to tank for groups until after I have been fitted out in group gear (a nice catch-22 at level 80).  What is the secret here that we are missing?  I don't expect to be "uber" or "l33t" but some basic capacity to fill a role in the game seems to be lacking for me.  At least the fury can cure and heal.</p><p>I'm at a loss.</p>

[circusgirl]

<p>Okay.   First off, don't panic.  Tanking as a brawler is hard, significantly harder than it is for plate tanks, but it is absolutely doable.</p><p>First off lets talk gear.  Yes, it is important, and it makes a huge difference--your first priority is going to be getting yourself into T2 shard armor, since that is equipment that is very solid and won't require you to grind for days on end to obtain it.  As a monk, you have the luxury of filling up to two roles in a group--you can tank, or you can dps.  Create a spec and gearset for each and fill whatever roll is needed in a group--you're about half as desireable as a tank or as a dps than say, an SK or an assassin, but you have twice as many slots that you can potentially fill so it works out in the end.  Start off with the easy instances--Deep Forge is always a fast, simple run, as is Scion of Ice, and I would especially recommend Evernight Abbey since there is a very, very good brawler ring in there that you have a shot at (it comes in the jewelry box off of Marcus Thex).  </p><p>Grind these instances and whatever shard groups you can take until you get your T2 armor.  After that you'll want to be running Ward of the Elements as often as you can to get yourself into T3 gear.</p><p>Aside from gear, your next top priority is going to be scrambling together enough cash to upgrade all your spells into Adept IIIs.</p><p>As far as AA specs go, if you post what you currently have I and others on the forum will be happy to give you advice on them.</p><p>I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you are having serious issues with aggro (almost inevitable if you're parsing 1.5k).  Deep forge and Evernight are great in that they are single-target/small groups (you'll rarely see more than 4 mobs together in either one), which means that aggro isn't terribly hellish as it is in other "easy" instances like Befallen 1.  Some quick tricks and issues I can suggest for you:</p><p>1)group setup--there are good classes for brawler tanks, and bad classes.  Good classes include dirge, coercer, swashbuckler, assassin, and to a lesser extent troubadors, as these classes either increase your own hate gain (dirge, coercer), transfer hate to you (coercer, swashy, assassin), or reduce the hate of the group (troub, coercer).  You want to stay away from things like warlocks, wizards, and rangers for now, or at least don't bring along a group full of them.  You have the luxury of starting out with a healer and a tank, which means you can form your own groups and be as picky as you want about filling them.  You want to invite dps with approximately equal levels of gear to you, as a monk in T1 armor is unlikely to be able to hold aggro off of a mythicaled and raid geared anything.</p><p>2)random tips and tricks</p><p><ul><li>use dragonfire at the beginning of any AE fight.  It's an area-of-effect damage over time spell, which means it keeps generating hate on all those mobs and is great to give you an aggro boost near the beginning of a fight</li><li>create a macro for the spell intercede and fill in your healers name as the target.  Click it every time its up--you know how mobs often aggro, hit you, and then run straight for the healer as soon as a ward goes off?  Intercede basically creates the opposite phenomena</li><li>tabtabtabtab.  Its annoying, but tabbing between the mobs in a fight helps you generate aggro on all of them if you have AEers going crazy</li></ul><div>If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a tell at AntoniaBayle.Vinka, or join the Crushbone.Allmonks channel and ask for advice there (be wary with the latter option, however, as there can be a lot of griefing and [Removed for Content] stroking).  Post your current specs and I'll help you go over them, and if you give me a link to your eq2players profile with your monks gear I'll see if I can give you any advice there as well.</div></p>

[CatamanderEQ2]

<p>Thanks a ton for the detailed feedback and offers of advice.  My EQ2Players profile is <a href="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/characters/character_profile.vm?characterId=677932202" target="_blank">http://eq2players.station.sony.com/...terId=677932202</a></p><p>I think that is correct, except the stats on the hex doll got a big boost in the last GU.</p><p>All of my CAs are currently Adept III.  Researcher is working on master for Mindful currently.  Last master2 choice was 5 rings.</p><p>Should I work up into the T2 shard armor before working on shard jewelry sets or should I even bother with the shard jewelry sets?  I know I need to work on the epic, that is on my to-do list.</p><p>As for AA, I just had my AA mirror made, but am running one generic spec right now.  Here are the screenshots of the spec:</p><p><img src="http://www.ginasupercat.net/EQ2_000010.jpg" /></p><p><img src="http://www.ginasupercat.net/EQ2_000011.jpg" /></p><p><img src="http://www.ginasupercat.net/EQ2_000012.jpg" /></p>

[scalzo]

<p>Remember dps = aggro in EQ2. Work on getting your fabled epic finished. It is completely group able.  Keep getting shards and upgrade to T2 armor, try to get into some WoE's runs and get some T3 armor. Make sure your combat arts are adept3 or higher. Get your masters! When making a group as a brawler remember these four classes. DIRGE, Swashy, Assassin, Coercer. These classes either increase your hate or transfer hate to you. Helps when tanking. Hell get all four if you can LOL I do. I love having a Dirge in my group is why I capped it.</p>

[circusgirl]

<p>Definetely go for your T2 armor before you touch the shard jewelry.  </p><p> As far as your spec goes, I'd suggest a lot of switching around.  Altruism is great if you're duoing with your wife, but it isn't going to help you much in a group setting.  There is something of an argument for taking altruism and using it on the healer in case they go down, but overall I would suggest only going up to the reuse speed in the agi line.  That frees up 8 points, and I would suggest using 4 of them to get chi, which is very good both for spike dps, and as a means of making things like tsunami, outward calm, mountain stance, mend, and your emergency abilities be up more often during difficult boss fights.  For tanking in TSO I would strongly suggest going down the wis line, since those AE abilities really go a long way towards helping you hold aggro.  Pull as many points as you have to out of the int line to make that work for you.</p><p>In the Monk line, you'll want to put 5 points each into tsunami and outward calm.  I'd pull out of the bottom two kicks to make that happen.  You'll also want 5 points in mend, points in your taunts, and I also like 5 points in dragonfire for tanking, but those will have to wait untill you have more points to spend.</p><p>In the TSO line, I'd pull the 5 points from swinging strike and get 5 points into mitigating blows (enhance:mountain skin) asap.  Its a top-notch ability once the stun component is removed.  You'll eventually want 5 pts in aversion and probably mend, since you are unlikely to have your raid 4-set bonus anytime soon, along with bob & weave and hidden openings.</p><p>I'll come back and post soon about places you should look for some jewelry upgrades.</p>

[CatamanderEQ2]

<p>Thanks, Vinka.  I need 40 more AA before I can work on mitigating blows, but it's definitely on the list.</p><p>For the general brawler stuff, it looks like I could go:</p><p><ul><li>STR: 4-4-8-6-2 </li><li>AGI: 4-4-8</li><li>WIS: 4-8-8</li></ul></p><p>And that would leave me 9 points left to play with.  I could go down WIS to crane flock, but it doesn't seem worth it to go down INT for the mob-spin and only 1 level of the crits.  Would it be better to put less into WIS, like 4-4-5 and then have enough points to max out the crit modifier in INT? </p><p>Also, is dropping all the +parry +deflection +defense stuff from the fourth rank of agi/int going to hurt my tanking significantly?  Should I be moving some of those extra 9 pts back into that stuff?</p><p>The monk line is getting a lot of the +40 points I have to earn before I hit 170 and can buy the next rank of TSO stuff, so I think I can do all the ones you have listed as I build those AA.  I'll be sure to put mitigating blows at the top of the list once I hit 170 and open up that last tier of TSO (which looks easier after the last GU).</p><p>In the TSO fighter list, if I pull out of swinging strike, should that go into the defensive stance or rescue reuse or ?  I need 10 pts there to get Sneering Assult and after Battle Hardening I wasn't sure what to buy.</p><p>Thanks again for your advice.</p>

[lavrence]

<p>the way i went was:</p><p>4/6/8/4/2 Stength</p><p>4/4/8/6/2 Wisdom</p><p>and</p><p>4/4/8 agi with 5 point to play with</p><p>which i put 4/1 int for 1 point in eagle spin</p><p>but that is a skill i love from my swash so ehh</p><p>For the TSO lines the stances are pretty bland for the fighter line so i would go swinging strike</p><p style="text-align: center;">~~Lavrence Starleaf~~~~80 Monk~~</p>

[circusgirl]

<p><cite>CatamanderEQ2 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Thanks, Vinka.  I need 40 more AA before I can work on mitigating blows, but it's definitely on the list.</p><p>For the general brawler stuff, it looks like I could go:</p><ul><li>STR: 4-4-8-6-2 </li><li>AGI: 4-4-8</li><li>WIS: 4-8-8</li></ul><p>And that would leave me 9 points left to play with.  I could go down WIS to crane flock, but it doesn't seem worth it to go down INT for the mob-spin and only 1 level of the crits.  Would it be better to put less into WIS, like 4-4-5 and then have enough points to max out the crit modifier in INT? </p><p>Also, is dropping all the +parry +deflection +defense stuff from the fourth rank of agi/int going to hurt my tanking significantly?  Should I be moving some of those extra 9 pts back into that stuff?</p><p>The monk line is getting a lot of the +40 points I have to earn before I hit 170 and can buy the next rank of TSO stuff, so I think I can do all the ones you have listed as I build those AA.  I'll be sure to put mitigating blows at the top of the list once I hit 170 and open up that last tier of TSO (which looks easier after the last GU).</p><p>In the TSO fighter list, if I pull out of swinging strike, should that go into the defensive stance or rescue reuse or ?  I need 10 pts there to get Sneering Assult and after Battle Hardening I wasn't sure what to buy.</p><p>Thanks again for your advice.</p></blockquote><p>In the wis line I would go 4-4-6-8-2.  While the melee crit from the int line is fantastic, and definetely worthwhile for your dps spec, it just doesn't give you a lot in terms of tanking and if you spread yourself out across too many lines you're essentially forced into wasting points in the useless stat increases.  As far as dropping +parry, +deflection, and +defense, keep in mind that you are picking up +deflection chance and +hp.  Hit points are incredibly important for brawlers, since rather than taking slow, constant damage we take big spikes.  The goal is to have enough HP that when the spikes come, you can live through them.  </p><p>I would put those 5 points in the TSO tree into your defensive stance.</p><p>Now, gearwise, some things you should try to get your hands on.  As a general rule, you like +defense, +deflection, +parry, and +hp the most for tanking.  +melee crit and +da are what you want most for dpsing and as a result are also great for holding aggro.  </p><p>wrist slot--grunblug's and gahnand's wrist items which are fairly common fabled drops off of the last mob in RE2. These two items are wrist/ring slot so they can be used to fill in wherever you're weak.  (There is also a <em>very</em> nice fighter cloak in RE2 you should keep your eyes out for, but the drop rate is obscenely low so I would basically just do RE2 until you get your wrists).  The hardened clay bracelet is purchaseable on the broker and is quite nice for tanking.</p><p>charm slots--there is an excellent fabled charm (Dangling Skull Bone chip) in Necrotic Asyum.  NA is a hard zone so you will probably want to run this one as dps at first until you're comfortable tanking some of the easier places.  NA also has a very nice ranged item.  Anathema likewise has several nice tanky charms.</p><p>Earrings--The incarnadine earring off of the queen in chardok is excellent defensively, and can be bought off of the broker.</p>

[Queen Alexandria]

Adept IIIs are very important, or Expert they call it now. T2 Shard set Jin Drake is definetly a must have, work hard for it. I got both Jin Drake and Wilderness set for tanking and DPSing and upgraded both to T3 with Ward of Elements. You're going to have to run a lot of instances. Crucible and Scion both have a real nice forearm item too that those sets don't include. And your AA spec should focus on minimum deflection chance such as the STR line, reuse on AGI line and Crane Flock. Crit is important but not so much if you're going to tank. It's a small sacrifice and you can make another spec with the int line for when you get to DPS only. Tanking instances is a breeze for me now, but the epic stuff is what im struggling with. Once i have that figured out I will let you know <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Ilirith]

<p>Tanking have never been my strong side, so I can't give any advice you haven't gotten yet, heck i learned a fair bit from this thread as well...</p><p>Though, one thing you should, apart from completing your fabled Epic, is to get <span >a "Finely Carved Bloodwood Effigy" </span>as your offhand weapon.It's crafted by a Carpenter, and the material is a drop of some instance, can't recall which exactly, Bloodwood or something like that.It's certainly the best offhand weapon for a monk until you can get some fabled one from raiding.</p><p><a href="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/items/item_profile.vm?itemId=399016" target="_blank">http://eq2players.station.sony.com/...m?itemId=399016</a> or @ lootdb: <a href="http://lootdb.com/eq2/item/-1811401018" target="_blank">http://lootdb.com/eq2/item/-1811401018</a></p><p>The Effigy got a nice damage proc ( not shown at Lootdb and not correct dmg on the eq2players one ), and its rating beats a normal MC weapon by far.</p><p>Price depends on server ofcourse, i got mine for 2-3p as i had a mate that could craft it for me.</p><p>Oh, also, the Bloodwood material is tradeable, so probably on broker =)</p><p>//Elimia</p>

[Ilirith]

<p>Double post, sorry</p><p>//Elimia</p>

[circusgirl]

<p>We really need to get the monk armor threads rolling again.</p>

[Aule]

I posted some stuff in the Bruiser section regarding gear upgrade pathing. May be worthwhile to check out: <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=455614" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=455614</a>

[Magnis]

<p>All very great information.</p><p>One question.  I've read that our avoidance is off when it come to tanking orange content, But would a full DPS spected monk have any problems tanking green/blue epic content. Thanks to the new automentorng system that is easier.</p>

[BChizzle]

<p><cite>Magnis@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>All very great information.</p><p>One question.  I've read that our avoidance is off when it come to tanking orange content, But would a full DPS spected monk have any problems tanking green/blue epic content. Thanks to the new automentorng system that is easier.</p></blockquote><p>Blue/green is ok to do full offensive, obviously it will still be easier in defensive</p>

[Damager]

<p>Monks are single target aggro mostly generated by our taunt proc. On add pulls cast aoe taunt and start casting crescent strike as you run through the mobs essentially spinning you around and turning the mobs backs to the rest of the group, by the time you get inbetween the mobs your crescent strike should be done casting and hit them all. That should generate enough aggro for the wizzy/warlocks first aoe. Make sure no other targets are in your view and hit the first mob 2-3 times cast dragon fire to help maintain then click tab hit next mob 2-3 times and tab untill you have enough aggro to hold em and burn down one at a time. F8 will target nearest mob.</p><p>Definetley get the wiz line if your tanking that is two more AoE's.</p>