Playing style much like other fighters?

[Haphasto]

<p>Hello everyone, next update I plan on making a monk alt for Halas.  One thing that concerns me though, is there playing style pretty much the same as say a paladin?  My main is a Paladin, and I really am not looking to play a different character with the same abilities with different names and icons.  How does the monk differ from other fighters?  Also how well do they solo compared to other melee classes?  Thanks in advance for your time & help <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Ambrin]

<p>Monks and paladins should play rather differently. Monks are much more single-target oriented and only have 1 AE at the lower levels of gameplay (and a second once you get up in levels). Monks also have a lot of defensive temp buffs, but they lack the ability to heal and ward themselves to the extent of a paladin, although we do have two healing abilities: Mend and Outward Calm which are on long reuse timers and are somewhat underwhelming until you can spec and gear up to improve them.</p><p>As a monk you will be able to kill mobs rather quickly and will have a pretty easy time soloing most content in your path. Abilities like Feign Death, Windwalk (an invisibility ability), your naturally high avoidance as well temp buffs like Tsunami (once you get up in levels) Can allow you to get places very quickly and with little danger to yourself. I will go as far as to say that no other class is as mobile as a brawler. This allows you to skip a lot trash mobs and other barriers, allowing you as a monk to complete various (quest) objectives much quicker than other classes would be capable of.</p><p>Overall a monk should play much differently than the other fighter classes. In the early levels especially, monks are more about killing opponents before they have a chance to kill you as opposed to turtling up and trying to out-survive your opponent. This changes once you get into the upper levels where gear choices can allow you to put out some pretty crazy self healing, allowing you to take on a variety of challenging mobs including soloing a variety of heroic content. I have personally had fights in some heroic zones where I maintained over 4000 HPS from my healing gear. Even in PvP I can put out some very high numbers allowing me to absorb massive amounts of damage.</p><p>Basically you will be going from a more defensive based AE tank with self healing to an offensive based ST tank that focuses more on trying to kill the opponent before it kills you. Once you get to the upper levels monks and paladins are both equally viable tanks in all areas of gameplay (although paladins have a definite advantage in AE agro and DPS). The monk will be more gear dependent, having to focus on mitigation gear a lot more than a plate tank would. One thing a monk can usually do that other non-brawler tanks can't typically do is get into a group or raid as a DPS <em>or</em> as a tank, the downside being there is a lot of anti-brawler sentiments among the general EQ2 populace meaning getting into groups or raids can be more challenging than it is for other classes.</p>

[Haphasto]

<p>Thank you so much <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> that was a great response, just what I was looking for.  I definitely think that will be my class of choice, looking forward to playing one.</p>