One-handed vs. two-handed bug?

[daimo]

<DIV>I am getting slaughtered soloing with two-handed weapons.  I have read previous posts suggesting that the increased damage I receive is due to riposte.  But I have had conversations with other monks who don't seem to have this problem.  Here's the situation:  At levels 22-25, fighting level 20 mobs, if I use Brawler's Stance, Lu Sun's Martial Focus (or whatever the spelling is), and two premium fighting weapons like two firwood fighting batons or a firwood and a steel mace, my agility is around 100.  In these conditions in the Steppes, fighting undead farmer mobs, for example, I routinely HAVE TO RUN TO SURVIVE.  Switching to a one-handed weapon, even of a low order like Willow Wood Walking Staff, and keeping the same combat arts, I WAS NEVER (or rarely) HIT, even though my agility went down by about 5 or 6 during the process and my DPS went way down.  I tested this odd turn of events by using Thundering Fists and two weapons, and I still was getting hammered.  Just by way of background, my monk typically wears the best equipment available; I am comparably equipped to even the best folks at my level, and most all my combat arts -- including Brawler's Stance and Thundering Fists -- are Adept I.  Two-handed weapons remain viable for me in soloing individual orange, whites, and blues.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Question:  What is the problem?  I keep all my buffs on.  I note that the Parrying and Deflection are already bugged for monks of my level (and in a favorable way).  Does having a really high agility for my level (which mine is) actually causing me problems due to some bug?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If the riposte is the source of my problem, why aren't other monks troubled by this problem?  And does this problem mean that monks can't meaningfully use two-handed weapons except in solo (or weak) encounters?</DIV>

[Mamasee]

<blockquote><hr>daimon1 wrote:<DIV>I am getting slaughtered soloing with two-handed weapons. I have read previous posts suggesting that the increased damage I receive is due to riposte. But I have had conversations with other monks who don't seem to have this problem. Here's the situation: At levels 22-25, fighting level 20 mobs, if I use Brawler's Stance, Lu Sun's Martial Focus (or whatever the spelling is), and two premium fighting weapons like two firwood fighting batons or a firwood and a steel mace, my agility is around 100. In these conditions in the Steppes, fighting undead farmer mobs, for example, I routinely HAVE TO RUN TO SURVIVE. Switching to a one-handed weapon, even of a low order like Willow Wood Walking Staff, and keeping the same combat arts, I WAS NEVER (or rarely) HIT, even though my agility went down by about 5 or 6 during the process and my DPS went way down. I tested this odd turn of events by using Thundering Fists and two weapons, and I still was getting hammered. Just by way of background, my monk typically wears the best equipment available; I am comparably equipped to even the best folks at my level, and most all my combat arts -- including Brawler's Stance and Thundering Fists -- are Adept I. Two-handed weapons remain viable for me in soloing individual orange, whites, and blues.</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>Question: What is the problem? I keep all my buffs on. I note that the Parrying and Deflection are already bugged for monks of my level (and in a favorable way). Does having a really high agility for my level (which mine is) actually causing me problems due to some bug?</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>If the riposte is the source of my problem, why aren't other monks troubled by this problem? And does this problem mean that monks can't meaningfully use two-handed weapons except in solo (or weak) encounters?</DIV><hr></blockquote>Do you use brawlers stance while soloing?

[StratCat]

<DIV>I don't use Brawler stance anymore , I take more dmg with it on maybe a bug i dunno .</DIV>

[Windy]

<DIV>Makes you wonder if the free shield thing isn't what we thought it was.  I know I haven't really noticed a benefit, only a negative since I lost my shield use.  But then, I switched over to DW.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'll do some checking, and see if maybe the "free shield" you get requires that your 2nd hand be free.  That would be an interesting turn of events indeed.</DIV>

[Jezekie]

Well naturally when duel-wielding you'll end up getting more ripostes when hitting the NPcs, as opposed to using a two-hander or one-handed. How big a differnce there is betweren the various weapon usages is not good to know though.

[PeoplesAssass]

<DIV>the only major difference i've seen is taking lvl 21^^ group mobs at lvl25, at lvl 24 these were easy oncei became 25 i can't solo them anymore, other than that from21-24 green group^^ were doable, i'd suggest you got a fluke run of bad luck?</DIV>

[daimo]

<DIV>In response to Mamaseeta's question, I do keep my Brawler's Stance active while soloing and I generally avoid using Thundering Fists unless I have a single non-group creature.</DIV>

[Mamasee]

<blockquote><hr>daimon1 wrote:<DIV>In response to Mamaseeta's question, I do keep my Brawler's Stance active while soloing and I generally avoid using Thundering Fists unless I have a single non-group creature.</DIV><hr></blockquote>I believe that if a monster is dead, your not having to worry about taking dammage. I beleive that you loose more offence than you gain in defence, may be ok in a group but you fall behind solo.

[TerasDeathBla]

<DIV>i always use thundering fists unless im tank whenever i try to solo with brawlers stance i die</DIV>

[Coter]

Well to be honest with you here, you really aren't supposed to be able to solo group mobs, even green ones (though we still can a good part of the time. ) Group mobs recieved a considerable damage increase a couple patches ago, so while you can get lucky on the rare occassion now that you just don't get hit because of evasion, the increased melee damage from grouped mobs post 20, combined with more likelyhood of getting riposted using dual wield will tear you up. I know green ^^ are good exp, but I really suggest White/Yellow solo mobs for better exp anyways. With the changes they made to solo exp, and loot, you will do better exp wise. White/yellow solos barely touch me now as it is, so I can usually non-stop kill them for better exp then spending 4 minutes killing a green ^^.

[bmcd]

<DIV>Since the change in 20+^^ mobs I have found that I can solo green^^ mobs once I hit about 60-80% towards the next level.  I am at about 55% towards 31 and will have to see if this still works for me.   I dual wield fist wraps all of the time when I solo but have a 2h staff for when I tank hard mobs in a group.</DIV>

[hammong]

<DIV>Brawlers Stance is an absolute must for my 20 monk to solo.    Even taking relatively easy mobs like the Green Up Up rottstuffed scarecrows in Antonica is impossible without Brawlers Stance, but with it -- I hardly get touched.    I don't know if it becomes less effective as you gain levels, but for me, there's no way I would solo or main tank without it. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>      Darnella Trueheart</DIV> <DIV>      20 Half-Elf Monk, Mistmoore</DIV>