Monk early game broken?

[Risingred]

This is a repost from the bnet forums because I, well, think it's very interesting.

Spirit is his resource. You gain spirit points by using combo skills. You use spirit on non-combo skills. Combo skills do not have a cost associated with them; they are "free".

His first tier of skills contains one combo skill (Hands of Lightning). The rest are spirit skills.
You do not get another combo skill until level six (Crippling Wave). Does this mean that every monk is going to be obligated to pick that one single skill?
After all, what's the point of picking the other skills if you can't build up the resource to use them?

[Sass]

If that was the only skill, then yes. Each tier has ~6 skills though.

[Risingred]

If that was the only skill, then yes. Each tier has ~6 skills though.

Not from what I've seen. I've seen from two to four per tier, depending on the character.
And yes, that is the only skill until you can get Crippling Wave at level 6. Even then, you are forced into taking one of those early combo skills, even if you don't want it for your build, necessitating a respec for the monk (if you want to change it) where other classes don't have that problem. Problem being, specifically, having to take a skill to build up resources.

[Sass]

We're also missing 20+ skills.

[Risingred]

We're also missing 20+ skills.

I don't think that really matters, theoretically. And I don't think it is nearly so many skills the monk is missing. :p

You get your first skill point: you are forced to take one of the combo skills. The only way they could really fix this (I have no imagination, bear with me) is what someone from bnet suggested: You are able to generate a small amount of spirit with a normal attack.

Or, they could put every single combo skill in Tier 1 so you aren't boned into taking something you don't want. :p

[Sass]

Each is supposed to get ~25-30 skills. We know of 8 + the few at Blizzcon. I didn't count it exactly, but I think around 3-4 skills.


So not quite the 20 I mentioned, but still over 15, or half his skills. Call me crazy, but some of those are bound to be first level skills.

[Risingred]

I don't mean this to sound snarky, but that doesn't really address the issue at all. :)

Smiley face added for emphasis of non-snarkiness. And there was a mostly completed skill set at BlizzCon for the monk. It just isn't on this site yet.

[FletVictus]

I was thinking about this myself, was going to get to level 6 without putting any points in skills just for fun lol. I've done very similar things in D2.

[lone_wolf]

Each is supposed to get ~25-30 skills. We know of 8 + the few at Blizzcon. I didn't count it exactly, but I think around 3-4 skills.


So not quite the 20 I mentioned, but still over 15, or half his skills. Call me crazy, but some of those are bound to be first level skills.

ehh no the monk already has 20 skills found here http://d3db.com/pc/monk

the other classes have:

Barbarian: 23 skills http://d3db.com/pc/barbarian

witch doctor: 23 skills http://d3db.com/pc/witchdoctor

wizard: 24 skills http://d3db.com/pc/wizard

the demon hunter has so far 9 skills http://d3db.com/pc/demonhunter

And here i though you all knew about this already :ponder:

besides what you are talking about in this thread is simply wrong as the monk has these first tier skills:

1 All abilities in this tier require level 2.
Hands of Lightning
Unleashes a series of increasingly powerful lightning infused punches that deal X% weapon damage as lightning damage, and has a higher chance than normal to interrupt enemy attacks.
- Combo Skill
Lashing Tail Kick
The Monk unleashes a deadly roundhouse kick, causing knockback and dealing X-X physical damage.
Long Reach
The Monk projects lines of pure force that allow him to hit several enemies a short distance away. Deals X% of weapon damage.

So the debate here about you having to use Hands of Lightning all the time until lev 6 is wrong. The information is not really up to date either since players of the demo has confirmed that Long reach is also a combo skill, it would not suprice me if Lashing tail kick is a combo skill also.

[Sass]

Most of those I'd never heard of from any Blizzcon shows, nor do the wikis contain them.


Who got these, and were there pics also?

[konfeta]

The guys running that site maybe? These have been up since Sunday. It's even been linked on this forum several days ago.

[Risingred]

The information is not really up to date either since players of the demo has confirmed that Long reach is also a combo skill

I had no way of knowing that until Grug told me on bnet.
I still think it's a little flawed early game but it is something we're probably just going to have to deal with. I like the resource. I just think it would make more sense if normal attacks also granted spirit. Which they may. I have no way of knowing.

The wiki hasn't been updated yet because we don't have accurate skill info. We're going to go through the wiki on the monk's skills tomorrow and add in what is on d3db and edit it later.

But it would make zero sense for all of the first tier skills being combos. What would you do with the spirit you built up?

[Malaterre]

I just think it would make more sense if normal attacks also granted spirit. Which they may. I have no way of knowing.

Not really an issue as you will not be using normal attacks a lot (actually not at all passed a certain point). It could be nice if you do not choose to take a combo skill early on. For example, if your first points go into a skill that requires spirit before you have taken your combo of choice. However, this is also not a huge issue as you can always respec: so you can take a combo early in the game and exchange it for another one later on.

[lone_wolf]

Most of those I'd never heard of from any Blizzcon shows, nor do the wikis contain them.


Who got these, and were there pics also?

it was posted on the mainpage a while bask as for who got them i dont know, several of the demo players have however confirmed that the skills exists.