Why the Monk?

[:1]I'm assuming the people reading this forum are highly interested in playing a Monk. That he/she'll be your first or 2nd char played, and that you plan on playing the Monk a lot. So... why?

What draws you to the character? Makes you want to spend your limited gaming time driving a Monk around, rather than a Barb or a wiz or whatever?

Do you like the lore and the character bio, or the fast-hitting attack style of gameplay, or the did you actually like the Monk in Hellfire, or are there some Monk skills that you can't wait to try, etc?

There are no right or wrong answers to this; I'm just curious.|||Quote:




or the fast-hitting attack style of gameplay








I'm just drawn to fast, light melee. They rely more on quick combos (some debilitating) to take down an opponent rather than brute force. For defense, the nimble traits serve as a dodge / block in some way.



For skills to try out, hundred fists + crippling wave will be awesome. Exploding palm and SSS has the AoE aspects to make them clear mobs pretty quickly.|||The monk is my favorite class so far...

I always liked melee characters, but never liked Heavy chars like the Barb... So it works for me...

I always loved chars that use battle stavess or long spears, so it also works thanks to the staff...

I always loved kung-fu games and such, so it also works that way...

And I don't have problems with his bushy beard so... yeah... He just seem like a great class, sadly we don't know many of his abilities but I'm sure he'll be great....|||I think that monk-like characters have always been my favorite in games, followed by the nuker-caster types.

Bascially, what I find I look for in a character are the following:

(1) I like to go toe to toe with enemies.

(2) I like to feel like my character's power (both offensive and defensive) comes from my character, and not their gear. I would say this is more a visual thing than a practical thing. I don't mind the cloth gear being super powerful, but I like the characters to look like they aren't heavily armored in game.

(3) I like my character's actions to feel like they have impact. If I use an ability, I want to see my character either swing at an enemy and see the enemy react to the hit, or I want to see a spell travel from me to the enemy and then again cause the enemy to have a reaction to the spell. (Or see a big *** ball of fire/ice/whatever explode.) I've never been big on damage over time effects for for this reason. It's also why I've never been all that attracted to pet based characters. Too much of the play starts to feel indirect.

(4) I like characters that move quickly. High mobility really makes gameplay more enjoyable for me.

Those are all characteristics that I associate with monk-like characters. (All but the first also tend to apply to nuker-caster types as well, and if you ever were to watch me play a caster, you'd see I'm aggressive enough to still get that toe-to-toe combat feeling in most cases.)

That's why the assassin always frustrated me so much. The martial arts assassin really draws me in on paper, but the akward combo mechanics really make it hard to enjoy. I think the MA assassin ends up failing on point 3. You have to take a lot of not so exciting actions to charge stuff up before you can get to the satisfying action.

It's okay, though. I still got my monk-like characters in D2. I think my big attraction to 2-handed enchantresses has been because they fill that role so well. Enchant and ES mean a lot of the character's power comes from her skill set instead of equipment. I've always favored either using a staff, thresher, or giant thresher on my enchantresses, because they fulfill the need for a simple weapon. (After all, the scythe is a farming tool.) I've also done a staff-wielding abbot paladin, and a light armor wearing Ribcracker wielding Iron Barb.

Anyhow, from what we've seen so far of the D3 monk, I'm seeing a lot of potential to fulfill that criteria I have in my mind for a monk-like character, so I'm pretty excited about the monk.|||it's generally a struggle for me to choose between the holy man and the rogue. I've always favored melee combat, but sneaky, hit and run tactics have always been my style and, as much as I like the idea of being in commune with the divine, I usually end up as some sort of rogue. The monk, of course, eliminates the need to choose.

I also really like his specific character style. I mean, I'm not huge into the hand to hand unarmed combat idea, but whipping around that battle staff looks real satisfying. I also like the blended eastern/western style. that's actually a big factor for me. I think I'd find him a lot less interesting if he were fully inspired by only one of those historical traditions. I like the robes. I like the shaved head, the wrapped knuckles and the quiet confidence. and the wily beard, that just brings it all home.|||I'll be making one of these for sure. I like it because it is different and it seems to fit in on what Blizzard is trying to accomplish with Diablo 3.|||Action! Plain and simple. This character looks like its going to push the arcade like feel of the game considerably. Since the frenzy barb is currently my fav d2 char for much the same reason then this could be my new. I just hope that unlike the assassin in d2 they will actually give this character a decent selection of items.|||Hi guys, i'm new here, anyway.

I'm always thinking of Diablo when i see the monk in the videos on d3. The monk will be my first character when the game will be released, if it ever will be.|||For me, out of all the classes revealed so far the monk is the most intriguing.

A few years back I was playing WoW and running the Scarlet Monastery with my guildies, and over Teamspeak I mentioned to them how baddass I thought the monks were, running around all barefoot kicking the crap out of everything! I said then that I thought it would be killer to actually play a monk as a PC, and we got into this lengthy discussion about the types of weapons and equipment they might use. Of course, the Monk never became playable characters in WoW, and I know longer play that game anyway, but I’m still intrigued with the possibilities of playing one and I think an action RPG like Diablo is the perfect setting to try one out.

I doubt it would be my first class choice, though. Whenever starting out on a new realm or even a new season in D2 I generally start out with a class that can both dish it out and take it, like a Barb, until I get some decent gear together and feel like I’m ready to start a new ‘glass cannon’ type class. It might be different with D3, there may not be a need to build up inventory before playing a more delicate class, but we’ll see.

In any case, I’m very much looking forward to playing a Monk. I’ve wanted to play one in a Blizzard title for a long time now.|||Edit: oops, meant to post in the why the Witch Doctor thread, but here goes for the Monk!

Main reason I'll play the Monk is because of the obvious similarities between the Monk and D2 Assassin.