You leave the Aquamancers without a Magister and I'mma hunt you down, Isluna!

I'm was thinking the same thing. When I saw the armor and weapons that the Illithoid and Kephera were holding in the artistic renditions on the website, and I saw their dexterity, my first reaction was "There is an assassin/rogue class on the way." My second thought was "If there is, I'll reincarnate as Kephera, and switch guilds."

No such luck, and I'm very dissapointed with the new archetype. It just doesn't seem to fit at all with the world of Lusternia, it just feels like an Achaea remake.

Maybe I'll be proven wrong, though. Maybe these 'monks' will be unlike anything we've ever saw before.

It's just that ever since I started playing RPGs as a kid, bards and monks were my least favorite of all the possible classes. I guess it's great for the people who like them, and even if they're not my favorite, nice job with all the new stuff Admins.

Crow users can already do that.

Agreed.

I'm very happy, buuut, monks is a bit of a...I dunno. Too specific? Monks in Magnagora...?

Still awesome though.

Yowza! Although the monks are a bit of a cliche choice, it's still great to have a new archetype.

For malcontents who believe they should fix the bards first - the admins DID say it will take a lot of time to implement the archetype, who says they are not going to work on fixing the bards in the meantime?

Back to monks - they may be able to use weapons like daggers after all. The post mentions weapons dependant on your org, and there certainly are martial arts based around the use of various types of weapons, not just your body parts.

I'm also betting that they will have Acrobatics as a skill. It's a logical choice, Estarra will really surprise me if they won't.

Finally, I hope the archetype won't be unbalanced towards the races which have BOTH high dex and a balance bonus - mainly, Aslaran and Faeling. These races make OK warriors (well, Glomdoring specs for the faeling) because of their low strength, but if the monks will be based PURELY on dexterity then they'll be overpowered. Hopefully the archetype will depend on other stats too then, DEX only being the most important one.



EDIT:


Monk: Fear my Rotting Palm technique! Hi-yaaah! Aww, my fingers fell off...
Opponent: Gross...

Seriously though, I expect something of a darker, ninja-like guild for them.

First of all. To all those who are being vocal about bards, I think that there is no reason to drag down this thread for that. Create a new one, if people want to celebrate, let them! However... Along that line, please know that just because we've started working on monks does not mean we now turn our backs on bards. We've been working hard with the envoys to implement their tweaks. If you have any problems with the way bards are, I encourage you to bring it up with your envoy and urge them to submit changes to help them become better.

Second. To those who say they are "disappointed" with the new archetype because it doesn't "fit very well into the Lusternian ethos"... Have we ever disappointed you? I certainly hope not! Please rest assured. Estarra is VERY good at what she does. She is an incredible writer and she knows the world of Lusternia better than anyone. If Estarra were to say that tomorrow we'll have AK-47s and ICBMs, I'd have faith that she'd be able to pull it off. Not that I foresee AK-47s, of course, but that was an example in the extreme to show a point.

So, essentially, have open communication with your envoys and have faith us. You don't know what's in store yet.

To sum up:

Yay monks!

I am very tempted to break my life long rule of not having alts, just so I can help with this... Please don't tempt me further!

But you do not forsee us not having ICBMs? -evilgrin-

My problem is that I'm tempted to actually move Xen... gah. Bad player, bad!

I generally agree that the monk class won't be some sterile copy of other monks in different games and I'm sure we'll all be impressed with what they can do (so long as the Serens don't muck it up ) but even still, a martial arts monk class has almost zero appeal to me.

Still, it'll be interesting to see the Lusternian spin on the idea.

Whatever, we still have craptastic Con for people who're expected to take a beating. I'm highly looking forward to Bashara being an absolutely disgusting beast for the first time in his life. My only hesitation is I'd lose Tracking.

Why does it have to be martial arts? Ever seen the movie Equilibrium? (er wait, did they use martial arts in that movie? Can't remember ... but there were cool weapons and gun fights)

For those saying monks don't fit into Lusternia, I suggest you go visit Tosha. Monks have been in Lusternia for a very long time.

What I am hoping for Monks is that Martial Arts will be a tree system, with multiple disciplines. And Martial Arts styles are NOT City/Commune based but rather taken from a list of styles and tactics, so the players can customize their styles as best as they can. Maybe make it racial based so it gives people an incentive to keep a specific race that might seem "bad".

I think this is just really awesome!

Does that mean Loboshigaru can get a spec now?!

So. tempted. So. tempted..... :/

PS: And no, no spore-fu.. please..

...

Yes.

YES.

LUSTERNIA MUST HAVE GUN FU NOW PLEASE.

The more you decry it, the more interested I am in making it a possibility.