Thinking about playing monk.

[mister milo]

Hey,

I haven't actually played since the days of "rise of zilhart", but was thinking about picking up the game again. While I haven't actually bought the game yet, I am looking to do some research to have a rough plan of what I want to do.

When I played before, I didn't really level up too much, but I had a level 30 whm and blm. I was also the race of hume and made my home bastok.

I do enjoy playing mage a little bit, but I am thinking I might give melee/dd a chance.

Chances are that I will probably change jobs before 75. For that reason, I don't want a race that won't be to specialized. The obvious choice would be hume, but I am thinking maybe a mithra.

So basically, do you think that monk would be good for a guy that is starting out brand new? I would probably take monk as far as ~18 for a sub job, at the very least. Also, do you think that mithra would be a good choice If I do plan changing jobs, but also -possibly- taking monk all the way.

From what I hear, mnk/war is good until probably really late game. Any qualms about that?

Thank you,
-Adam

[Wise Donkey]

MNK is a great choice for a starting character. More HP than the other starting jobs and your party role is simple - just hit stuff. It will give you a chance to party and get some experience without a lot of responibility. Once you hit 18 it will be time for your Sub Job quest. You can then start over with another job and MNK is a good sub for either THF or WAR during the early levels.

By the time you play a bit with you Job/Sub Job you should have seen some stuff and should have a good idea where you want to go with your character.

Race choice has minor Stat implications, which have negligable effect on your performance. Most consider race a purely aestetic choice - pick one you like the look of, as you will be staring at it your entire FFXI career. I liked the Mithra, so that's what I picked.

[DakAttack]

I suggest that every new character begining a melee path should take War to 18 first, so that you'll have the ability to both tank and DD. Taking Mnk to 18 first limits you to dealing damage.

[mister milo]

Thanks for both of your posts. ^.^

I think that I'll wait until I actually get the game to make some of these choices, but I don't think that I'll be doing WAR for my first job.

I just feel that I should get the basics down before I start doing a "harder" job. I don't want to be that WAR who can't voke hate from the WHM.

Thanks again,
-Adam

[Esoa]

I suggest that every new character begining a melee path should take War to 18 first, so that you'll have the ability to both tank and DD. Taking Mnk to 18 first limits you to dealing damage.

War with a mnk subjob is a much better tank than one without any subjob at all. On the other hand, mnk up through 18 only gains some minor stat increases from war subjob. I like going mnk first to 18, especially since if you decide to give up on it you'll have it at the right level to get war to 37 (necessary for pretty much all melee jobs) and you don't have to worry about saving/selling/rebuying gear, which can be a huge pain when you are just starting out in the game.

[IfritnoItazura]

With identical gear and food,

1. WAR/MNK can easily out tank WAR/---
2. MNK/WAR can barely out damage MNK/---

So, MNK to Lv.18 first makes more sense then WAR to Lv.18 first.

[METDeath]

Honestly, fastest way to 18 is still WHM... if you have all spells you can do it in a two... three days tops. Plus people wont' care about the lack of a sub, just because you're a whm...

[Lionheart]

Honestly, fastest way to 18 is still WHM... if you have all spells you can do it in a two... three days tops. Plus people wont' care about the lack of a sub, just because you're a whm...

I dunno where you're leveling, but 2-3 days to hit 18 is REALLY slow, unless you're a very casual player. I usually take a new job to lv 18-20 in a day, considdering I don't get bored of it etc.

White Mage doesn't become "Fast" in my opinion until around lv35-40, mainly because there are generally alot of people leveling it to sub or use for teleporting later on. Also, soloing until the dunes with WHM is pretty slow aswell, granted it can be done pretty fast should you stick with easy-decent mobs and just mass kill.

(To the topic poster)
My suggestion, is to level what you think sounds fun. If you wanna level Monk, I say level it, its a great class, does good damage (massive damage to undead), and is generally fun to play. I just ask one thing, skill has been declining over the past few years of the game, to the point where people don't even know what a Magic Burst or a Skillchain is, try to promote using these when leveling. The idea is, the faster you kill a mob, the faster you get EXP, doing extra damage will always drop a monster faster. This may require people to level multiple weapons (oh noes!), but once you learn how to use the charts, you can easily find out what mob is weak to what skillchain.

[xnightninjax]

hmm i have read all of this but i still dont know what to do haha i think i might just be a mnk. but i dont know about all this sub job stuff.

[Tomato_Kai]

Since your original idea was to go with MNK, I'm going to do something unpopular on forum boards and actually support you.

I did the exact same thing as you. I came in, thinking about MNK, then some people told me "Oh no, lvl WHM, or oh no, lvl WAR instead," or whatever. Don't listen to em. If you wanna break faces with your fists, then freakin' break faces with your fists. This is not a "slow moving" class as people supposed. Coming in with no sub, no equipment, nothing but my fists, I leveled to 13 in one afternoon, and then 18 in the next. When I wasn't partying, I was soloing in Konschtat, killing bees and goblins.

Fact is, you can reliably play any one of the original 6 classes without a sub to 18 without substantial difficulty. Play the class you want to have fun with. Let *that* tell you where to go.

[Zoltar]

I've got my mnk/war @ 38 with no problems getting invites.

Yes, ppl are going to be pains and tell you to sub something else (/NIN) if you want invites later, but don't always give in. mnk/war is a nice hard hitting combo and can do some nasty dd'n

[Hitokami]

Even though I am not the original poster I would like to ask a follow up question. Since you can solo in Konschtat/La Thene whilest waiting for a party in the dunes, where is a good place to solo or farm while waiting for a party in Quifim? in Khazam?

Do people keep their HP near there and keep a warp scroll handy? or are there areas near these zones without having to travel too far?

Thank you for future replies.

[Ellipses]

Even though I am not the original poster I would like to ask a follow up question. Since you can solo in Konschtat/La Thene whilest waiting for a party in the dunes, where is a good place to solo or farm while waiting for a party in Quifim? in Khazam?

Do people keep their HP near there and keep a warp scroll handy? or are there areas near these zones without having to travel too far?

Thank you for future replies.

Generally, after level 20, the place you end up partying is going to be nowhere near the place you're doing whatever else you want to do. Most people either sit around Jeuno or Whitegate waiting for an invite, possibly crafting or some such, or grab a warp scroll/item/ferret and go somewhere else to farm/solo/play checkers with their flag up.

You should still be able to find Easy Prey in the three crag zones (La Theine, Konschtat, Tahrongi) around level 20, and when it starts thinning out, you can move into Buburimu, Valkurm, Korroloka, Shakrami, etc.

[Tomato_Kai]

Even though I am not the original poster I would like to ask a follow up question. Since you can solo in Konschtat/La Thene whilest waiting for a party in the dunes, where is a good place to solo or farm while waiting for a party in Quifim? in Khazam?

Do people keep their HP near there and keep a warp scroll handy? or are there areas near these zones without having to travel too far?

Thank you for future replies.

I'm responding my take on this also:

I solo'd worms in Qufim while I'm waiting for a party. This isn't easy, and I wouldn't attempt it until at least 22, but it's definitely a great way to knock in some exp before a group. They seem tough, but as a MNK, I could handle them as long as I was careful with their con and made sure to rest before every fight and keep my food effect up.

[Ryuuhikiuu]

I soloed worms as well, but I'm not sure if that's possible to do without top end gear for your level.