Will my monk stop being fun?

[moarwade]

I've been leveling my first real melee character on P99, a human monk who is now level 23 and very mildly twinked (hp rings, cured silk, wu's staff). It's been awesome. Between bind wound and mend, the combat is basically nonstop, just slaughtering low blues/high greens and having the time of my life compared to my caster toons and their mana dependencies.

I always see people on the forums talking about how weak melee gets, especially for soloing, and I'm dreading getting to that point... but so far it feels like I'm staying pretty consistently effective.

Just wondering what kind of realistic expectations I should have for this character's power progression through the rest of the leveling process? At what point, if any, will this phase of relatively consistent combat end? Any anecdotal experiences (especially non-iksar non-fungi) would be great to hear!

[sajbert]

Warriors, monks and rogues have smaller toolkits than casters. To an extent this can be mitigated using clickies and weapon swaps. Monks IMHO have the more interesting set of abilities but it's still fairly straight forward and outside of advanced pulling not much "skill" required. I personally like the simpler playstyle but you may or may not ultimately get bored for lack of gameplay complexity.

With your gear you will find it progressively more challenging to solo and after 50 may start to struggle. It's still doable and there's always grouping if you can find groups during your play hours.

If you raid for gear and weapons and farm plat for e.g. fungi you can eventually be able to solo some lvl 50+ dungeon content. This is unlike rogues that simply can't and Warriors which even if they could struggle too much simply breaking into camps.

You'll never match a necro, shaman or enchanter in terms of solo ability.

[Crede]

Originally Posted by moarwade [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I've been leveling my first real melee character on P99, a human monk who is now level 23 and very mildly twinked (hp rings, cured silk, wu's staff). It's been awesome. Between bind wound and mend, the combat is basically nonstop, just slaughtering low blues/high greens and having the time of my life compared to my caster toons and their mana dependencies.

I always see people on the forums talking about how weak melee gets, especially for soloing, and I'm dreading getting to that point... but so far it feels like I'm staying pretty consistently effective.

Just wondering what kind of realistic expectations I should have for this character's power progression through the rest of the leveling process? At what point, if any, will this phase of relatively consistent combat end? Any anecdotal experiences (especially non-iksar non-fungi) would be great to hear!

Melee slaughter will come to a halt around lvl 50, whereas your caster toons with mana dependencies start slaughtering mobs and basically need no gear. Necro starts at 34 and even more so at 49 with lich and bond of death, enchanter starts earlier around lvl 29 when you get clarity and charming becomes a lot easier as the level range increases for mobs that are blue to you.

You won’t be able to touch enchanters/necros and even some Druids/shamans but you can still keep killing decently as melee just need a lot more gear and know exactly where to kill.

[Jakychan]

Hello Moarwade,

Glad your enjoying the monk on P99 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have not played much lately, but was just passing by the forums to see how the server was doing and noticed a new monky post so thought i would help alittle before i leave for the day.

If you like the monkly style of play, you will have a great time leveling your monk for the first time on P99 Blue or Green…

If you are content with killing blue, light blue, and high green consider content, you can solo level up your monk from level 1 to 51 and have a blast doing it.

I higly recommend the Monk Epic Quest, as alot of the first parts can be soloed up to your first main item:
Robe of the Lost Circle
This Stage of the Epic brings you to zones that have ZEM(bonus exp) boosts in place for that level of content.
Also later on in your Monk’s Journey when you are higher level you can start on
Robe of the Whistling Fists

When you Ding level 51, try finding someone who has Puppet Strings and will let you use them to get yourself a Worker Sledgemallet(OT Hammer) for a quick escape to safety and for quick travels to save time.
Worker Sledgemallet

There is an alternative way to get the OT hammer, but it will be very time consuming and can be dangerous until you turn in enough braids to get non Kill on Sight in the Overthere Outpost.. If you are soloing, when you get the appropriate level to kill mobs in that zone, you can head to The OverThere Zone and start killing Sarnak Berzerkers and collect their Warbraids and turn them into an Undead Skeleton named Captain Rottgrime at the OverThere Outpost for a quest that gives you Overthere Outpost faction(Venril Sathir Faction). Be Warned, if you do this quest, do not kill anything that gives you negative Venril Sathir faction until you have turned in enough War Braids to get amiable faction with the Undead Forman and finished your quest for the OT Hammer, after that, you can do what you want and wreck your faction if desired. It will take anywhere from 500-1000 warbraids to get amiable faction without any faction modifier items or spells, depending on your starting faction when you start the quest.
Protect the Shipyard Quest

**Levels 51-55 will be slow if you are still wanting to solo, but it can be done.
(Popular places to solo for those levels are varying. and dependent on gear.)
**If your winging it with gear you pick up along the way and no fungi:
(Karnor’s Castle Entrance and Captain area, Burning Woods Giants Camp, Dreadlands near KC, City of Mist 2nd level, Sol Dungeon B bats and spiders, Ocean of Tears Giants, Timorous Deep Raptors and Spirocs, Lower Guk Ghoul Frogs all kinds even bloodthirsty ghouls around frenzy area, those should get you started, but maybe other players can chime in on more Norrath locales).

*** Levels 55-60 will be slower than 51-55, so you will want to focus on saving coins for high AC/HP/STR gear and a fungi to make life easier on your way to level 60.

**Enjoy the Monk Journey of Sneaking, Flopping, Fearing and Killing on your way to level 60, You might look at some of these items that can make the leveling experience eaiser as you get to know your monk.

** Journeyman’s Boots(jboots) are not too expensive, and will save you travel time and help you solo pull stuff out to a safe area for soloing, and having jboots will save you from wasting Mend when pulling or splitting mobs. Oh and it could save your life if FD fails a few times.
Journeyman’s Boots

** Practice your FD and Mend Skills alot, always max these skills out first when you level. Then focus on the skill intimidation next. (fear skill for soloing with jboots)

** You should try to focus on getting any kind of a Haste Item A.S.A.P. to help kill mobs faster, because haste is very immportant for any melee, and monks benefit from it like breathing air. a few cheaper ones are:
Silver Chitin Hand Wraps
Flowing Black Silk Sash
Sash of the Dragonborn

** Here are a few less expensive Weapons for you to consider as you level your monk after level 20:
Two Handed Blunt Weapons:
Staff of Battle
Peacebringer
Imbued Fighters Staff
Efreeti Ice Staff
Wrapped Velium Brawl Stick
Exquisite Velium Brawl Stick

One Handed Blunt Weapons:
Master Wu’s Trance Stick << get 2 for fun times
Jade Mace
Guard Captain’s Mallet
Massive Velium Battlehammer
Polished Velium Battlehammer
Paebala Warbone
Adamantite Club
Stave of Shielding

**On your leveling journey, you should stop by the sarnak fort in Lake of ill Omen(LOIO) and kill inside the fort near the Chancellor Room. (The long hall with firepots before Chancellor of Dizok’s Throne Room…) for a chance at a Hidden Bracer off a Sarnak Legionnaire (See Invisibile Clicky Item)
Bracer of the Hidden

**I would focus on saving up any remaining coin you get for 2 Bags of the Tinkerer’s and a Large Soiled Bag(the Large Soiled Bag can be camped once you are level 45 and have some form of see invisible potions or item to wear).
(The Weight Reduction Bags are 100% Reduction and will help alot for food, bandages, invisible clicky items, weapons, a few resist gear pieces, and any items you have farmed but are heavy in weight(stones). So having the bags are invaluable, which helps you to focus only on coins you carry to keep your weight down for the Monk’s AC Bonus.)
Monk AC Bonus Weight(stones) Caps[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]Estimates could be off by .1 stones per level range)
Levels 1-14 = 15 stones (cap limit)
Levels 15-29 = 16 stones (cap limit)
Levels 30-44 = 17 stones (cap limit)
Levels 45-50 = 18 stones (cap limit)
Levels 51-54 = 19 stones (cap limit)
Levels 55-59 = 21 stones (cap limit)
Level 60 = 28 stones (cap limit)
Try to stay around those Weight Limits when your in those level ranges to avoid AC Penalty…

**Tip Info: There is a Quest in Neriak that is easy and will get you enough faction to be non kill on sight with Neriak Guards and gives you max selling faction with the neriak merchants there and you will be able to bank there as well.
**It is a short Quest and having an ally city near a farming area will be useful when hunting in Sol Dungeon A and B, and when you are trying to get your bags of the tinkerers from Sol Dungeon A Merchant..
Red Wine Quest for Neriak Faction
Bag of the Tinkerers
Large Soiled Bag
***Bag Tip: if you are having a hard time collecting coins for Bag of the Tinkerers early on or you are holding coins for something else, you can put that on hold and get these temporarily, but just having these other bags on you with no items in them costs you 6 weight(stones)
Bag of Sewn Evil Eye
Light Burlap Sack
Shralok Pack

** So after getting the above items or similar items and after level 50+, it would benefit you at some point to start saving coins for a Fungus Covered Scale Tunic(fungi). It is another invaluable item to have at later levels. (levels 55-60 most importantly).
Fungus Covered Scale Tunic

** Also I can’t end the list without mentioning the coveted Tranquil Staff, this item is really good, but not necessary to level, so just something to consider when your high level and dont need anything else above.
Tranquil Staff

I will just end it there, as I could go on for a long time listing items that are cool and good but not really needed for leveling, but this is more than enough for you to stay busy for a long while if you wanted to.
Maybe someone else can add to this and help you with your questions.

Hope you enjoy the monk throughout your Journey and as always Have Fun Out There!

[hatterene]

vibe will adjust soon like 30 35 .a fungi would help get to 40 45

[moarwade]

Thanks to everyone who weighed in, especially for such a helpful guide!! Sad to hear that the pain train will be slowing down so much on my way to 60 but that's just life on P99, still enjoying the process and all the ninja kicking action. Based on y'all's answers I will spend a little more time on my necro and try to save up some plat for a few more pieces of gear.

[cd288]

In the 50s you'll really need a Fungi tunic, especially as a Human without the Iksar regen.

You're not going to be mowing down mobs, but killing one every few minutes is feasible with a Fungi, a worn haste item, and a good 2hb weapon. However, the downside for melees (especially ones like Monk with lower HP pools) is that there just aren't that many mobs that are efficient to EXP on.

Obviously, in Kunark and Velious mobs have way higher HP pools and hit harder, so it's not as efficient (and in some cases not really doable as a result). And in the old world there just aren't as many options to 60 since it's built for 1-50 (there are some though). There's a reason why you see melees camping Grik the Exile all the time (single 6:40 spawn in Swamp of No Hope), because 1 mob in 6:40 isn't really much less EXP than you'd be getting elsewhere since you'd probably be getting 1 mob every 5 minutes.

Source: Did Iksar monk to 60, with Fungi and T Staff.

[kjs86z2]

with your level of gear its about to slow way down

just an unfortunate thing if you don't have funds / access to raid targets on p99

finding a shaman friend around similar level / goals would be highly beneficial

[Jimjam]

If you don’t get a haste item by 46, try to get an idea of who is raiding plane of sky weekly. I suggest this as there is a no drop commonly rotting monk haste item which drops from various mobs in zone and you’ll likely be able to ask permission to loot it as a good will freebie. I suppose this also applies if you used schw as your levelling haste but want to switch that slot to the epic.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Belt_of_Tranquility

My monk used similar gear to yours to 40ish with no problem. (Bristlesilk and Crystalline silk armour (comparable to raw silk) and wqs). In 20s you can still plough through blues in upper guk naked on corpse runs thanks to your avoidance, scales and innate regen.