Cool, I didn't pay attention to that possibility.

In my opinion. Having a monk class in Elsweyr chapter would have been far fitting than a necromancer class. There are many monasteries around and there is even a main character ( forgot his name ) in the Elsweyr main storyline who is literally a monk. But currently if they are going to add monk class/unarmed skill line. I see Skyrim as the most fitting chapter since it's pretty easy to imagine a Nord going to fight with his bare hands.

I just don't see Monk as a viable proposition for a new class in ESO.

There is lore and precedent relating to Monks in TES, but it all points to them being very niche. Khajiit, Imperial blades (Caius Cosades), and Order of the Ancestor Moth. It doesn't really make them major candidates for a new player Class, suitable for all races and cultures in ESO.

The class identity of Monk must surely include unarmed damage and unarmoured defence. This is not a good fit with ESO game mechanics - Weapon/Spell Damage based on equipped weapon, Physical/Magical Resistance based on equipped armour. A significant change to mechanics would be needed, and I don't see them going for that with all the existing glitches and performance problems.

It is a stated design goal in ESO that all classes can play all roles. So, how does Monk fit into the Tank role? I just don't see it.

There are also commercial considerations. We know from datamines that Warden and Necro were in the class list in the Beta phase. They were already in the cupboard, and so relatively cheap to bring up to speed and put into the live game. I don't remember seeing Monk mentioned in that context ever.

If Monk is not cheap to build, will it bring in lots of extra revenue? What are its selling points?

Is there great demand for Monk like there was for Necro? I don't see it. There's some, but not a lot.

Is there any TES nostalgia attached to the Monk class? No, none really.

Does the Monk class scream POWER FANTASY. Well, a bit of power fantasy maybe. But "scream", no. Certainly no more than the most likely candidate for the next new class which is Battle Mage.

No reason a monk can't use hand to hand type weapons or armor. Why not? As an example, monks in Diablo use said weapons and all types of armor

A Monk class would be epic

Monk class would be too dated. Despite what the internet may tell you sometimes, Japanese-culture stuff just isn't cool with the general public anymore, a handful of US-made films about their IPs notwithstanding. This is why the number of references to it have dropped precipitously in Western games. That, and there's no more fear that they will "eat our lunch" or in any way overtake the US economically (they came close to matching the American GDP in the 80s and early-mid 90s, but now we have an economy about four times the size of theirs), so our companies feel no need to pander to Japanese tastes. Seriously, every other roleplaying or fantasy game in the 1990s used to have a ninja or samurai reference, not anymore. Almost the only reference we've gotten in ESO apart from the Dragonguard are a couple of locations in Elsewyr with the Akaviri. We even have more references to Mesopotamia in ESO than we do Japan, thanks to Vivec City and a ton of place names in Vvardenfell.

Point is, making something "Japanese" or stereotypically East Asian isn't a strong selling point anymore. If it was, we'd have gotten monks, samurai, and Akaviri content from the get-go.

Aristocles22 wrote: »

Monk class would be too dated. Despite what the internet may tell you sometimes, Japanese-culture stuff just isn't cool with the general public anymore, a handful of US-made films about their IPs notwithstanding. This is why the number of references to it have dropped precipitously in Western games. That, and there's no more fear that they will "eat our lunch" or in any way overtake the US economically (they came close to matching the American GDP in the 80s and early-mid 90s, but now we have an economy about four times the size of theirs), so our companies feel no need to pander to Japanese tastes. Seriously, every other roleplaying or fantasy game in the 1990s used to have a ninja or samurai reference, not anymore. Almost the only reference we've gotten in ESO apart from the Dragonguard are a couple of locations in Elsewyr with the Akaviri. We even have more references to Mesopotamia in ESO than we do Japan, thanks to Vivec City and a ton of place names in Vvardenfell.

Point is, making something "Japanese" or stereotypically East Asian isn't a strong selling point anymore. If it was, we'd have gotten monks, samurai, and Akaviri content from the get-go.

Meanwhile manga is killin' it in the west and outselling western comic books, especially big brands like Marvel and DC almost every month. Anime has it's own streaming service, also Korean dramas have become a genre on Netflix and other major streaming services and are bigger than ever. If that's your argument, the facts are not on your side.

The monk class in previous TES games 'preferred to solve conflict by arrow or by fist ' and had bonuses to sneak skills. In one of the previous TES games there was a gauntlet that improved one handed skills. That could easily be translated into a mythic item.

When I think of the Monk as a class in an RPG, I am usually thinking about martial arts. Currently the Dragonknights are technically already martial artists as they come from an Akaviri martial arts tradition. However in the lore there are warrior monks in Elsweyr, which is probably what originally spawned this thread as we saw them in Elsweyr. I hope once the Tenmar forest region is added to the game (there are still two cities there) we can get Monks either as a class (unlikely) or unarmed as a weapon choice, which would then enable other classes to play as monks.
If weapons and item sets are a concern, then they could easily add brass knuckles as a weapon to fill the slot for the "unarmed style", same as the idea to add magical foci for spellblade weapon choices.

Other than the Khajiiti martial artist there aren't really any combat monks around. Psijic monks, Ternion monks etc are called that because they are orders of hermits practising a philosophy or religion while lacking in the specialized combat department the way we know the martial arts monks. Also note that not all martial arts are exclusively unarmed. Special sword training or (magic) staff training can also be included in martial arts. That fact could save the Monk as a class, but it would/should mean that a monk class would need a passive interacting with weapon choice.

Monks have a place in ES lore. The Khajiit are known for them and there is a martial arts school on Khinarthies Roost. There is a lot of lore in Morrowind about monks too with a school in Ebonheart iirc.

Earrindo wrote: »

I suspect it's more indicative of an unarmed skill line, rather than a class.

An unarmed skill line is what I'd like to see. This way a new class isn't needed and you could have various "types" of monks (Nightblade, Templar, etc.).

To work with sets, just make the weapons brass knuckles/etc. or allow you to hide the weapons.